Having always harboured a love for most ethnic crafty things, Navajo in particular, I am saddened by the current signs of its trendifiction. Yes, with all respect to the likes of Stella and Phoebe who will take a poncho or fringing and adapt it to their mood and aesthetic beautifully, there are also those inevitable slips of any isolated trend into the mainstream. This means that every Topshop from here to Timabactu will also have Navajo printed jerseys and poncho's. This is what I find frustrating, the instinct that it takes to recognise and appreciate the style in back issues of National Geographic is obliterated by one badly stitched suede fringed jacket. I don't dispute that high brow trends should be reinterpreted for the mainstream, I just protest when something that has cultural and historical validity is butchered and appropriated commercially at the expense of losing all its magic along the way. I have stored my fringed bag, my Aztec jewellery, my moccassins untill the wave passes.
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