Meet Glenn Samm, the model promoting indigenous fashion

Fashion has always been a way for people to express their beliefs and show off their personality.

With the constant evolution of fashion, especially on the African continent, more opportunities have opened up for people to express themselves in bold and daring designs and one artist who has not shied away from representing and promoting his indigenous African beliefs is Glenn Samuel Semakor, popularly known as Glenn Samm.

Glenn Samm describes himself as a ‘walking artist’ because he is not someone you can easily ignore on the streets or during art exhibitions and festivals such as ChaleWote where he can be seen adorned in traditional costumes or with unique facial art that depicts his Ewe beliefs and traditions.

His passion to promote indigenous African culture has seen him establish a contemporary African fashion movement called KvngsOfTheNewSchool, an all-inclusive group of models and what he terms as “Afrocentric /Afro futurist-inspired creatives.”

Already, the group is gaining international recognition since it was featured in a BBC documentary after catching the eyes of many patrons at last year’s Afrochella Festival in December with their unique appearance.

In an interview with the Graphic Showbiz recently where he mentioned his plans for the fashion industry and intention to blend African beliefs and styles with his Afrocentric creative pieces, the old student of Sogakope Senior High School said he would not be swayed by foreign influences.



“Fashion has no style, nobody has the set rules or standard to define what and how fashion should be. For instance, a period of time portrayed in a picture can be identified immediately just by the style of clothes the people are wearing, and this sums up just how powerful and all-encompassing fashion is.



“Also, fashion can change from one second to the next, but what never changes is the hold it has over society, and the role it plays in the modern world and that is why as an African with my own beliefs, I want to project my culture and my beliefs in what I wear.



“In this short time that I formed the KvngsOfTheNewSchool group, we have been featured many times across the world because of our uniqueness and most importantly, because we are projecting what others don’t have and that sets us apart.