Matriarchs of tribal style

Now here’s a novel idea for Mothers' Day – especially if your Mum’s a fan of President Obama, or just likes to dress in a unique and individual way: ShopCurious is offering a range of stylish silk tops and dresses in Obama commemorative fabric, created by talented US-based designer, Lola Faturoti. (Click on pics to enlarge).








In case you didn’t know, Lola’s the one with the yellow hat (left) in these pictures. You can also see her face famously depicted in profile as the logo (right) of her original hand printed t-shirts.







Whether or not your 'Mom' is a matriarch of tribal style, or perhaps just one of the many followers of Barack Obama, she'd definitely make a real fashion statement by wearing one of these authentic designs. These unusual tops not only combine comfort and style, but are timeless and collectable pieces – and they’re simply perfect for passing on to future generations too:

Something of historical significance to keep in the family (or at least the human tribe).

Will you?

Love Obama fashion baby

How wonderful to see all the African influenced designs at New York Fashion Week, especially so many Barack Obama inspired pieces.

It makes a change after the campaign t-shirts, baseball caps and curiously unmemorable memorabilia to see some stylish and collectable fashion by top African-American designers – like Lola Faturoti, the Nigerian-born fashion designer, whose uniquely timeless and iconic commemorative Obama Dress is available to order at ShopCurious - as presciently reported by Hilary Alexander on the Telegraph’s website.

What I’m curious about is why no commemorative garments were designed for our beloved leader Mr Brown. Perhaps there’s a Jeremy Clarkson of the fashion world who’d hazard a guess as to why that might be?





I strongly suspect that Gordon Brown doesn’t quite have the style and charisma of President Obama, let alone the mesmerizing voice. And I suppose that not actually having been elected might have something to do with his lack of glorification by the art world?






Nevertheless, in my opinion, Obama’s popularity has got a lot less to do with hero worship and a lot more to do with hope. Okay, so Obama’s got a great bod for a man of a certain age – think Charlton Heston in Ben Hur, but he’s also become an icon of hope.







I loved Rowan Moore’s description in the Evening Standard of the Shepard Fairey poster for Obama’s campaign, as shown next to the Big Brother logo at the Design Museum ‘Designs of the Year’ exhibition: “One represents the selfish, decadent, shallow, cheap world we hope is passing into history. The other is serious, aspiring and hopeful ..”

I’m certainly full of hope.

Are you?

Slow forward

Damn, I missed Obama’s inaugural speech – but have heard plenty of snippets played over and over and over and over and over on the radio and TV and will they ever stop?

Still, Barack Obama certainly seems like he has ‘style with brains’ – let’s just hope that he does. There’s no doubt he’s an awesome orator and a very charismatic guy – oh, and as Mica Paris so delicately(!) pointed out on Tuesday night’s LBC News, when asked why she thought Obama had won: “He’s a cool guy” who “appeals to the young” and “walks in a really cool kind of way” … Thanks Mica, you’ve got a great voice and a very big heart and you’re a lovely lady (and you forgot to mention President Obama's very fine set of teeth).





A few months ago, all we were hearing is that it was ‘time for change’ and now we're getting the already strong message that ‘change has come’. I must say that I’m totally fed up with change. In my relatively short lifetime it seems like things have speeded up to a frantic pace, especially in the past few years. Everyone wants everything, everywhere, now. Obama seems like a genuinely nice and well intentioned guy, but even with huge global resources at his fingertips, he can’t change the world for the better overnight.




And unfortunately we’re stuck in rather a bad place - A place where ‘change’ means a new face in charge, (preferably one that’s relatively symmetrical and pleasing on the eye); a place where curiously unbecoming behaviour and lack of consideration for others is often glossed over by PR; a place where things have to be reduced to a monetary equivalent and where celebrity endorsement counts for much more than educated reason and hard-earned experience; a place where authentic values and simple pleasures seem to mean very little.

I really do hope that things will change for the better because I’ve occasionally thought that I’d like to stop the world and get off. And I hope that in future, the change will happen less quickly - so we don’t get all tangled up in the moral, social and economic dilemmas that we find ourselves challenged with today.


Aside from all this, though possibly related, I’m so pleased to see that Google has been promoting the U-tube Symphony Orchestra on their homepage – seems somehow more worthy than The X-factor.




Which brings me on to the serious subjects of fashion and taste. Style isn’t about appearance and price (or net worth). There's a clever art to finding things that are unique and have real style – and it's all the more rewarding if you have a limited budget. Whatever your spending power, why not save up for a while and get something really special? Do you actually want to purchase a garment (whether it be a cheap and poorly made chain store rip off, or a costly designer gown) that everyone knows the price of? How about something truly original, beautifully made and timeless in its appeal? Feel no compulsion to buy from ShopCurious – why not simply indulge your curiosity and have a good look around...

Will you?