Fashion

Speaking Of Osei Duro

Color and traditional fabrics are two things I can’t ignore, I have a soft spot for hand crafted items and African made clothing which would make up a large percentage of my wardrobe when I finally get around to defining my style. About Osei Duro, what really caught my interest were the fabrics which I later discovered to be a product of hand work by local artisans in Ghana.

Osei Duro stocks comfortable wearable pieces and caters to women who value fashion and the story behind the garments, women who want to be in style, but not substitute the ethics behind it.

The line was conceived when Maryanne Mathias took a trip around the world collecting textiles from vibrant locales such as Egypt, Morocco, India and Ghana. With a craving to do something more in Ghana, she approached her high school friend Molly Keogh to partner with her on the venture and they launched their first capsule collection of Osei Duro in 2009.

The name Osei Duro translates to “Honorable Magic” which backs their ethos of taking a rich tradition and re-interpreting it into a modern collection with each stitch rooted in Ghana’s sartorial history.The line aims to support the local markets by buying all of their shirting and linen from Ghana and producing their textiles and garments which are hand-dyed using traditional techniques resulting in no two pieces being exactly alike. They have also been experimenting with re-purposing by buying items from the local market, over-dying them and adding embroidery.