There is a trend emerging in social media, mostly amongst people in their 30s and 40s and sometimes even 50s that consists of sharing family pictures from their childhood days. It is a wonderful visual record of an era that was charmingly optimistic. The fashions are compelling - as anyone who is paying attention will have noticed there is a surge in post-independence era styles amongst the fashionistas of the African diaspora and beyond. The photos give away something of the character of what I like to call Generation Independence, people who have graduated to elder status now. It is there in the His and Hers individual photographs: lovely studio portraits in black and white with the subject usually looking off to the side of the camera, bristling with youthful vitality. He will be sporting a fiercely sculpted Afro with a carefully straight side-parting. She will be naturally gorgeous and glowing with health in a beautifully-tailored minidress, lips curved in a gentle smile. Yes, that's right- in a minidress. Most of the family albums I have come across, especially those containing pictures from the sixties, are teeming with women in outfits whose hemlines are well north of their knees. So [...]
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