Non-Western Fashion Conference Handout 2013

2nd International 

Non-Western Fashion Conference

Constructing National Identity 

Through Fashion

 

London College of Fashion, UK

21-22 November 2013

 

 

ABSTRACTS

 

 

THURSDAY, 21st NOVEMBER

 

Fashion-ology Part II: Constructing A Theory of Non-Western Fashion/Dress

Yuniya Kawamura

 

Fashion can be theoretically analyzed as a concept, phenomenon or system among many others, but however fashion is examined, it is often taken granted that we are talking about Western fashion and not non-Western fashion or ethnic dress. In my book “Fashion-ology”, I made an attempt to theorize fashion as a system and used Japanese designers in Paris as a case study to explain their entry process into the fashion system, which exists in the West. According to Joanne Eicher et al in their article “Eurocentrism in the Study of Ethnic Dress” (1993), fashion and Western dress have enjoyed privileged positions, and less attention is paid to ethnic dress. Furthermore, they explain that European aesthetic standards and European perceptions of clothing were applied when representing non-Western modes. Western dress was considered as a visible symbol of civilization and cultural superiority. Thus, fashion professionals, such as academics and museum curators, often focus on Western fashion/dress that is more complex and intricate and therefore, are believed to be more worthy of serious considerations. We need to erase a mechanism of hierarchy between superiority and inferiority in various categories of fashion/dress. While classical theories of fashion proposed by scholars, such as Georg Simmel and Thornstein Veblen, elaborated on the concept of fashion, i.e. Western fashion, I make an attempt to explore whether non-Western fashion/dress can be or should be theorized in the same way that Western fashion has been theorized, and if it is at all possible to construct a theory /theories exclusively applicable to non-Western fashion/dress.

 

Fabulous Fashions, Dress History Dilemmas, and the Death Throes of Dichotomy:  Fashion Stories, Ethnicity and Geography

Sarah Cheang

 

The term ‘non-western’ is founded on dichotomy. Used to qualify the word ‘fashion’, ‘non-western’ implies that a series of west/non-west relations alters our understanding of what fashion can be. Some form of difference is also inscribed between ‘western fashion’ and ‘non-western fashion’.  How can such meta-geographical concepts of west and non-west be mapped onto a spinning globe, especially in relation to fashion’s multiple cultural systems, global flows and cosmopolitan associations? This paper interrogates some aspects of understanding ‘non-western fashion’, by focussing on issues of taxonomy, cultural heritage, textile history, fashion and national identity. Fashion historiography and the notion of story telling are used to consider the potential of fashion as a vehicle for communicating geography (telling stories of the land) and ethnicity (telling stories of a shared culture).  In tracking stories of western and non-western fashion heritage across India, China and Europe, and from the 19th century to the present day, this paper offers reflections on the possibilities and pitfalls of using ‘non-western fashion’ as a critical term.

 

 

SESSION 1A: (RE)INVENTING NATIONAL FASHION IDENTITIES I

 

Old Motifs for New Motives: Looking for the Roots of Change in the Contemporary Cambodian Fashion Scene

Katalin Medvedev

 

Although literature on emerging Asian fashion centers abounds, Cambodia’s fashion scene has rarely been discussed in fashion scholarship [1]. This is surprising, at least, for two reasons: First, Cambodia is a major producer of Western fashion products [2]. Second, because of Cambodia’s turbulent past, especially the Khmer Rouge genocide and a huge HIV/AIDS epidemic following it, the majority of Cambodia’s population is young [3] and belongs to the age group that is of interest to the global fashion industry and scholars. Cambodian youth craves fashion because they are intimately familiar with handling Western fashion products as factory workers [4] and because, as other young people across the globe, they are in the process of establishing their personal identity in which fashion plays a dominant role. Cambodian urban youth [5] are also exposed to Western styles through their exchanges with the thousands of tourists that visit Angkor Wat, one of the most visited tourist destinations in the world. Given this, several questions arise: What will Cambodia’s fashion scene look like in the future? Will it continue to remain a fashion periphery, despite the fact that the means of fashion production and attendant professional skills are already available in the country? Will Cambodian fashion continue to slavishly emulate Korean street styles in cheap versions or put its own spin on those Korean styles? [6] Or will Cambodian fashion choose to follow other Asian-inspired Western styles, currently only available in a handful of upscale boutiques? Or, with the stabilization of the country’s political and economic environment, will Cambodia try to revive its lost textile and fashion traditions as part of restoring its national culture? In doing so, will they try to recreate the traditional textures, complicated patterns and colors like deep purple and orange that they used to be known for among the world’s textile aficionados? [7] Is it even possible to revive the traditional methods of production, colors and motifs considering that Cambodia’s once world famous textile traditions and fashions disappeared during the devastations of the Khmer Rouge? [8] Today Cambodian fashion/textile production is clearly at a crossroads. Cambodia can remain for the foreseeable future only a producer of fashion products [9], or it can make its mark by restoring its once famous fashion and textile traditions. This paper, which is based on field research in Cambodia, introduces one attempt at the latter. It describes the work that is currently going on at the Institute of Khmer Traditional Textiles (IKTT), located in the Siem Reap region. The textiles that are produced at IKTT meticulously follow ancient traditions, which mean that the production process is very labor intensive and expensive.  It appears that Cambodia’s growing middle class, increasing numbers of tourists with refined tastes, and global textile aficionados appreciate their work because of their exclusivity and high quality. My paper argues that organizations like the IKTT can be the first step in creating genuine Cambodian fashion, as fashion always references the past to create new styles.

