Articles by AFP
Venice Film Festival: A preview of autumn fashion trends
Venice - Julia Roberts in a Versace gown and Alba Rohrwacher in a Victorian-inspired Dior dress. The red carpet at the 82nd Venice Film Festival offered a glimpse into the autumn fashion season, marked by the arrival of new creative directors. For her first time at the Lido, the "Pretty Woman" star delighted photographers in a long, navy blue...
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Mexico eliminates tariff-free footwear imports to protect its industry
The Mexican government announced on Thursday the elimination of a temporary trade regime that allowed the tariff-free import of finished footwear. This has reduced production and employment in the sector, according to President Claudia Sheinbaum. This decision is the latest in a series that the left-wing government has implemented. It aims to...
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Nigerian designer pushes 'Afro-lux' onto the global fashion scene
Its modern architecture complemented by latticework inspired by local Yoruba textiles, Alara, west Africa's first fashion and design "concept store", is an imposing sight in Lagos, Nigeria's bustling economic capital. Founder Reni Folawiyo is now 10 years into forging what she calls "Afro-lux", Alara serving as a homebase for designs that "play...
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Louvre Couture exhibition exceeds one million visitors
Over one million people visited the Louvre’s first exhibition dedicated to fashion, Louvre Couture. This marks the second highest attendance in the museum’s history, following the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition in 2019/2020. The museum announced this on Monday. This unprecedented exhibition, which opened on January 24 and closed on Sunday,...
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Fashion enthusiasts defy tradition in Venezuela 'battle of outfits'
Ninety fashion aficionados showcased lace, denim, cotton, satin and recycled garments in an eclectic "battle of outfits" on Saturday at Venezuela's National Art Gallery in Caracas, challenging conventional fashion and embracing their "unusual" identities. On a stage where attitude at times outshone style, participants strutted in bold...
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Adidas apologizes to Mexican artisans for sandal design
Sportswear giant Adidas apologized to an Indigenous community in Mexico Thursday for using their traditional sandals as inspiration for a new design, after an outcry by officials and President Claudia Sheinbaum. Local authorities had complained that the Oaxaca Slip-On sandals were a "reinterpreted" model of huarache sandals, particularly one...
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'It's a microphone': Nairobi slum pageant gives platform to voiceless
A stone's throw from Kenya's largest informal settlement, a young woman glides down a spotlit catwalk, her delicate white dress at odds with the fake blood splattered across it and the tape covering her lips reading: "Stop, silence, gender-based violence". The annual "Mr and Ms Kibera" pageant in Nairobi, gleefully attended by hundreds, is about...
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China's JD.com posts 22.4% quarterly sales growth
JD.com saw a jump in its second-quarter revenue Thursday, as the Chinese retail giant saw increasing user traffic despite fierce competition in the country's e-commerce and food delivery sectors. In recent years, the Beijing-based shopping platform has faced pressure from a persistent domestic consumption slump and increased competition with its...
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SMCP shareholder dispute resolved: 15.5 percent stake returned after legal battle
Paris, August 11, 2025 – The textile group SMCP (Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot and De Fursac) can finally breathe a sigh of relief. The 15.5 percent of its capital illegally transferred in 2021 to a company based in the British Virgin Islands by its defaulting Chinese shareholder has been returned to the Luxembourg holding company that owned it....
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Mexico seeks compensation from Adidas in cultural appropriation row
Mexico's government said Friday it was seeking compensation from Adidas, which is accused of cultural appropriation for bringing out sandals resembling traditional design from the southern state of Oaxaca. The Oaxaca Slip-On sandals were created by US fashion designer Willy Chavarria, who has Mexican heritage, but drew pushback from officials in...
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