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RIYKA is a womenswear label, designed and made in the UK, run by husband and wife, Vedran and Rebecca, this is how its made!

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Tuesday 20 July 2010

Dots and stripes and everything nice, and some African fascination…


I seam to constantly be looking into the African culture for inspiration, I am always collecting images by African artists/musicians etc…so I have ended up with this nice collection of images, that I feel really represent my mood at the moment, and I just love the feeling you get from them…a kind of African beat..

Around January my other half found these pictures by Malick sidibe (a Malian photographer noted for his Black and White studies of popular culture in the 1960 in Bamako) in the guardian, and I immediately went to look up who and were he comes from, the combinations of fabrics in the portraits that he took are just up my street, and I love how serious all the models look in the photos, although they are in black and white, I feel that they are exploding with colour.


cousins

friends

flowers and a motorcycle

view from behind

posing in the studio

And of course I had to add these incredible dandies into the whole story, because they have such a brilliant outlook on life, and dressing up is the main issue here.

The gentlemen of Bacongo, is a book by Daniel Tmagani, which tells the story (through images) behind these African dandies, dressed immaculately in vibrant colored designer wear, Against the harsh surroundings of the shanty towns in the heart of the Congo.

Looking through these images got me thinking straight away about Junya Watanabe spring summer 2009…a phenomenal collection that to me defiantly carries that African beat