Nicole Miller and Vivienne Westwood have designs on Africa

 
When First Lady fashion plate Michelle Obama visited South Africa in June, she nodded to the region's rich textile tradition by wearing a colorful print top from the ASOS Africa fair-trade line. And I've been obsessed with finding African print clothing ever since. 

As it turns out, ASOS is not the only one dabbling in fair-trade fashion. Nicole Miller recently debuted a selection of brightly colored sarongs, shorts and bangle bracelets in five African prints, as part of a partnership with Indego Africa, a social enterprise that employs more than 250 women in Rwanda. The styles are available online, with 15% of proceeds donated to the organization.

Vivienne Westwood joined forces with the United Nations International Trade Center to debut her Ethical Fashion Collection for Yoox.com.

The Nairobi, Kenya-based center employs disadvantaged women, who make the wildly patterned bags for Westwood using recycled materials.

When the flame-haired designer visited the center this year, she took photographer Juergen Teller with her to capture the project.  "It's quite incredible to think we might be able to save the world through fashion," Westwood said in a statement.

Indeed.

-- Booth Moore

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Top photo: First Lady Michelle Obama wears an ASOS Africa tunic while visiting the Emthonjeni Community Center in Zandspruit Township, Johannesburg, South Africa, on June 21. Charles Dharapak /Associated Press. Middle photo: Sarong from the Nicole Miller Indego Africa Collection; credit: Nicole Miller. Bottom photo: Vivienne Westwood with bags from her Ethical Fashion Collection. Credit: Juergen Teller.

NYFW: Nicole Miller's fall 2009 collection

NEW YORK -- Nicole Miller showed a great collection for the price, picking up on the architectural vibe coming out of Paris and Milan last season. The silhouette was tight and sexy, with glossy and matte black color blocking and graphic details.

She opened with a wine twill shift dress with braided pleats articulating the waist. The shift seems like it could be it for fall. Skirts were super short with crisscrossing metallic embroidery or shard-like layers. A black and white print used on a blouse and dress reminded me of the steel beam and glass ceiling of the Grand Palais in Paris. The combination of cobalt and black also looked fresh.

-- Booth Moore

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NY Fashion Week: Skin is in

Hurricane Hanna hit New York on Saturday, the rain came in sheets, and still the glossy editors wore their stiletto sandals and booties, God bless 'em. Me, I wore my Havaiana flip-flops and almost lost one when I stepped into a puddle up to my ankles trying to steal a cab ahead of the teetering flock on the corner of 21st and 10th Avenue.

Luckily, trucking around in the soggy weather was worth it. The shows have been good, and from the handful I have seen, it seems to be all about the body for spring. Maybe it’s the Olympics, or fashion's
never-ending love affair with the 1980s, but skin is in; skirts are short and tight.

Up-and-comer Alexander Wang has got the look down like nobody else. His show was in a garage-like space with concrete floors that his helpers sprinkled with water to create that hot and sweaty after-a-night-of-partying vibe. They needn’t have bothered. We could have all just shaken out our umbrellas.

Wang's collection was raunchy and fun -- an awesome mishmash of sportswear and the street, with a touch of "Miami Vice" in the form of neon pinks and aqua blues. Crockett and Tubbs ARE due for a fashion comeback. And I loved the quote he put in his show notes: “Anyone can get all dressed up and glamorous, but it is how people dress for their off days that is the most intriguing.”