In this series of articles on women’s fashion, we tracked the emerging phenomenon of the Global Traveller look, and attempted to predict its legitimacy against the backdrop of a frighteningly distasteful ethnic fashion shoot from French Vogue where models were actually asked to… well… black up? Despite this almost unbelievable act of stupidity the integrity of the Global Traveller trend has dodged the flak, and the world of women’s fashion is better for it. When doing some research on the major components of the trend, the print dresses, fashion accessories and so on, some highly pleasing affinities came about between fashion worlds. The New York Times brought the scoop on the African kanga, essentially the source for all those geometric, harlequin designs that are enjoying such a revival at the moment. The kanga, essentially a length of the print fabric, is used in a variety of different and practical ways by the women who champion the garment. If we look at our own recent fashion trends for morphable headgear and shawls and that double as sarongs, we’ll find that we’ve been pipped at the post by the women of these communities. What was interesting about the Times article was the detail about how remote villages get to hear about the sensitive changing trends in kanga colours and patterns: “The designers load up a truck and drive to the country side (sic) and sell to the local women, just like the Avon Lady.” It’s hard to entertain claims about cultural undermining when, essentially, the women in African villages anticipate the coming fashion news as readily as we do. So, despite the shaky start, it seems to have been viable to say that the Global Traveller look had its heart in the right place all along. It would’ve been a shame if it’d all ended in tears; perhaps fashion needs sensitivity as much as enthusiasm when approaching ideas of ‘ethnicity’ and cultural exchange. It’s certainly better than the big V’s thoughtless attempt – here’s an idea; if you want models to appear black, why not… bear with me here… hire black models? Anyway. The high street conception has gone on developing the manifestations of this look as time has gone on, and with the vast range of items cropping up and highly-personalized nature of the trend it’s hardly a challenge to pull it off this spring and summer. The perfect basis is the printed cotton cami or printed cotton dress, with denim shorts or alternately printed maxi skirt. From there you can go wild with a choice of belts, bangles, and other jewellery to bring out your individual loves of world fashion. Gladiator sandals are the way to go with this outfit for the ultimate attention to detail.