Notes: [1] Exceptions are Medvedev, 2010 and Medvedev and Reef, 2013; [2] Fashion production is the country’s number one industry, providing 90 percent of Cambodia’s total export value (Better Factories Cambodia, 2011); [3] 53 percent of the entire population is under 24 years of age. 37 percent is between 25-54 years of age and the rest are above 55 (Cambodia Demographic Profile, 2013); [4] An estimated 1.7 million people are employed in aspects of garment production in Cambodia (World Bank, 2007); [5] Because work is available in urban areas there has been massive migration to the cities. Dress plays an important role in the lives of migrants. Traditional dress is often exchanged for more urban styles in order to fit in; [6] There are several impediments to the development of a local fashion scene. The majority of Cambodians lives in deep poverty and has no money except for bare necessities.  There is no current fashion design training. People are uneducated and few people have any cultural capital, although changes are taking place; [7] After the devastations of the Khmer Rouge, barely any ancient textiles remained in Cambodia - no more than 400 pieces are currently in the National Museum. At the same time, there is a substantial Cambodian textile collection at the Smithsonian and also some in private collections. Cambodian textiles were made of yellow silk, which is softer to the touch and shinier than Chinese silks Westerners are mostly familiar with; [8] There are several reasons for this: a) the Khmer Rouge considered fashion a bourgeois enterprise and as such it had to be eliminated; b) fashion is generally an urban phenomenon and therefore it had no place in a peasant-communist regime the Khmer Rouge wanted to establish; c) Cambodian fashion used to carry a French imprint, which was a result of Cambodia’s colonial past, which had to be eradicated; d) Cambodia’s textile traditions were not documented for posterity because traditional skills and knowledge were historically passed down orally between generations and thus perished with the killing of master weavers and the destruction of Cambodia’s traditional weaving villages; [9] There is some likelihood for this considering that Cambodia is one of the world’s poorest countries and thus it perfectly fits the global fashion industry’s race to the bottom profile.

 

The New Shanghai Xiaojie: Chinese Fashion Identities

Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas and Babette Radclyffe-Thomas

 

‘The whole brand is like a presentation of myself. The Chinese part is from my blood and the European/Western influence is from what I’m experiencing …’ (Huishan Zhang, 2012). The Shanghai Xiaojie (海小姐) or Shanghai Miss was a constructed female fashion identity that represented modernity in 1920s/30s China. Fostered in the cosmopolitan metropolis of Shanghai she reflected the country’s socio-cultural changes (Fenby, 2009; Ko, 1999). Her iconic image was rekindled in the 1990s becoming a powerful symbol for nostalgic merchandising, employed by fashion brands such as Shanghai Tang as an indicator of heritage and cultural authenticity, (Ko, 1999:147-148). The twenty-first century fashion industry is increasingly international yet there is no consensus on whether globalisation inevitably homogenises cultural experiences (Levitt, 1983) or allows for heterogeneity (Kapferer, 2005). New generations of Chinese working in the fashion industry are creating diverse fashion identities however whilst fashion designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier scour the globe for exotic inspirations and are hailed as creative forces, the work of non-Western designers is often excluded from the contemporary, their designs interpreted as culturally rather than individually-based (Kondo, 2010). Undoubtedly when cultural symbols (e.g. the qipao or dragon) are represented there is a risk of culturally essentialist interpretations (Tsui, 2010). As we experience the development of both global and local cultures (Cowen, 2002), the extension of media access and cross-cultural exchanges in education and industry make it increasingly difficult to separate out cultural influences on creativity (Lubart, 1999). My own research reveals how a new generation of fashion students are embracing their cultural heritage and enjoy transposing it against the more traditionally disseminated (Western) models of fashion (Radclyffe-Thomas, 2011). Using a series of key Chinese creatives working across the fashion industry- including models, journalists, stylists, photographers and designers- this paper traces the development of twenty-first century Chinese fashion identities to illuminate discussions about national identities in fashion and to put the Middle Kingdom back at the centre of the fashion map.

 

Rise of the Neo-Drape: Redefining the Fashion Identity of India

Swati Rao and Shalini Sud

 

A sari is synonymous to India and is woven into its identity; it is eternal to its culture and traditions. A sari has been a connotation and a reflection of India's cultural productions in the past and till the present day. With every changing regional boundary, the drape, aesthetics, fabric, motif, pattern of the sari changes, each style being distinct and unique from the rest at the same time reflecting the cultural asset of the region/ culture. The powerful drape that the sari has been is evident through its personification of the Indian identity, as it reflects and adorns each and every change whether social, economic or political. A sari could be noted as a symbolic indicator of the progressive nature of India. With the Western fashions and dynamic silhouettes that are more prevalent and popular with the Indian youth, the sari seemed to be pushed back and was considered as old school or only for occasional wear. Hence the powerful drape was restricted by the limitations of it not being as fashionable when compared to blue denim or a tunic. Off-lately it has been observed that the Indian designers are making efforts to reintroduce and reinvent the sartorial sari to make it into a more meaningful in the current context and dynamic garment for the modern Indian youth. Young Indian designers are making efforts of producing unique modern day reflections of the Indian sari while retaining the heritage and cultural values through its traditional textiles, motifs and crafts. The reinvention of the sari is definitely the reflection of the modern, more culturally rooted youth. Not only have Indian designers realised the impact of the powerful drape, the Western interpretation of the drape has also led to creation of

 

 

SESSION 1B: (RE)INVENTING NATIONAL FASHION IDENTITIES II

 

Japanese Fashion Education and the Creation of a New Generation of Designers

Anneke Beerkens

 

Bunka Gakuen, one of Japan's most prestigious fashion schools, started about 90 years ago as the first Japanese institute devoted to teaching Western dress making. The institute proudly celebrates its status as producer of globally famous Japanese designers like Kenzo Takada, Junya Watanabe and Yohji Yamamoto and attracts thousands of students dreaming of a career in the fashion industry. More and more international students (most of whom Asian) choose to study at Bunka, apparently a guarantee for a "glamorous" future in fashion. Since the shock that Japanese fashion designers caused on the Parisian runways in the 1970s and 1980s, the international fashion world has agreed upon the fact that Japanese fashion has long passed the label "traditional." Rather, it is viewed as one of the most progressive fashion countries in the world. However, a closer look at didactic practices at Bunka Gakuen and the struggle young designers encounter when starting their career within and outside of Japan, shows us that both progression and stagnation are at stake - with conflicting interests between different actors. Young people are stuck between the expectations of older generations and the reality of working in the fashion industry. Whereas teachers tend to stress "Japaneseness" as the distinguishing feature and quality of their graduates and current students, the young designers themselves - many of whom are not Japanese -encounter not just advantages from this focus on Japan. My longitudinal ethnographic project investigates Bunka's position within the fashion world, its students' daily lives in- and outside of school, their future dreams as well as alumni's realities in the (inter)national industry. Through analytical consideration of fieldwork data, I want to discuss how Japanese fashion education ensures a cultural distinguished construction of creativity and how starting fashion designers in Japan try to navigate internationalization, personal identity and "Japaneseness" in fashion.

