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- Fashion
League of Nations
From an American expat living in Malawi to a Beijing-born Australian based in London, the latest crop of stylemakers is bringing a multi-culti flair to the fashion landscape.
January 2012
4MACOHA
After selling Hollywould, her exuberant, ultrapreppy
shoes-and-party-dress line, Holly Dunlap (inset) announced three years
ago that she was taking an indefinite vacation: “You may find us
skiing in the mountains of Switzerland, sailing near the shores of
Italy, sunning on the sands of Palm Beach…” read the breezy
post on her website. Building a school in Malawi wasn’t on the
itinerary. However, in August 2009, Dunlap found herself wielding a
hammer in one of Africa’s poorest countries, and while there she
learned about the Malawi Council for the Handicapped (MaCoHa), an
organization that provides training and employment for those with
disabilities. She decided to stay and work with the group, launching
4MaCoHa, a collection of colorfully embroidered tunics and caftans,
hand-dyed pillows, and hand-loomed rugs made from Malawian cotton by the
MaCoHa artisans. Her new venture is a far cry from her previous company.
“With Hollywould, we would often have 18 suppliers for one
handbag, sometimes spanning three countries,” she writes from her
guarded compound, where she has electricity “a few days a week, if
I’m lucky.” Yet some things haven’t changed a bit:
“Most of my customers are buying for holiday trips to the
Caribbean or Seychelles,” she notes. “And the decor items
are being sold to people with beach houses everywhere from Mozambique to
Montauk” (4macoha.com).—Karin
Nelson
January 2012
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