When Icons Unite: Vlisco, Sarah Diouf, and Trevor Stuurman Prove That Icons Last Forever
In an era where creativity has become the heartbeat of cultural identity, few brands have stood the test of time like Vlisco. With nearly two centuries of craftsmanship, colour, and storytelling woven into its iconic fabrics, the brand has not only defined African fashion but also shaped its evolution.
Now, Vlisco ushers in a new chapter of artistic collaboration, one that transcends borders and generations. The brand’s latest campaign, Icons Last Forever, brings together two of Africa’s most visionary talents: Senegalese designer Sarah Diouf, founder of Tongoro Studio, and South African photographer and visual artist Trevor Stuurman.
Together, they reinterpret the continent’s creative legacy, paying homage to legendary Malian portraitist Seydou Keïta, while celebrating a future where African designers and artists uplift one another in unity and strength.
Vlisco: The Fabric of a Continent
Over the years, Vlisco has become a cornerstone of African identity. Its distinctive wax prints have transcended their European origins to become an inseparable part of the cultural fabric of West and Central Africa.
For generations, Vlisco prints have carried meaning, worn to tell stories, mark milestones, and express individuality. But beyond fashion, Vlisco has become a symbol of empowerment, creating opportunities for designers, artisans, and entrepreneurs across the continent.
The brand has long invested in nurturing African creativity, giving emerging designers a platform to showcase their vision to the world. In doing so, Vlisco has not only preserved its heritage but redefined it, ensuring that every thread woven speaks to both tradition and innovation.
“Vlisco has always stood at the crossroads of design, colour, and storytelling,” says Perry Oosting, CEO of the Vlisco Group. “We celebrate the dialogue between history and imagination, creating images that speak to identity, pride, and the limitless power of creativity.”
Sarah Diouf: Dressing the Future
At the heart of this collaboration stands Sarah Diouf, a name synonymous with African luxury. Born in France and raised in Senegal, Diouf has built her brand Tongoro Studio into an international powerhouse, a label that celebrates African artisanship while redefining global fashion standards.
Her designs blend elegance with empowerment, fusing traditional African aesthetics with contemporary silhouettes that command attention. Through Tongoro, Diouf champions sustainability, accessibility, and representation, ensuring that every piece is made on African soil by local hands.
Her creations have graced global red carpets, runways, and music videos, none more iconic than her designs for Beyoncé’s Black Is King, where her garments became visual metaphors for power, heritage, and pride.
Diouf’s story is one of self-determination. She represents a generation of African women reclaiming the narrative, transforming “Made in Africa” into a mark of global prestige. Her work speaks not just to fashion, but to freedom: the freedom to define identity on one’s own terms.
Trevor Stuurman: The Eye That Reimagines Africa
On the other side of this creative bridge stands Trevor Stuurman, one of Africa’s most acclaimed photographers and visual artists. With a career that spans fashion, film, and fine art, Stuurman’s work captures the vibrancy of African life with unmatched authenticity.
His photography, radiant, cinematic, and deeply human, reframes Africa through a lens of celebration rather than survival. His images depict a continent brimming with imagination, elegance, creativity, power, and individuality.
Having collaborated with brands like Vogue, GQ, and Gucci, Stuurman continues to challenge the world’s perceptions of African identity. His philosophy is simple yet profound:
“Africa is no longer waiting to be seen. We are leading the way.”
Each image he creates is a visual declaration of presence, a reminder that African stories are not just relevant but essential to global culture.
The Collaboration: Icons Reimagined
In the new Icons Last Forever campaign, Sarah Diouf and Trevor Stuurman come together under Vlisco’s creative vision to honor one of Africa’s artistic forefathers, Seydou Keïta, the Malian photographer whose portraits from the 1940s to the 1960s immortalized ordinary people as icons.
Keïta’s images often featured Vlisco fabrics, symbolizing pride and identity. In this new reinterpretation, Diouf and Stuurman reimagine that legacy for the modern era.
Shot at the Alliance Française de Kaolack in Senegal, an architectural masterpiece and a recipient of the Aga Khan Award, the campaign transforms fashion and photography into a shared language of history and hope.
Diouf designed a collection of silhouettes that merge tradition and modernity, crafted entirely from Vlisco’s latest prints. Her garments evoke the grace of West African heritage while exuding the confidence of a new generation.
Behind the lens, Stuurman infuses each scene with life, texture, and color, turning every frame into a living canvas. Together, they create an experience that transcends aesthetics; it becomes a spiritual conversation between past and present, between art and memory, between Africa and the world.
Bridging Borders, Building Futures
This collaboration is more than fashion, it is a movement of unity. By bringing together creative forces from West and Southern Africa, Vlisco demonstrates that the continent’s greatest strength lies in its capacity to collaborate, not compete.
It is a vision of what happens when African talent joins hands across borders, when designers, photographers, and artists come together to tell one story: a story of shared pride, collective power, and limitless potential.
By celebrating Sarah Diouf and Trevor Stuurman, Vlisco celebrates every designer who dares to dream, every artist who redefines beauty, and every African who carries history in their fabric and future in their hands.
Icons That Last Forever
As Icons Last Forever unfolds, Vlisco reaffirms its legacy as more than a brand, it is a cultural institution, a keeper of stories, a bridge of opportunities between generations.
The campaign stands as a vivid testament to how heritage and innovation can coexist, how fashion can become history, and how collaboration can create something eternal.
Sarah Diouf, Trevor Stuurman, and Vlisco remind us that Africa does not wait for validation. It defines its own greatness, in color, in creativity, and in connection.
Because indeed, icons are not bound by time, they last forever.
