Pieces of Africa: Adinkra//Duro Olowu, Spring 2010

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It's amazing the little treasures you discover when you look most things over. We featured Duro Olowu's Spring 2010 collection a while ago and re-visited it several weeks ago, charmed by a little but significant detail we hadn't noticed before. Olowu's distinct floral print shares the spotlight with print adinkra symbols, famous in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire for their hidden meanings, not unlike kanga print in that respect. In a world where "African print" has practically become synonymous with Africa's fashion scene, it's great to see other cultural influences seep through. Africa is by no means only good for one thing and there's certainly more where ankara (dutch wax/"african print") and adinkra came from.

Several Duro Olowu pieces are available online courtesy of Couture Lab and Barneys.

Happy shopping!

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[click to enlarge]

Connect with Duro Olowu:

Website

XO

P.S. Image II courtesy of Duro Olowu.

spotlight: loza maleombho @ boston fashion expose

as promised, here's a look at loza maleombho's first collection, as shown at boston fashion expose a few days ago:

we're in all types of like with the layered ruffles and her use of traditional african fabrics like adire. several pieces caught our eyes (especially the Agoudam dress, complete with turquoise fringe benefits, as well as the expertly executed Abidjan jacket) and we can't wait to see this designer's future offerings!! bravo, loza maleombho.

to contact the designer:

e-mail: info@lozamaleombho.com

blog

website

xo

(truth be told, we couldn't wait until boston fashion week to view the entire collection. the few pieces we saw on other blogs made us curious...so we shot the loza maleombho team an e-mail asking if we could see the entire lookbook in advance. we saw, we loved...and now we're excited to finally be able to share! happy viewing!)