FRONTIER STYLE: OUT OF AFRICA

This time for Africa! With such things as animal prints, tribal jewelry, canvas bags, kaftans and desert boots creeping into the high-street shops and designers such as Michael Kors drawing inspiration from a Kenyan Safari for his Spring/Summer 2012 collection, Frontier is more than happy to jump on the band wagon.

If you’re looking for authentic African produce The Africa House is a great site for organic t-shirts and other accessories sourced from countries all across Africa. This Safari Tote is both practical and cool, made from cotton in vibrant block-colours, with two external and two internal zip pockets, reduced from £20 and yours all the way from Zambia.

However, if you’d rather experience African style in your local high-street shops, there are numerous options.  Right now rings are big, both in terms of size and popularity. In fact, big rings are getting bigger and bigger, and now it almost seems that people and shops are trying to ‘out-ring’ or rather ‘out-bling’ each other. One way you can ‘out-bling’ the competition is with this tribal-inspired Four-finger shield ring from Urban Outfitters, reduced from £24 to £15. The ring is a winning, chunky statement, as it stretches across not two, not three but four fingers.

It is easy to go wrong with African-inspired prints, they can often come off as tacky. I’d say either play it safe or embrace the tackiness. You could do it quietly with something like the Animal Crop Vest from Topshop, a cotton crop top in dark burgundy with zebra and wild cat detailing which you can dress down with jeans, boots and a big knitted cardigan. If you can’t stand/don’t think you can get away with animal prints, an easy alternative to get into the African spirit is to play it safe with this dark Tribal Print Tee.

If you have the money to splash out, the ASOS REVIVE Animal Embellished Bomber Jacket, £120, is the perfect item to embrace wacky and garish animal prints whilst remaining tasteful. The jackets bold, all -over animal print, is toned down by the urban bomber design and sequins, both of which are current trends and so, the jacket is transformed from tacky to tasty.

Just as Nails Rock made their mark on high-street fashion today with their Animal Print Designer Nail Wraps, an easy peel-off alternative to nail polish, so they have paved the way for a similar, new development introduced into pharmacies and beauticians. Violent Lips temporary lip tattoos, which come in leopard red, leopard natural and, my favourite, cheetah pink, are an ingenious and fun way to embrace African animal prints in an outlandish way.

By Greta Hedley-Miller

Comments

[Charlotte]

I love that bag! You may be seeing some of these around the Frontier office...