Masai Jewelry ‘inspired’ by John Galliano

A few years ago, in the context of a fashion spread shot in East Africa, a leading fashion magazine referred to Masai tribal jewelry as being ‘inspired by John Galliano’. Either the writer was slipping a humorous jab into the text or suffering a moment of heatstroke while shooting in Kenya. The poor editor who let this slip was no doubt faced with a few stinging letters signed ‘enraged of Manhattan’.

The shots below are from my book, African Image. The image on the left is of course a Masai woman who would certainly not have heard of John Galliano – the photograph was taken in Kenya in 1966 and at the time, the very talented Mr Galliano was 5 years old.

The image on the right is a Pondo Matriarch photographed in South Africa in 1966.

For clarity the individual images from the spread are repeated below.

Technorati Tags: African Image, Fashion, Sam Haskins