Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Authentic Ethnic

Thanks to Erin's A Dress A Day blog, I've found a really interesting 'fashion photo' site. While I really enjoy the fashion pics in The Sartorialist, those are generally photos of the young and the lovely or the aged and refined...folks who don't mind spending on fashion.

She Wears Shwe-shwe is a different look at fashion. From South Africa, Ann carefully approaches ladies who are wearing variations of shwe-shwe (Shweshwe - the ethnic-print "indigo cloth" synonymous with traditional black South African dress -- from 'She Wears Shwe-Shwe' post) and photographs them in their dresses or skirts, then (and this is what is cool) does her best to give the ladies a print of their photograph later. These are not wealthy women; most of the garments are made by the ladies themselves or a friend or family member (although a few have been purchased).

She's also showing the process of making a 'panel skirt'...a very interesting concept, in which the panels are printed on the fabric and..well, she's got pictures that will explain it better than I could. But go look... ;)

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