Gallery: SUSTAINABLE STYLE SUNDAY: Dur...

If Duro Olowu is not on your sustainable style fashion radar, he should be. This former lawyer from Nigeria has a flair for breaking the laws of couture design via a resourceful mix of brightly colored, recycled African prints and vintage seventies-style tailoring. Olowu has made a big splash on the global ‘must-have’ list with his one-of-a-kind hippie chic and signature high-waisted patchwork dresses, recently updated to an even bolder variation featured in this season’s Barney’s New York green holiday catalog..

Olowu has a sophisticated eye for mixing recycled and custom-designed fabrics with strands upon strands of global jewelry accessories. Though his haute-couture creations carry a hefty price tag, Olowu attributes his luxurious extravagances and emphasis on ‘fashion as art’ to a desire to pay homage to the regal and stylish women of Bamako, the capital of Mali. “It’s a dizzy quick visual beauty that reflects my culture and women – it’s a very joyful dress, effortless, comfortable, and sexy without being in-your-face,” he says.

With the well-timed opening of his shop on Portobello Road in London and the wide acclaim he received after his debut at London Fashion Week last February, Olowu is now slated to bring African-inspired and mulitcultural collaged creations to the forefront of our sustainable style sensibility.

+ Duro Olowu + Duro Olowu Fall 2007 Collection on Style.com