Ethnic influences on Apparel Design

It seems pretty obveous to which we have many ethnic influences in today's society. Why, you ask? Well, with many designers in all areas of the world, as well as designers traveling, it seems to me that much of our apparel results from different ethnic cultures and background even when we do not recognize it, because we are so used to it in our everyday society.

Right now, one of the hottest trends out there is Animal print. This represents a sense of an African Safari, becuase it can be anything from zebra, leopard, tiger, crocodile, snakeskin, giraffe, and many more. I know for me that this is huge because I just think especially for the young society it has a sense of fun to it, but at the same time is made to look very chic and sophisticated. Also right now there are a lot of bold and bright colors which bring back different time eras, but also kind of like a British Invasion kind of thing, like in Austin Powers. Gold is also huge right now, which definately represents royalty. It also reminds me of a greek goddess in a sense. This is because flats are really in right now, and one that seems to be exploding are gold gladiator shoes to go along with big gold or other colored bangles.

Whether we realize from day to day or not, other ethnic culture really influences our fashion in the United States today. Much of what we are wearing now, represents styles of other tribes, or even everyday people in other countries. I am proud to wear these pieces because it is fun to see where certain fashion in the United States has originated from, but also to see how creative different parts of the world are with even their little resources.