 

Return to Our Forefathers’ Glory? Fashion and Identity Politics Among Ultra-Orthodox Mizrahi Jews in Israel

Moshe Levy

 

In the 1980s a social and political movement named “Shas” was established. This movement sought to represent the Jews who immigrated to Israel from Arab and Muslim countries (Mizrahim) and suffered oppression and discrimination by the Ashkenazi Zionist establishment (Jews of European descent.) One of the key tasks defined by Shas leadership was to "Return to our forefathers’ glory." Shas wished to protest against the Zionist attempt to erase the oriental cultural heritage and lifestyle of the Mizrahi Jews. As an alternative, the movement sought to revert to the past and rebuild, through cultural, educational and communication institutions, the Mizrahi cultural tradition. This turn toward the past was also reflected in its spiritual leaders' attire, who wore traditional gowns and hats. However, the movement’s all male political leaders as well as thousands of activists adopted a dress-code that was designed in the early 19th century in Europe by Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox communities. This style which is identified with the oppressive Ashkenazi community, included black suits and broad black hats, detached from any real or imagined history of the Jewish communities living in Asia and North Africa. This article will conduct a post-colonial analysis to examine the tension between the Shas’ desire to promote traditional Mizrahi culture and the choice of a clearly European clothing style. This analysis will argue that this choice wishes to obscure or conceal any sign that may be reminiscent of the Arab characteristics of the Mizrahi Jews and thus reconfirms the European Zionist colonialist logic that places the "modern” and the “Jew" in a contradictory and exclusive identity category to the “traditional” and the “Arab.”

 

 

SESSION 1C: A REVIVAL OF TRADITIONAL DRESS

 

Cool Biz and Sumptuary Regulations in Japan Toby Slade

 

With the sudden energy crisis in Japan, precipitated by the 11th March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown, the reliance on artificial air-conditioned environments was abruptly made untenable and in response the Japanese government tried something that it not done since the war; sumptuary regulation (albeit in the form of a national guilt campaign). The male suit, which had long enjoyed a sovereignty over business fashion in Japan, which far greater than in its countries of origin, was all at once in jeopardy and issues of practicality in fashion brought to the fore. The suit was the supreme example of an essentially western fashion adopted so completely by a non-western nation and made its own, born from Japan's absolute insistence that it was equal with the potentially colonising western powers of the mid-eighteenth century. Now, with varying degrees of success the Japanese state sought to break lifelong male dress habits. This initiative was soon followed by a wave of fashion innovations designed to capitalize on the sudden insecurity the Japanese salary-man faced when he dressed for work. In the three summers following the crisis an entirely new fashion boom has occurred featuring revivals of traditional Japanese dress, wonderful hybrids and ingenious new forms. This paper will examine what is at stake in this state lead fashion crisis. It will cover the history of sumptuary regulation in Japan, from class-appropriate fabrics and colours of the Edo period, to austerity measures during the war, up to the campaigns of'Cool-Biz' and 'SuperCool Biz'. It will also examine the relationship of fashion to practicality, noting that fashion was never a phenomenon based in utility and logic of state regulation seems to fundamentally misunderstand this.

 

Wrapped in Cloth Sharon Peoples

 

In Canberra on 13th February 2008 Ngunnawal Elder, Matilda House, regaled in a possum skin cloak, welcomed all assembled on Ngunnawal land to witness the Apology to the Stolen Generation at the opening of the 42nd sitting of the Australian Parliament. Such hope was invested in the day and the full repercussions are perhaps yet to be felt.
One of the stylistic consequences of postcolonialism has been the global invigoration of ethnic/traditional dress and, in Australia, recognising that Indigenous culture is both innovative and is a continuing tradition, this has arguably opened the potential for a dynamic challenge to Western ceremonial dress practices through the wearing of possum skin cloaks at such a traditional event.
While ceremonial dress may seem removed from the day to day fashion industry, what has spawned is a slow growing Indigenous fashion industry that now runs an Indigenous Fashion Week. It has the usual key actors, such as the (Indigenous) supermodel, the (Indigenous) star designers and (Indigenous) celebrities that promote (Indigenous) fashion.
This paper focuses on the ‘traditional’ versus ‘tradition’ and West versus non- West. More particularly by using case studies such as, Ernabella Designs and Tiwi designs, the paper explores how the printed fabric cottage-industry that has been the bedrock of contemporary Indigenous fashion and has been the springboard for the industry. Balancing between using traditional motifs ascribed to individual Indigenous people and the demands of commercial ventures has been fraught with complexities.

 

 

SESSION 2A: ABOUT CONSUMPTION

 

Investigating Consumer Perception of Western Retail Models in Bangalore, India: An Explorative Study on Concept Stores Unita Chandan and Anna Lottersberger

 

The purpose of this study is to investigate the attributes influencing the attractiveness of a Concept Store combining a Bar in a Boutique, in the city of Bangalore. Bangalore is a key shopping destination and the “Pub Capital” of India. It is ranked as the second most affluent city in India based on lifestyle and consumption patterns. Charmed by modernity, today’s Indian consumers welcome innovation, creativity and unconventionality. Western retail concepts, such as Shopping Malls and Luxury Brand Flagship Stores, have been successfully adapted and introduced to the Indian market and new opportunities are unfolding for the retail sector as well as for a further development of the social drinking culture. Thus, this research examines the opportunity of launching the western model of the hybrid Boutiques in this constantly evolving context. Hence, the study explores the perception and the potential reception of the particular retail format of a Boutique-Bar in Bangalore. A quantitative research method was used in this study. A survey was administered to a population sample of female respondents, aged over 21, with above average disposable income. A majority of the respondents gave a positive response towards the distinct marketing-mix of the Boutique-Bar, especially concerning the product, the price and the place strategy. Also, most of them agreed that the above original elements are significant drivers to appreciate this destination over the existing options. As it was expected, the successful western concept could emerge as a unique and valuable shopping experience also in Bangalore. However, further research also based on psychographic factors of the target audience might further elaborate on consumer behaviour.

