Follow the Interest

Just as criminal investigators are advised to "follow the money," "follow the interest" is good advice for those hoping to engage young people in world affairs.

     A variety of interests might draw a student to Africa. Consider fashion. What inspired Ruth E. Carter, the costume designer for Black Panther,  the comic book-inspired movie kids are eager to see? Like Carter, who studied African tribal patterns, colors, and silhouettes, fashion conscious movie goers will be inspired to think about how they too could incorporate the Ndebele neck rings Okoye wears in the movie into their outfits.

     Students interested in film careers won't think twice about casting people of color from any country in the movies they plan to make. They know Lupita Nyong'O, a young Nigerian-raised star won an Academy Award for her supporting role in 12 Years a Slave.

     Fashion designers-in-the-making also have seen Nyong'O modeling African-inspired clothes in Vogue. The magazine also introduced them to Nigeria and the Lagos-based Maki Oh, the designer responsible for the dress Michelle Obama wore on a trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2013.

     Paul Simon's interest in music caused him to sing with Mama Africa Miriam Makeba in South Africa in 1987 and to record his Graceland album with South Africa's Ladysmith Black Mambazo choral group. The British hip hop grime of Ghana's Stormzy draws the current generation of music trend setters to Africa.

     With the Olympics approaching on February 9, student downhill skiers, cross-country skiers, bobsledders, figure skaters, and speed skaters might want to learn more about what produces champions in Austria, Germany, Russia, Canada, and Sweden.

     Those interested in soccer, already follow their favorite sport in Barcelona, Madrid, Manchester, and Brazil.

     And if students like food and cooking, those interests can take them anywhere in the world.  

   

So You Want a Career in Fashion. Do It!

Don't let all the talk about artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics scare you into another field. Who knows, outfits for robots may be the next new thing? In any case, you only need to watch the "Project Runway" TV show to realize interest in fashion is as global as interest in the Internet of Things. Designers on "Project Runway" are male, female, and other; Japanese-American, African-American, and Muslim. In fact, the Muslim designer's long, modest fashion won the show's second competition. And this season, "Project Runway" also requires designers to create stylish clothes for women who take every size up to and including size 22.

     But "Project Runway" is not the only one breaking the traditional fashion mold. Fashion magazines, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Elle, have responded to competition from the international fashion reach of Facebook and Google. Where consumers and advertisers want products in local languages tailored to cultural dress codes, political policies, and local designers, models, and icons, there are separate editions, such as Vogue Arabia, Vogue Latin America, Vogue Poland, Vogue Czech Republic and Vogue Ukraine. Naomi Campbell, among others, supports the idea of launching Vogue Africa. When it is possible to create editorial content compatible with international interests and brands and using international celebrities, the same major campaign can run in as many as 25, 32, or 46 separate editions.

     Based on consumer interests and advertising trends, David Carey, president of Harper's Bazaar's Hearst publisher, expects local content to shrink somewhat as global content increases in future years.



   

Clothes: A Platform to Address Global Issues

Sure, clothes are a platform to advertise brands. Interlocking "C"s say Chanel, and red soles mark Louboutin stiletto heels.

     Angela Luna, a student at famed Parsons School of Design in New York, realized clothes were a platform that could do more. Like the peasant dresses and flowered hair wreathes that contrasted peace with war in the Vietnam era, she began designing the clothes today's war refugees need in order to carry their homes on their backs.

     Luna created a line of seven, unisex, one-size-fits-all ponchos and jackets that convert into tents, sleeping bags, flotation devices, and baby carriers. (You can see her designs at ecouterre.com.) Her clothes are versatile, durable, and waterproof. Reflective on one side, jackets and baby carriers provide visibility at night and turn inside out to blend in for daytime wear. Being a design student, Luna added contrasting tapes and as much styling as possible to her functional clothing.

     Citing the TOMS shoe program that lets everyone know that, if you are wearing a pair of TOMS shoes, you have helped give a pair of new shoes to a needy child, Luna sees clothes as an unexpected platform to start a discussion about global issues. Seeing a little girl wearing a stylish jacket made out of white faux fur can remind others lots of bunnies have been saved. How can more clothes start a discussion?

Let's Talk Fashion

Rules provide fashion guidance according to the new book, Ametora (the Japanese slang abbreviation for American style tradition). With that in mind, I put together the following guidance for boys and girls with an aptitude and interest in fashion.

