![Ethical Fashion in Africa[1]](http://www.africafashionguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Ethical-Fashion-in-Africa11-e1362940191801.jpg)
LAURENCEAIRLINE is a fashion label based out of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, the hometown of LAURENCEAIRLINE’s chief designer, Laurence Chauvin Buthaud. Born in Africa, childhood in Switzerland and moving to Paris, Buthaud can boast of experience in fashion working with Louis Vuitton and french journalist Agnès Boulard.
Laurence Buthaud’s collections are all produced by locals at the ‘Laurence Airline workshop [which] serves as a pole of creation and a centre for teaching couture sewing techniques’ where they re-imagines the a cultural aesthetic of the great African continent’s inheritance in a way that is distinctly fresh modern and undoubtedly international.
The concept that “fashion and ethnic cultures can successfully collaborate to create possibilities for the future” is the driving force behind this line and also provides a vehicle for creating job opportunities in Abidjan amidst the aftermath of the humanitarian and political crisis in the Ivory Coast.
The concept behind LAURENCEAIRLINE is based on how fashion and ethnic cultures can successfully collaborate to create possibilities for the future. For the SS 12 season LAURENCEAIRLINE launched its first menswear collection “ABIDJAN” focusing on shirts and underwear – see here. For AW12 they expanded this season into pants and scarves in order to fully furnish the dressing room of the freedom-loving modern dandy. LAURENCEAIRLINE appears to cleverly bring together contemporary basics silhouettes from a European style with a strong African connection.
LAURENCEAIRLINE’s SS13 collection is a fusion of local fabrics in carefree masculine silhouettes, soft colour palettes in a fresh summer hue juxtaposed against strong bold prints and overall very wearable.
See images below.
LAURENCEAIRLINE’s SS13 collection
LAURENCEAIRLINE’s SS13 collection
LAURENCEAIRLINE’s SS13 collection
LAURENCEAIRLINE’s SS13 collection
LAURENCEAIRLINE’s SS13 collection
LAURENCEAIRLINE’s SS13 collection
The label can now be found in 18 stockists in countries worldwide which include Japan, South Africa, Belgium and the United States.
www.laurenceairline.com
