How Traditional Fabrics are Making a Comeback in Fashion
Retro is cool; you can’t put a price on nostalgia, well; OK, you can put a price on nostalgia, that’s what fashion is all about; taking current trends and capitalizing on them. With this in mind, we thought it would be good to take a closer look at how certain traditional fabrics are making a comeback in today’s world of fashion.
African
African fashion and fabrics are so distinctive they are never mistaken for anything else; think vibrant earthy tones; we are talking browns, yellows, green and red. The bond with nature and the natural world, an affinity to the earth, and the ground providing life is often the ethos and thinking here.
Asian
Asia is such a vast continent with such a variety of nations, cultures, and fashions that it seems wrong to have to treat it as a single category, but we’ll give it a go. Fine, soft threads, such as Thai Silk, long considered a luxury product, seem to be a constant across this region. These silks have been so desirable throughout history that the trading routes linking South East Asia and the West were famously known as The Silk Roads. Beyond the fabrics themselves, we can see a splash of vibrant colors being the dominant theme throughout the region.
Celtic
Celtic fashion is a tradition that we will all be familiar with. There are anywhere between three and eight Celtic nations depending on who you ask. Still, most people indeed consider Ireland, Scotland, and Wales to be amongst them, with Isle of Man, Cornwall, and Brittany in most lists. The Celtic fashion is often dark, mainly green, homely, and involving patterns and knots. Look at some of this Irish women’s clothing for inspiration. It’s not just in the clothing itself if we consider how popular Celtic jewellery has been over the years.
European
European fashion is another category we could consider too wide to adequately be covered, but it forms the basis of most of our culture and fashion in North America; after all, many of us are of Western European descent. Think, of course, hard-wearing fabrics, such as wool, gingham, and tweed. Items such as the humble suit have their origins in Europe, and a traditional fitted suit can be used in so many settings these days. We can all look back at some classic looks and agree that these previously derided fashions still have a place today.
South American
We’ve left one of the best until last; I simply love South American fabrics and fashions; it goes with the whole vibrant culture of the entire continent. If you take the food, the people and the music, the fabrics envelop all of this and tie it up in a bow for you. Think patterns in high-quality wool, if you look at both the complexity of pattern, the vibrant colors, and the fare from every region changes just subtly enough to give a flavor of the local culture.
