Ethnic Summer | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

Welcome to a new episode of Friday Fashion.
Traveling to a foreign country is about learning a different culture, taste new food, approaching local people in their language, trying their customs and bring back some of the beauty to talk about with my friends over a dinner party. Ethnic fabrics, jewelry, and some home décor are usually the things I bring back, hoping I will have a place or a use for them.
Ethnic fashion is about creating a distinctive look wearing a garment of a racial group or foreign society that can be incorporated in the western fashion, just like this mandala skirt below. It is like celebrating diversity in a personal way.

ZuChic -Mandala

Etsy – Mandala Fabric

I would make a spectacular jacket out of this mandala fabric. I found it on Etsy https://etsy.me/2YFropx

Flowing dresses and layered patterns is one of the ways to combine ethnic design.

ZuChic-Layered

ZuChic-Purple

In the 20th century, western society was smitten by the Eastern far side of the world from the European Bohemian style outfits of the hippies and flower children to the Indian style, China style, Middle Eastern and African style of the ’70s. In the 1990s, approaching the new Millennium, designers felt to reconcile with the ethnicity of distant countries, creating new expressions of eclectic without being too faithful to the style of a particular country. Exotic was a word coined then. If it came from elsewhere, it was exotic and therefore accepted as new and out of the ordinary. Of course, if we look back in history, chinoiserie and silk fabrics were the high styles of Italian and French courts in the 1700s. Their fashion and home décor reflected the acceptance of foreign influence in their culture.

Ethnic Hat by Cicely Gilman

My friend Cicely Gilman hand-embroidered this style hat, reminiscence of the traditional Arab Kufi hat for men. Today, western women can wear this style of hat with modern clothes, casual jeans, or ethnic clothes. However, think how good this colorful hat could highlight a woman stark business outfit and take the serious edge off of it. Cicely is not a person afraid of colors. She produces fabrics for fashion and interiors. Find her bold and vibrant creations here: www.etsy.com/shop/cicelygilman

This necklace is one of my latest purchases on eBay and I will wear it with a very modern outfit. All the little metal beads will make a nice sound when I move, kind of like wearing windchimes and all the nice thoughts will come in. I heard a phrase in the film Return To Me:
“When bells ring, angels appear”. Perhaps, the sound of this necklace will do it.

eBay Ethnic Necklace

Ciao,
Valentina
Fashion Services
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, born in Italy in a family of artists. Style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. She is passionate about colors and encourages her clients to express their individual style in their homes and with the clothes they wear.
To better help people all over the world, she offers consultations online. She is the author of four books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w