     Fashion is one of the easiest industries to enter.
The winner of the new "Fashion Runway Jr." TV program in the US is 14 years old. Even younger kids sell their beaded jewelry at craft fairs. Whip up a bow tie on a sewing machine or print a graphic T-shirt and take it to the investors on "Shark Tank," to the etsy.com website, or to your own yard sale.

     Customers look for both the new and the old, when it comes to fashion.
Wearable watches, health wristbands, and other electronics all have created demand for the devices that Sangtae Kim at MIT is designing to convert energy from walking and running into power for new wearables. At the same time other consumers are creating a demand for the designers making clothes and accessories made from recycled materials and for the designers modifying styles from the past: Ivy league/preppy, hippie, military, Hawaiian, hip hop/rapper, heavy-duty-rugged-outdoor-lifestyle, health-conscious-surfer-skateboarding-outdoor-lifestyle, gangster/rebel/delinquent, vintage, and, of course, the standard uniform for men (dark suit, white dress shirt, black plain toe shoes).

     Customers look for both luxury and mass market brands.
Globalization has made it possible to carve out a niche for expensive, limited-edition goods among the superwealthy in countries throughout the world. It helps to keep an eye on markets in the shifting countries that have the strongest currencies. Or, you can create the new hoodie or infinity scarf to sell everywhere: in department and discount stores, on TV, over the internet, in direct mail catalogs, or in open air markets.

     Customers demand authentic fashion and imitations.
While some customers want items only from the country that originated them, like jeans from the USA, others are satisfied wearing mandarin collars, Nehru jackets, Indonesian shirts, or hijab head scarves that are made anywhere.

     Girls and boys with an interest in fashion are not limited to being designers.
They can become fashion illustrators and photographers or write the background stories some customers want along with their purchases. New styles can originate in the cartoons kids draw, what they wear in their garage bands, the costumes they design for school plays, and in how they express themselves in streetwear, that is, what they put together to wear when they walk down the street.

     Fashion is a field that thrives on what's new.
Even the color that's in today can be out tomorrow. Anywhere in the world, a youngster could be thinking up the next new fashion trend.





   

Fashion's Open Door

Two ideas Robin Givhan presents in her new book, The Battle of Versailles, should encourage designers in lesser developed countries to enter the fashion industry. She traces the history of fashion from one-of-a-kind haute couture styles dictated by the French monarchy to ready-to-wear separates women find practical and a freeing way to express their own style. The fashion industry Givhan describes today is: 1) a global business and 2) in a constant state of flux. The earlier blog post, "The World of Fashion," already mentioned designers in China, Brazil, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, as well as France, the UK, Germany, USA, and Japan.

     New designers have a wide open opportunity to introduce their own new looks. Earlier blog posts mention jewelry makers (See "Fashion Forward.") and textile weavers (See "International Fashion Designers Find Consumer Niches," "Fashion As a Cottage (and Sustainable) Industry," and "The Continuing Battle of Good and Evil.") who are uniquely suited to work together to create coordinating pieces, such as the Versace-designed emerald green necklace and gown Scarlett Johansson wore to the 2015 Academy Awards or the geometric necklace Project Runway finalist, Amanda Valentine, created to complement her color-blocked maxi dress. Chico's, the retailer known to feature jewelry inspired by the clothes it sells, might be ready to feature just such items.

     Taaluma (a Swahili word meaning "profession") is a company that has combined travel and fashion. On trips to Guatemala, Indonesia, Mali, Bhutan, and Nepal (recently suffering from a major earthquake), explorers from Taaluma (carryacountry.com): 1) purchased traditional fabrics, 2) made these textiles into backpacks, and 3) donated a portion of the proceeds back to the countries' organizations.

     Fashion also has become interested in protecting the planet. In order to use less water and fossil fuel to produce and transport goods in the entire supply channel, new items are being recycled out of old ones. The earlier blog post, "Recycled Fashion Firsts," reported how, for example, the fence that once imprisoned Nelson Mandela in South Africa had been made into jewelry.

     T-shirts, bracelets, and a variety of fashion items are now used to support causes (See the blog post, "North Pole Flag."), and, despite continuing problems in countries such as Bangladesh, organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council have been formed to make sure artisans, cottage industries, and employees in lesser developed countries work in safe/healthy conditions and are fairly compensated.

     In The Battle of Versailles, Givhan writes that designers design from what they come from. Nowadays, that can be any country or culture in the world.