I owe my love for fashion week to watching eight seasons of Project Runway. And everything I know about couture, I learned from Rachel Zoe and her reality show, my greatest guilty pleasure. So when I stumbled upon this dress from the Thakoon collection last week, it was like (as Rachel would say), "I die."
Gee, besides being cute, that fabric looks super familiar. According to the New York Times, Thakoon Panichgul called this plaid “Masai plaid.” As in the Masai of Kenya. Oh yeah.
Here is my Masai blanket (one of two) that I brought back from my trip to Kenya.
And here is the Thakoon show. Yep.
The Masai really do wear and use these blankets. They come in lots of different colors, but predominately plaids or stripes, and in shades of red, orange, blue and black. In the photo are our guides from the safari, Ratik and James, in theirs. You also find them in stacks at the tourist market for sale relatively inexpensively, so they're a popular souvenir. Or, you know, you can buy the Thakoon version for a touch more money. Anyone want to craft me a dress?