 

Redressing the Fashion Sustainability Paradox in Hong Kong and China: An Examination of Tailor-made Promotional Practices Underpinning Sustainable Production, Consumption and Post-Consumption in a Non-Western Frame Anne Peirson-Smith

 

Whilst sustainable production and consumption practices are in evidence across Hong Kong and Asia Pacific in the creative industries and the fashion sector, these initiatives appear to be tentative and sporadic and are often driven by, or replicated from, Western practices. In an industry traditionally based on change and disposability, ethical practices of production and consumption are still a contested site in this region and issues of agency remain unclear. Equally, whilst consumers in Hong Kong and China appear to support the concept of sustainable fashion, the majority still buy non-ethically produced fast fashion garments at low price-points or global luxury brands. Whilst fashion brands have introduced green labels and rebranded their production practices in eco terms, these have been criticised for mere ‘green-washing’. Or, these promotional campaigns may be miscommunicating their messages as these are often misunderstood or misaligned with consumer values and national culture. This paper will investigate sustainable fashion projects in Hong Kong and China using social marketing techniques that tap into issues of nationhood and national culture to promote sustainability in the local fashion industry. The findings will be based on qualitative interviews using a case study format with a coalition of cultural intermediaries and stakeholders involved in the sustainable fashion movement in Hong Kong and China, such as fashion designers, fashion brands, NGOs, trade associations, pressure groups and department stores attempting to change both local perceptions and behaviours about sustainable production and consumption practices in the fashion industry using tailor-made, values-driven social communication campaigns based on fashion shows, competitions, exhibitions, and triggering events. The paper will examine the underlying rhetorical narratives and practices employed in creating and promoting sustainable fashion in terms of alignment with cultural value systems espoused by the Asian consumer, suggesting future directions for eco-fashion initiatives in non-Western places and spaces.

 

Identity during the First Years of the Turkish Republic: Fashion and Beauty In the Popular Women's Magazines of 1920s Özlem Dilber

 

This paper examines the relationship between modern fashion and the middle class woman’s identity during 1920s in Turkey. First of all, it will state that fashion was an important area where the post-war crises of femininity could be seen and the ideals of the Turkish woman’s new gender identity was both constructed and contested. It will also reveal in what ways, the relationship between fashion and the woman was represented as a “necessity” for the new woman’s modern identity and a “threat” against the traditional gender roles and the national interests during this period. Secondly, it will put forward that in the second half of 1920s, the new consumption culture and the commodification of beauty strengthened the role of the woman’s physical appearance in the construction of her collective and individual identities. In this sense, it will also claim that Turkish woman’s three different identities –the middle class family identity, the national identity and the individual identity- became prominent during different periods of 1920s but were constructed in relation to one another. Thirdly, toward the end of the 1920s, along with the replacement of the European fashion norms with the USA’s beauty norms, Turkish woman’s new femininity was defined in accordance with the eugenicist tendencies and policies of the new Republican regime. Finally, this study will accept 1920s as the first years of the commodification of beauty in Turkey with the proliferation of the mass media and the increasing circulation of the fashion and beauty images in the popular women’s magazines of the era. Primary sources of this study will be the popular women’s magazines of 1920s in Turkey, namely Süs (Ornament) (1923-1924) İnci/Yeni İnci (Pearl-New Pearl) (1919-1922) and Resimli Ay (The Illustrated Monthly) (1924-1931).  

 

 

SESSION 2B: BRANDING NATIONAL IDENTITY

 

The Country-of-Origin-Effect on a Domestic Fashion Market Joke Schrauwen & Anouk Mennes

 

One way of defining a brand can be the focus on its country of origin. This paper starts with the assumption that on a domestic market, fashion labels can endorse their brand by the explicit use of a geographical annotation as e.g. a country or city of origin (COO) as caption in their logo, and thus obtain a USP in regard to other, global, brands. We unravel how this country/ city of origin endorsement can work for the Belgian fashion market. For this project, we studied five cases studies of Belgian brands in the middle market segment. We interviewed brand managers and shop keepers, directed questionnaires at potential consumers in multi brand stores and analyzed websites and documents in order to get a view on the deployment of the country/ city of origin in various communication channels as well as its underlying motivations and to get an indication of the consistency of the COO- and brand image with consumers. Research results show that a country/city of origin (c.q. Belgian/Antwerp/Brussels) annotation can be used (1) to give an identity and authenticity to the label by referring to its place of origin; (2) to connect the label to assumed positive product features of Belgian/ Antwerp fashion (creativity and quality); (3) to appeal to a latent feeling of ‘pride’ of consumers at the domestic market. Nonetheless, this ‘nationalist-effect’ doesn’t play a role in effective consumer behavior. Brand origin is for most consumers no argument to buy a piece of apparel.

Based on our market survey and literature study, we explain where the positive connotations for the annotation ‘Belgian’ and ‘Antwerp’ come from. This study stresses the importance of a whole ecosystem of Belgian / Antwerp fashion where famous independent designers and academies as well as shopping streets and domestic media play their role.

 

Refashioning Africanness as a Lifestyle: Vlisco Fabrics and Wax Cloth in Ghana Christine Delhaye and Rhoda Woets

 

Of central concern in our paper is the commercial and ideological creation of an ‘Afropolitan’ aesthetic by means of African wax cloth fabrics. We focus on two interrelated topics: the cloth designs and marketing campaigns of Dutch textile producer Vlisco, as well as fashion designers in Ghana who use wax cloth. Our paper sheds light of the on-going entanglement of the local and global in fashion-worlds and the creation of cultural authenticity at the nexus of textile and fashion.

Part I VLISCO: Wax textiles have been embedded in a long and complex history of economic and cultural trafficking. Originally an Indian and Chinese product, subsequently widely practised and worn in Indonesia, imitated by Dutch and British companies, unsuccessfully brought back into the Indonesian market and ultimately successfully transferred to West-Africa where it became authenticated and seen as an icon of ‘Africanness’. Without doubt, the wax textile is part and parcel of a multifaceted process of economic and cultural encounters, contestations and hybridizations. From the second half of the 19the century the Dutch company Vlisco has played a key role in the production and dissemination of wax textiles in West and Central Africa. Last decade, not in the least because of the enormous influx of cheap Chinese imitation wax, Vlisco has launched a new strategy in which it transformed itself from textile-company into a high fashion brand, targeted to the African upper and middle classes. In the first part of this paper we will try to gain insight, with the help of analyses of the aesthetics and narratives of Vlisco advertising materials, which definitions of fashionability, beauty and Africanness this company creates and disseminates. How does the company merge the seemingly paradoxical oppositions of fashion, as constant renewal on the one hand and African ‘tradition’ on the other, and what do these definitions mean in terms of African and Afropolitan identities?  A second, related, paradox that we will analyse is the way Vlisco unites an understanding of (fashion) identity as both essentially African and cosmopolitan.

