FASHION NEWS: HIGH STREET RETAILERS HAVE GONE ALL TRIBAL ON US!

With every high street retailer featuring the current ‘tribal’ print trend within their collections, my friend RG and I were not surprised when we saw the mannequin in the window of high street retailer Warehouse, wearing an African inspired print dress (see picture above). Now, our initially thoughts were simultaneously irritation. Why you ask? Because this is something which we all know we’ve been rocking for years, whether we had a tailor back in Nigeria, Ghana or Zimbabwe sew it up for us in a modern style or whether we sewed it ourselves (well, those of us who are talented enough to know how to work a Singer sewing machine – Charmaine!). When we were out showing off our ‘couture’ pieces, no one took notice. Then because a copy cat designer saw one of us ‘wearing’ our hot outfits one day out in Soho, they decided it looked too good too good to not include within their collection and ‘hey presto’ all the fashion magazines congratulate them on being the ones who made ‘tribal print’ cool… Nonsense. With UK independent labels like RG, Sika and Gisella Boutique who have been using African prints and turning them into modern styles for yonks, it can be said that its a little annoying to see the ‘big guns’ jumping on the bandwagon and selling by the bucket loads. Not saying they shouldn’t as its good Africa is able to inspire fashion trends and helps to increase awareness on the independent labels like the aforementioned. I suppose all I’m saying is “people, remember to support home-grown talent first, before making your way down to Oxford Circus”. I can almost guarantee you, you’ll find more unique pieces with them and you won’t be wearing the same African print inspired dress as your colleague Sharon who lives in Essex. Not that it’s a problem… but still you know what I mean.

To see African inspired clothing with a modern twist, visit independent designer Ruki Garuba’s website http://www.rukigaruba.com/