So the baby in the first picture has a fendi Bib and the second picture the man holds a Burberry umbrella and a young woman with an Etro handbag. When I first saw these pictures, I was amazed at the traditional garb the models were wearing and how well the designer item meshed. I feel it reflected a few sentiments that are floating through fashion. One senitment is the ethnic look. There is the American ethnic look: the hood chic; bamboo earrings three fingered rings, high waist, Reeboks, spandex, it goes on, its starting to mix so much, I forget what was old and what is new. Then there is the worldly ethnic look, African ethnic: fake kente patterns, bold colors with brown, wooden jewelry and beads. All this has been mixed in the traditional retro look out now.
BUT, properly capitalized there has been a hub bub of problems with this spread. It all comes to light after that frightening Vogue cover of Lebron and Bundchen .
Where the Fashion world has for some odd reason, maybe globalization decided to actually care about inclusion of the majority of the world, people of color. Where these looks of culture and ethnicity are being mainstreamed and modified so they do not have meaning or matter anymore. The style of "hood chic" comes from people in lower income areas developing their own fashion in reflection of not being included in larger society. The cultures that created kente cloth or Indian garb have a cultural meaning to their clothing. When designers create with these other cultures and brand it as their own, it is stealing. There are women in the "cottage industry" that will soon loose jobs because their clothing will be available at Walmart in India or China.
This is also globalization at its finest.Yet, artistically the spread is lovely, colors are so beautiful it reminds me I need to add Mustard to my wardrobe.
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