Part II The role of wax textile in Ghanaian fashion: In the second part of the paper we will focus on the appropriation of wax cloth in general, and Vlisco textile in specific, amongst consumers as well as designers in Ghana. The first president Kwame Nkrumah stimulated local fashion to counter cultural alienation and create national pride. Exemplary is the long skirt with matching top (kaba and slit) that is customarily made from wax textile. The influence of national heritage discourses on the current fashion scene in capital city Accra is still visible. At the same time, fashion designers in Ghana use  wax fabrics as a resource in styling an ‘Afropolitan’ aesthetic and beauty ideal that transcends national boundaries in seeking access to a global fashion world. This process is part and parcel of the liberalization and globalization of Ghana’s public arena, economic growth and the global fashioning of African culture as a consumer life style. We use wax cloth as a compelling window in analysing the relation between Ghanaian fashion, changing heritage formations and globalisation in the last decade. Textile producer Vlisco and Ghanaian designers both redefine the old ‘tradition’ versus ‘modernity’ binary.  We conclude our paper by analysing how the two actors are interrelated: how do they influence, reinforce and, at times, oppose each other? And how does wax cloth(ing) relate to the broader and commercial process of a trans-national revitalization of African culture and ‘tradition’ in the global identity economy?

 

Why Africa? Why Now? The Designs of Ade Bakare Jean M. Borgatti

 

Ade Bakare’s designs featured in a Lagos (Nigeria) gallery’s retrospective exhibition of his work in June 2013. I was drawn less by his elegant sketches than by his use of historic Yoruba textiles and textile design techniques to complement gowns and dresses, less African in style than Western. Bakare was born and educated in the UK, and his early career was firmly based in European fashion. He provides excellent self-documentation through his website, press-cuttings, and a battery of sketchbooks. After graduating from Manchester University College, Bakare worked in London’s fashion industry from the early 1980s, establishing his own label in 1991.  However, the first reference to Africa in his timeline does not occur until 2002, twenty years into his career. Since then he has developed an active relationship with the Nigerian world of high fashion.  He became the official designer for First Lady Stella Obasanjo in 2004, opened his Lagos boutique in 2006, and established the Young Designers Creative Competition in 2007.  In this paper, I propose to look at Ade Bakare in both his London and Lagos fashion worlds to explore the broadening of his fashion identity in the last decade to reference not only his Nigerian family background but his own Yoruba ethnicity. This paper will draw on Bakare’s archive of materials as well as an in-depth discussion with him on his work and on his up-coming fashion show in London in August that is being sponsored by Nigeria’s Ogun State and that will feature his designs in adire, resist-dyed cloth.

 

 

SESSION 2C: THE SLIPPERY CONCEPT OF AUTHENTICITY

 

Ghanaian Fashion and the Interplay Between African and National Notions of Heritage Malika Kraamer

 

The focus of this paper will be on the changing fashion systems in Ghana in the last ten years. It will look especially at the interplay of quintessential Ghanaian textiles, kente cloths, and perceived quintessential African clothes, so-called African wax prints with its proper transnational 19th and 20th century history beyond Africa, in the production and marketing of local fashion. It will examine how contemporary Ghanaian fashion designers, such as Adoley Addo (JIL), Confidence Haugen (Konfidence) and Christie Brown, have been using these textiles and how their creations are marketed by using notions of heritage interchangeable between 'Ghanaian' and 'African'. This will be discussed against the backdrop of a changing use of kente and wax cloth in the 21st century. People continued to use kente for special occasions, but the new fashions in kente cloths have shown a complete blending of kente traditions routed in different ethnic groups. The use of African wax cloths, with designs developed specifically for the Ghanaian market, has dramatically declined as daily wear fabrics and has also moved to the sphere of special occasions cloths. Following and expanding the work of Rabine, this paper will look at the ways that the Ghanaian fashion systems not only challenges the dichotomy between tradition and modernity, and between western forms and other forms of dress, but also how the whole notion of heritage and authenticity is used in ways that redefine colonial and neo-colonial meanings.

 

The Business of Constructing Female Identity Through Fashion in Uzbekistan Emma Dick

 

I am interested in how the practice of fashion and textile design intersects with notions of culture and capital in developing economies, and the relationships between cultural tourism, non-governmental agencies and global markets in establishing narratives about 'authentic' cultural production and the politics of style. This paper looks at the complex evolution of national identities in Uzbekistan through examining representations of female dress practices and in parallel considers the gender asymmetry of the macro-structures that govern the fashion systems of the region. Central Asia is one of the economically least-integrated regions of the world and there is considerable international support for further development of the region. Development aid and cultural tourism play significant roles in the economy of the region. Consequently, these sources of income and resulting inter-agency dialogues influence and interact with 'traditional' textile design and production techniques and potentially generate a whole new design vocabulary for communicating national identity, that wavers between 'tradition' and 'modernity'. This supports the design and production of textiles, garments and portable souvenir products, which have a vital role to play in the construction and communication of identities internationally. Complex hybrid national, trans-national, and regional identities through dress and textiles are thus continually being constructed and communicated throughout Central Asia, in continual conversation with global value chains. Although women account for the majority of the workforce in fashion and textiles industries globally, a very small proportion of these women have any decision-making power in business. Thus the agency of women in structuring their own dress practices is highly complex. This paper examines theories, practices and politics of the business of fashioning female identity in Central Asia and how these relationships govern ideas of identity, tradition and modernity for women in Uzbekistan.

 

The shifting interests in Sino-Italian Fashion Collaborations Simona Segre Reinach

 

In the wake of her economic success, fashion has become a new accessory to China on both production and consumption level. The active exchange between the West and China stimulates production and consumption of a hybrid style which has form part of the identities of Chinese fashion, as pointed out in many recent works on contemporary Chinese fashion. But China has also a role in reshaping Western fashion. If China's new role as a consumer is frequently underlined, as opposed to that of manufacturer, little has been written on how international fashion production in China presents ambivalences right from the manufacturing stage. China has a relevant role in determining global fashion. It is a complex process blurring the boundaries between Chinese and Western fashion systems, and disavowing essentialism on both sides. The paper deals with the specific relation between China and Italy in the process of "fashion making". It refers to a collaborative study (2002-2010) in Cultural Anthropology on Sino-Italian joint ventures and other kind of work collaborations between Italian and Chinese in the textile and fashion field.

