Wed, Jan 13, 2010 - Page 13 News List

Under African skies

Designers as disparate as Oscar de la Renta, Marc Jacobs, Frida Giannini of Gucci and Dries Van Noten are embracing the exoticism of pan-African influences

By Ruth La ferla  /  NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , NEW YORK

Maya A. Lake, the 26-year-old designer of Boxing Kitten, a line incorporating Dutch wax-resist fabrics and West African prints, drew some of her inspiration from the turbans and dashikis adopted by African-Americans who were part of the black power movement of the 1970s. “I often think about the political connotations behind those fabrics,” Lake acknowledged. “They definitely give people something to think about.”

She insisted, however, that there was no explicit message behind her designs. “Sometimes,” she said, “fashion can simply be fashion.”

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