Manyfashion designers like to look to different cultures and traditions when itcomes to designing clothing. This is because they are seen as different andexotic, as most of the things worn in these cultures is based on patterns andimages that are not seen in our everyday life. When it comes to ethnic patternsand inspiration there are generally four consistent areas that inspiration hascome from. This article looks at some of the areas that have inspired patternsand clothing styles.

Themain areas where designers go for inspiration are Asia, Africa, South America and indigenous populations where they willuse the imagery in costume, such as Aboriginal dress or Native Americanculture.

Goingback to the 1970s and the hippy movement you will find a lot of ethnic dressingand this is probably when ethnic style became a more mainstream look. The?hippies? of the 1970s used a lot of ethnic clothing in their style, which hadinfluences ranging from indian mirror embroidery, through Afghan coats, sarimaterial skirts and peasant blouses to North American influenced suedewaistcoats.

Thisera definitely had a big influence on fashion and style and many of the stylesthat are around today have the roots in the 1970s.

Fromthe 1970s onwards there has been a rise in clothes that have been designed withan ethnic influence. Indiais one of the obvious places to start from. The traditional Indian blockprinted fabric provides an excellent base from which to create a whole newstyle from. Many of the block printing techniques are unchanged over centuriesbut the addition of machinery and modern dyestuffs has allowed many of thefabrics to be mass produced. Often alongside block printing is vat dyeing,particularly using indigo as a base. Indigo can be used for overdyeing in theblock printing technique, can be worked with using resist techniques (such astie-dye or mud resist work) or can be used in simple dip dyeing. Dip dyeingallows deeper shades to be developed on the cloth and can give a garment shapetrough this use of building up colour.

Add tothe printed or dyed fabric the beautifully elaborate embroidery that is done tohighlight the designs on the cloth and you have clothing that although ethnichas designs that are produced to such a high quality it is a pleasure to wear.

India is now home to a big industrial textile industry and can producecopious amounts of cotton and silk cloth at reasonable prices allowing more ofus the chance to delight in ethnic clothing.

Ethnicclothing gives you a really individual look which suits a range of ages and iseasy to wear.