 

 

Forging Contemporary Muslim Styles Across Intersecting Fashion Systems Reina Lewis

 

This paper focuses on the development of hijabi fashions among young Muslim women in Britain and North America as a form of youth subculture, examining how generational and micro-generational distinction is developed and expressed through participation in overlapping mainstream and ‘ethnic’ fashion systems.  In Britain, hijabi fashionistas often assert their style as part of their British multicultural heritage despite that they are generally disregarded by the mainstream fashion industry. Supported and guided by the now well-established hijabi fashion mediation in Muslim lifestyle print magazines and online blogs and social media, hijab wearers engage in creative bricolage with high street offerings to forge modest styles. At the same time as wanting to assert the contemporaneity of religiously inspired dressing to the mainstream fashion industry and observer, for the majority South Asian Muslim population in Britain the products and styles of ‘ethnic’ fashion remain important wardrobe components. This paper examines how the increase in religiosity among young Muslims in Britain is producing trends for head covering that disrupt the conventions of South Asian dress but that can often be accommodated within the co-production typical of South Asian diaspora fashion retail, building on practices of fusion fashion developed since the 1990s. In a context where diaspora fashion consumption is embedded in forms of community sociality and regulation, the increasing style autonomy of second and third generation young women shoppers indicates changes in women’s social and economic status. Forging new versions of modest dressing that combine ‘traditional’ dress with contemporary hijabi modesty requirements styled in conjunction with global fashion, new trends in Muslim style refashion cultural heritages for of religion, ethnicity, region, and nation.

 

 

FRIDAY, 22nd NOVEMBER 

 

Australian Indigenous Inspirations in Contemporary Fashion: Scratching the Surface or Channeling the Country? Jennifer Craik

 

The incorporation of Australian indigenous motifs in contemporary fashion in Australia is a long-standing but increasingly contested area. Some motifs such as stylised boomerangs and kangaroos are regarded as generic symbols that can generally be used but as art works are appropriated or modified for use in textiles (in particular) questions have been raised about the appropriateness of this use. There have been a number of media, public, copyright and legal challenges which have raised the awareness of the issue but not definitively resolved it. Despite the introduction of Codes of Conduct and Certificates of Authenticity, the inspiration of indigenous motifs remains a contentious issue. This paper explores how the debate has been framed and developed in recent years, taking as its starting point the writings of Margaret Maynard (1999, 2000, 2001). To give a contemporary flavour to the issue, I explore the work of non-indigenous designers who have engaged in extensive collaborations with indigenous artists and designers (notably the ongoing works of Linda Jackson, Jenny Kee, Peter Morrissey, Roopa Pemmaraju, and the Queensland University of Technology Fashion Incubator AKIN project) and indigenous individuals or collectives who have developed a strong presence in the field of fashion including Bronwyn Bancroft, John and Ros Moriarty of Balarinji Design Studio, Tiwi Design and Art, and Jimmy Pike’s licensed artwork for Desert Designs. Reflecting the growth and maturation of indigenous inspiration in mainstream fashion, the lead up to the inaugural Australian Indigenous Fashion Week which will be held in Sydney in April 2014 will also be used as a case study.

The key question posed is to what extent have indigenous motifs and aesthetics shaped the culture of fashion in Australia and the expression of national identity through fashion?

 

Symbolic Economies of the Logo:  Contemporary Senegalese Streetwear in Historic Perspective Leslie Rabine

 

In order to produce their own Senegalese version of urban street wear, young graffiti artists create logos and brands.  In what appears simple imitation of U.S. mass-consumer lines, the artists create an original fashion within the Senegalese, fashion system.  Through their hand-made logos they resignify the mass-market logos and brands of U.S. corporations like Nike and The Gap. They aim to create a liberating identity for their generation and to declare independence from neo-colonialism. The graffiti artist/designers transform the mode of production, the meaning and the purpose of the U.S. corporate logo.  Because they had no models for producing logos on clothing, they re-invented the production process through a self-taught odyssey of trial and error. They produce within the cherished, inherited values of artisanal creativity and pride in the ingenuity to create fabulous things with a dire lack of material resources. The meaning of the logos, as pioneer graffiti artist Big Key says, “reflects daily life.”  Artists require their logos to embody what they call a “concept,” to convey a complex, socially conscious message.  As artists in a culture that values the “aesthetic,” they believe they have the responsibility to lead the younger generation to progressive action through their urban murals and their urban fashions.

 

 

SESSION 3A: FASHION POLITICS

 

Accessorized with Politics: Alexey Sorokin’s Modern Russian Look at New York Fashion Week Emma McClendon

 

Russia has always held a paradoxical position on the global stage - neither entirely "Western" nor "non-Western" both culturally and politically. Within fashion, certain elements such as large fur hats have taken on a stereotypical role for designers creating "Russian" themed collections. In recent years, however, there has been a growing interest in Russia's own fashion output, with many Russian organizations working to foster and solidify a modern fashion identity for the nation and its burgeoning designers. In keeping with this initiative, DEPESHA, the self-proclaimed "Russian expatriate culture magazine at the intersection of fashion, art, literature, and modernity" based in New York, has started holding previews of work by Russian designers during the biannual New York fashion weeks. In September 2012, this presentation featured Alexey Sorokin's S/S 2013 collection for his label Homo Consommatus. Although these DEPESHA presentations are intriguing in their own right for their use of New York as a platform to promote Russian fashion, the presentation of Alexey Sorokin's work is particularly interesting. The concept notes for this collection cited futuristic influences of a post-Earth vision of humanity and fashion. But clad in balaclava-like head coverings, the models immediately evoked associations with members of the Russian band Pussy Riot, who gained global attention in February 2012 for a protest they held against Russian president Vladimir Putin while wearing brightly colored balaclavas. Sorokin's head coverings were not part of the look-book for this collection - they were specific to the New York presentation, suggesting their significance in Sorokin's marketing strategy at his debut to the Western fashion world. Taking this event as its focus, this paper will analyze Alexey Sorokin's engagement with contemporary politics to create a modern Russian identity in his work. To do this, the paper will look at the dynamic among Sorokin's aesthetic, concept, and physical presentation. The goal of this will be to present a case study that suggests the multifaceted ways designers are attempting to move away from cliched notions of identity and re-appropriate their national heritage in the 21st century.

