For an industry that has profited greatly off queerness and queer people, the Nigerian fashion industry has largely been incredibly exclusionary to queer people who dare to publicly assert their queerness. Their contributions to the industry are downplayed and they are ostracised for showing individuality. It is a tight rope many queer people who choose fashion as their primary medium of self expression (primarily because of how intricately dress is associated with sexual and gender identity) have to walk, and a divide that simply shouldn’t exist. It is a good thing then that websites like A Nasty Boy exist.
Started by fashion commentator Richard Akuson, A Nasty Boy is an anti-fashion website, that seeks to explore gender and sexuality in fashion primarily through visual editorials. Although A Nasty Boy is only a few months old, and has only had one proper zine issue, it has already caught the attention of several international publications, including the attention of CNN Africa’s Torera Idowu, who wrote a glowing tribute to the site’s adventurous explorations of gender. There is specifically the ‘Boys Can Be Anything‘ editorial that features Nigerian models, and the work of a Nigerian photographer, challenging what we have been conditioned to accept as hyper-masculinity and countering that with images of conventionally masculine models in situations that would ordinarily be read as homoerotic. Akuson, through A Nasty Boy, also challenges the conventions of gendered dressing by promoting the work of gender non-conforming artists from across the continent.
African fashion needs to document its queer history and it is amazing that A Nasty Boy is leading that charge and getting international recognition for it.
