Ethnic Influences in Apparel Design

It's no secret that cultures influence each other in different ways on a daily basis. So ethnic influences in fashion are no surprise. Most are so common that they don't even stand out anymore. American influences on other cultures is called westernization, an example would be how many countries that now wear t-shirts instead of only their original way of traditional dress like many African countries.

In the past few years there have been a few major ethnic trends in Western dress. Asian influences were big a year or so ago with the silk Asian dresses and shirts with wide sleeves that sometimes wrapped around and tied. Scarves have been really big as well, especially the now trendy keffiyeh that everyone wears wrapped around their necks, which are an influence from the middle east.

Europe is always influencing fashion in America. Especially in places like New York, people tend to follow trends in places like London. People in America that dress Euro are usually considered much more fashionfoward, especially compared to Americans sticking to your basic t-shirt and jeans.

I talked about Anna Sui's Native American looking trends in her line from this years New York Fashion show in my previous blog as well.

New York Fashion Week Trends:

Of course I haven't had the chance to look through all the collections for New York's fashion week yet but from looking at the ones I have, I've spotted a few trends. I've noticed that floral prints, highwaisted everything and bohemian chic are very popular, which I have always liked and am glad to see.

After browsing online blogs, I came across a compiled list of other main trends that I noticed myself a great deal at . The ones other than my favorite trends they listed were: asymmetrical, white dresses, pant/short suits, sheer fabrics, harem pants, cleapatra inspired, color (here is a link of the colors for the season), and ruffles/bows.

I really enjoyed Anna Sui's collection. There were a lot of gladiator sandles, bright funky patterns, lots of beading and these really cute bags that look like they were made by Native American tribes. The collection does not make me think New York at all and that's awesome.

I really think House of Holland looked horrible. It was mixing bright floral prints with polka dots and cutting up polka dots from denium. The men's line was a lot worse than the women's but there weren't more than a handful that I liked at all. Even Agyness Deyn couldn't pull them off.

Organic & Environmental Friendly Clothing

This year has been all about "thinking green". Alot of popular clothing stores have jumped on the bandwagon and have atleast a few items they are selling that are more friendly towards the environment than garments they had in the past. While working at Forever 21 last year, I couldn't begin to tell you how many shirts and bags we got in with the recycle logo on it and slogans like "I Love Earth'. I am pretty sure none of those were organic fabrics though, and totally defeated the purpose. So make sure if you are trying to help the environment, make sure you actually are instead of just appear to be.

Even though I think it is a great idea, a lot of times it's really expensive, and being a college kid with a part time job I can't always go for the organic things I wish I could. I do, however, spend a good deal of my money at the Los Angeles based store American Apparel which is a vertically integrated company that is only made in the US and is 100% sweatshop free. They have mostly cotton clothing that is made from 20% organic materials and I've read on their website how they are going to try to bump it up to 80%. They recently added new brighter colors to the organic sustainable edition t shirts, so you don't have to get just dull colors like many other organic shirts!


In 2006 the well known Levis Strauss added 100% Organic cotton jeans to their product line for the first time in 100 years. Not only is the jean itself eco friendly, they also use recycled buttons, zippers, rivets, fabric for the tabs and natural dyes for different shades of the jeans were used. The tags are printed in recycled cardboard and printed with soy ink.

Many people are opting in using an eco-freindly shopping bag instead of wasting plastic shopping bags at clothing stores and groceries. Donating clothing to thrift stores instead of throwing no longer worn clothing will also help a lot, as well as shopping at second hand shops and vintage stores and giving old clothes a second chance. Buying organic cotton instead of regular cotton is a good way to go as well.

Favorite Designer:

MARC JACOBS!

The main reason I love Marc Jacobs so much is his advertising. I really like that anytime I open a magazine I can tell right away that it's an ad for his campaigns because of the style in coloring, sexuality and usually his bizarre choice of celebrities. Some random celebrity choices include: child actress, Dakota Fanninig, the former Posh Spice, Sophia Coppola and the amazing M.I.A.

I also am a huge fan of his women's attire. I'd much rather look at clothes I could wear everyday or on a more normal basis than things I would never be able to afford or never have anywhere to wear them to. His Marc by Marc Jacobs is very trendy, young and New York. I really like his use of over sized bows, buttons, prints and layering.

Throughout his career he always takes risks and tries new things. He's been quoted as saying, "I love the reaction of love or hate. It's indifference that bores me to death."

(M.I.A for Spring/Summer 2008)