 

Re-Traditionalisation, Competition or Aided Warfare? Interrogating the Drivers of Western and Local Fashion Among Female Students in Two Nigerian Universities Irene Pogoson

 

Nigerian universities have come to represent a place where Western and traditional fashion frequently interact. Though the manifestations of this “interaction” are multiple (in terms of competition, acculturation, collaborations and even conflict), factors such as globalization, government, university authorities, the media, individuals, and religious groups have increasingly, served as drivers. Acting as drivers, not only do these factors influence and sometimes determine what is fashionable in support of one of the two, but there is a growing trend where some of these factors have forcefully determined what is acceptable or unacceptable in the university. This paper locates the contestations between Western and traditional fashion in terms of re-traditionalisation, competition and/or aided warfare among female students of two public Nigerian Universities: University of Lagos and University of Ibadan, and two private universities, Babcock and Covenant. Also, based on an examination of these emerging trends among female students at the selected universities, the paper engages two interrelated questions: What are the representations of these factors (drivers) in Nigerian universities? And second, to what extent is the contestation between Western and local fashion on university campuses in Nigeria determined or influenced by these drivers? To engage these questions, a number of In-depth Interviews (IDIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) on fashion on four Nigerian University Campuses were undertaken to get responses from relevant stakeholders.

 

To Die For: Fashion and the Indigenous Sandra Niessen

 

Much has been written about the relationship between emerging non-Western (centres) of fashion and dominant global fashion. In the examination of the construction of national identity in fashion there is less focus on the relationship with the tribal.  What happens when fashion designers use the tribal as a marketing tool and source of inspiration? How does that ‘traditional identity’ by which ‘non-Western fashion’ is characterized relate to the traditional? In Indonesia, local fashion expressions inspired by the traditional dress of the Batak people of Sumatra are expanding and applauded while traditional textile production and the ‘look’ on which it is based is dying out. Batak fashion is eating its own tail. 

Fashion expressions are part and parcel of a process of folklarization and objectification of self that are taking place. If non-Western fashion is ineluctably peripheral to Western fashion, must local fashion developments ineluctably play a folklarizing role normalizing self-objectification of the source of inspiration? Is engaged, ethical fashion a possibility in response to the current crisis of loss of human cultures in the way that environmentally-friendly fashion trends are a response to the environmental crisis?

 

 

SESSION 3B: CRAFT, FASHION AND/OR DESIGN?!

 

The Life of Dress, Mexico Amanda Ericsson

 

This paper is a summary of a field study made in Mexico during six weeks in October/November 2012. The concept, process and findings from a practical project "The Life of a Dress", containing a participatory design workshop given at a cultural center in Mexico City are presented together with an overview of five Mexican design and slow fashion brands. The brands presented are in different ways exploring alternative product development processes of producing and communicating design, identity and heritage through combining new design thinking with traditional handicraft manufacturing. The handicraft industry is a vital part of the Mexican economy and for many families in rural villages it is the main source of income. New products are developed in collaboration with craftsmen and respect are given to the time it takes to make the materials and products which are being made in close relation to nature. The action research project "The Life of a Dress" is a traveling exhibition presenting a concept of revival of second-hand clothes through visual installations and hands-on workshops adding value to discarded clothes. The group of students which followed the workshop in Mexico City in 2012 created a collection of 50 dresses which were all labeled with a common brand "Hecho en Faro", collaboratively created in the premises of production. The project "The Life of a Dress" has been ongoing since 2009 and has so far been taking place in four different continents (Sweden, Hong Kong, Mozambique and Mexico). The aim of the project is to explore how design, traditional handicraft and waste clothing might be tools for capacity building and/or business development, on a local as well as global level.

 

Built for Niche: Rethinking the Role of Manufacturing in Developing Designer Fashion in New Zealand Angela Finn and Amanda Smith

 

The fashion system in New Zealand has strong ties to its northern hemispheric roots, largely due to its colonial past. As a result, local understandings of fashion and design have been derived from predominant British influences in terms of garment design, aesthetics, construction and manufacturing systems. This paper examines the appropriateness of continuing to follow these traditional systems as opposed to exploring more dynamic methods suited to the local environment and culture. Through a discussion of critical and theoretical contexts including Deleuze’s theory of  the ‘production of difference’ (Deleuze 1994), a global fashion economy and the disconnection of design from geography in the virtual marketplace, the authors proposed that there is a significant refocus which needs to happen for New Zealand fashion to reinvent itself as a dynamic and international industry. The rethinking of traditional methods of manufacturing and use of technology offer the best opportunity to act as a driver for innovative design both in terms of process and aesthetics. 

Knitwear Design in New Zealand is used as a case study to explore the differences and similarities between local design and manufacturing models compared to those in the United Kingdom. The argument is; adhering to traditional methods of manufacturing are connected to reproduction of a particular traditional design aesthetic and have prevented more experimental use of new technology: in this case, the use of the Shima Seiki whole garment machine in the local knitwear industry in anything other than a traditional mode. Similarly, the continued focus of traditional methods of garment construction could be limiting the development of more innovative fashion design. New Zealand does not need to manufacture more clothing but instead should focus on producing high end, distinctive product for an international niche market, a strategy that has proven successful for other New Zealand industries, particularly the premium wine and tourism industries.

 

Lost in Design: The Absence (Mostly) of Cultural Heritage in Puerto Rican Fashion Design Raul Vazquez and Jose Blanco F.

 

Some of our past research has explored Puerto Rican dress and fashion through fieldwork, examination of primary sources and content analysis. We have published on the Masks Festival of Hatillo, a Christmas carnival in Puerto Rico where costumes are constructed by covering garments with ruffled pieces of fabric, creating intricate and colorful designs. We have also studied the Puerto Rican jíbaro or mountain peasant—one of the most significant images of Puerto Rican cultural identity—examining a variety of transformations of the romantic image of jíbaro dress (wide-brimmed straw hat, loose cotton shirt and pants and sandals or bare feet) as it navigates through time in new geographical and cultural settings. Dress associated with the female jíbaro (a peasant blouse with a low neckline and a full skirt with a headscarf, sash and large earrings) has also been appropriated in a variety of simulacra including a Barbie doll. With this rich cultural heritage in tow we assumed that Puerto Rican fashion designers would take advantage and reference elements from dress associated to some of the traditions and popular culture aspects mentioned above. We have found, however, that the incorporation of national heritage and tradition is scarce among Puerto Rican fashion designers and left almost exclusively in the hands of manufacturers of souvenirs who also occasionally incorporate other elements of Puerto Rican cultural heritage such as native Taino imagery, hand-made lace or mundillo, and dress from folkloric dances such as the Bomba and the Plena. It seems that in Puerto Rico—and we venture to say that also in most of Latin America—connecting one’s brand as a designer with recognized symbols of national culture is not a common practice. We believe that this is in part due to the commodification of said national and traditional symbols in the souvenir market. There are also strong reactions coming from the “traditionalists” when designers venture to modify an element of something considered cultural heritage and use it as a source of inspiration for their collections. This attitude limits the exploration in Puerto Rico, and perhaps most of Latin America, of cultural heritage as a source for design inspiration or branding.

