Bahamian beauty by the bolt: the colorful hand-batiked fabric called Androsia is leaving its print beyond its island origins.

• Author: Murphy-Larronde, Suzanne

Nassau hotel manager Monique Smith sports her aqua and white Androsia pantsuit for weekend lunches with friends. The Reverend Newton W. Hamilton dons his navy blue and white Androsia shirt to officiate at informal weddings on the island of Andros. And for a relaxing day at the beach, Freeport teenager Geri Warren chooses from her collection of two-piece Androsia swimsuits topped by a gold and white Androsia cover-up.

All across the sun-lit archipelago of the Bahamas, it seems that just about everyone from toddlers to grownups owns at least one item made from the striking, hand-batiked fabric known as Androsia. But locals aren't the only ones fueling this hot fashion trend. Attracted by its crisp good looks and made-in-the-Bahamas label, growing numbers of international shoppers are also snapping up Androsia's distinctive line of clothing and accessory items in shops throughout the islands and, most recently, via the internet.

Gale Chabora, a New York jewelry designer, is typical of this new breed of dedicated collector from abroad. Ever since she discovered the Androsia Ltd. label in the 1980s, this frequent Nassau vacationer has taken to stocking up on its coolly comfortable resort wear along with yards of vividly colored fabric for the curtains, pillow shams, and wall hangings she makes to brighten her Manhattan loft. She even chose sheaths of diaphanous voile from the company's current offerings as bridesmaid gifts for her upcoming wedding. "It's simple," she explains. "Androsia reminds me of the ocean and of being in the Caribbean; it makes me happy."

Aside from the batik process itself, an ancient wax-resist dyeing technique that originated in Java, nearly everything about Androsia, including its design motifs and array of radiant colors, is pure Bahamian. The country's stunning natural surroundings furnish the ongoing inspiration for the delicate shells, tropical fish, leafy vegetation, and nautical patterns that adorn each season's collection of fabrics. Etched in stark white, these familiar island symbols, accompanied by the ubiquitous Androsia signature, appear in bold bas-relief on bolts of cotton, canvas, linen, and rayon dyed in saturated hues with Caribbean-sounding names like guava pink, aquatide, Blanket Sound blue, and sour sop green. This deceptively simple design formula, transposed onto some thirty thousand yards of doth each year, has turned Androsia into a perennial best seller, instantly recognizable and enduringly evocative of the islands' seductive tropical charms.

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