1 - Real, Touch & Feel: The multi-layered authenticity, originality and creativity of fashion in Kenya

To what extent is the Western-centric theory of authenticity and creativity relevant to Kenyan fashion consumers’ habitual consumption practices? Numerous studies have already concluded that a product’s authenticity is not among its inherent characteristics, but is ascribed to it through a complex creative process of negotiations and (re)appropriations. Based on my 10-week (auto)ethnography in Nairobi’s everyday fashion markets, focus group and wardrobe interviews with 40 Kenyan consumer, I realised the materiality of fashion and consumer’s continual interactions with different social actors also play a vital role in reshaping meanings of authenticity. As a global North, middle-class, male consumer who is well-versed with the Western fashion system, my understanding of authenticity started to evolve shortly after living in Nairobi and interacting with the Kenyan fashion designers, artisans, sellers and consumers. My resistance to consuming “fake” (often Chinese-made) products changed after trying on a pair of “original” Adidas sneakers – insisted by a team of sellers who spent half an hour scouting around the Toi Market for the “treasure”. Three days later, I finally realised they are not “original-original” when several male shop staff in another market spotted my new trophies, came by and touched them. Denise cheerfully commented, “They are not real, but it [7,5000 KSH] is a good deal…even better than the original [from the US]!” Rather than feeling cheated, the incident led me to further question the multi-layered values, meanings and materialities of fashion, also remap the oft-muddled relationships among authenticity, originality and creativity through a context-specific analytical lens.