 

 

SESSION 3C: NEGOTIATING SARTORIAL MODERNITY

 

The Photograph and Fashionable African Men Abby Lillethun

 

Several groups across Africa merge local aesthetics with the Western fashion canon, thus creating distinct fashion identities. Such post-colonial fashion reverberates amongst the youths of South Africa and within the Franco-African cultures of Dakar, Senegal, and The Congo. This paper compares and examines their sartorial identities as shown in art photography, press coverage, online posts and fashion blogs. The presentation interprets the comportment and dress details of the groups to further understand the contours of each specific sense of haberdashery and improvisation in relation to localized and nationally oriented identities. In some cases, these local and national African fashion cultures predate the contemporary explosion of the western fashion system there. Thus, the presentation also traces the history of selected African masculine fashion groups to reveal a temporal arc well beyond the contemporary context. The fashion practices of the groups examined here occur parallel to or outside of the contemporary African milieu of "fashion centers" where fashion weeks currently proliferate. Instead, the groups addressed partake in self-defined fashionability as they are individually "negotiating sartorial modernity," as Toby Slade has described the Japanese fashion process. Images examined include those of Finnish photographer and filmmaker Joona Pettersson, who captured local fashion cultures in Benin and Dakar. In The Congo, the sapeurs practice exacting dress regimes. Today their elite club, called La SAPE [Societe des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Elegantes) provides a specific Congolese identity, supported by their Facebook page, which also served as a source for the study. Photographer Daniele Tamagni's book of images of Brazzaville's sapeurs titled Gentlemen of Bacongo (2009] provided detailed portraits on the street., The Smarties form the final group examined. Self-named after the Nestle candy, they often use bright colors in their looks. The photographs of Nontsikelelo "Lolo" Veleko that caught The Smaties in the streets of Johannesburg, served as a critical source. Soweto photographs of The Smarties by Scott Schuman, in the blog The Sartorialist (2012), also provided source material.

 

How Did the National Qipao Become the Hottest Trend During the Republic of China? Liu Yu

 

When we are talking about “Non-Western Fashion” today, Qipao should be a very successful example in China during the first half part of 20th century. As the most typical traditional women’s wear of China, Qipao was always being adjusted and changed to keep the balance between tradition and fashion (Chinese elements and Western trends), during its popular times (from 1920s to 1940s).
In this paper, the popular times of Qipao is divided into four periods (1910s, 1920s, 1930s and 1940s) to trace its evolution and development. By analyzing on the styles, silhouettes, design details, typical elements and matched accessories of Qipao from these four periods, the reformations and innovations are obtained obviously. Especially by comparing with the main western trendy pieces of the given time, it is focused on what are the similarities and differences between Qipao and the most popular women’s fashion. The further research is trying to answer the key question ----how Qipao was adjusted over time to keep up with the steps of the western trends, while still maintain its national style and traditional taste. It is just because of theses wise adjustments that wearing a national traditional dress could become the hottest trend among fashionable women at that time.
On the basis of attempting to find the reason why Qipao was so deeply and widely accepted by modern Chinese women during the Republic of China, and why wearing Qipao was not just national, but fashion as well at that time, it is finally aimed to discuss the advices on how to transfer the national to fashionable for today’s “non-western fashion”.

 

Machine-Sewing Traditional Clothing in Tajikistan: National Fashion, Individual Artistry Miriam J. Woods

 

In today's Tajikistan, custom-made, self-consciously “national” clothes for women are the rule, rather than the exception. Consisting of a long dress or tunic and a matching pair of pants worn underneath, these contemporary and highly popular garments are known locally as libosi milli—national clothing. In this paper, I give an overview of the system of creating and wearing “national clothing” in contemporary Tajikistan, arguing that this clothing's grounding in tradition in no way negates its equally firm location in modernity. Using modern techniques and materials (of which I give a sampling), Tajik designers create clothing that is simultaneously modern, traditional, and highly personalized. I suggest that within this clothing system, tradition--incorporating both religious and national identities--and fashion are inseparable. I present the work of several female designers from Tajikistan--not famous fashion designers, but women who sew for themselves and their families or for customers who pay the equivalent of a few dollars for their services. I analyze how these artists synthesize multiple aesthetic preferences--national, religious, personal, historical, fashion-conscious--to create unique garments that situate their wearers firmly within Tajik national identity. This paper is based on my own fieldwork conducted in the summers of 2011, 2012, and 2013, as well as library-based research.

 

 

SESSION 4A: PROBLEMATIZING HEGEMONIC EUROCENTRIC FASHION DISCOURSE

 

Fashioning the Other: Representations of Brazilian Women’s Dress in National Geographic, 1888-1988 Elizabeth Kutesko

 

As a popular ‘scientific’ journal, National Geographic is a substantial source for the formation of many Brazilian stereotypes in the 19th and 20th-century American popular imagination. Analysing how National Geographic divided, organized, charted and narrated Brazil, through its visual and textual representations of Brazilian dress, reveals the oppressive arrangements of race, gender, sexuality and identity that masquerade as objective knowledge rather than subjective expression. This paper will apply and develop Mary Louise Pratt’s concept of the ‘contact zone’ to examine National Geographic’s representations of Brazilian dress and adornment from 1888 to 1988, within the context of the geo-political relations between Brazil and the United States.  Pratt defines ‘contact zones’ as ‘social spaces where cultures meet, clash and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power’. Here we can understand ‘contact’ not as a static, deterministic state but as an intricate and, crucially, continually shifting process of cultural exchange, one that is characterized by conquest and colonisation. Representation in such a zone emerges as a complex cultural process, in which meaning is not inherent in the clothing itself, but has been fashioned by National Geographic in response to modulations in the balance of power between North and South.  Whilst the site of contact continually shifts, the determining of its outcome remains the same: the textual and photographic propagation of Western hegemony over the ‘Other’. 

 

Creating Identity Outside of the Exposed Body Revital Madar

 

In relation to the dichotomies which you have pointed out, I wish to point out on another dichotomy, which I see as crucial for the understanding of the relation between western and non western fashion, for the understanding of the lack of acceptances of non-western traditions in the west, while tradition as such has become such a powerful marketing tool. I want to speak on the dichotomy of covered versus exposed, which in her performance is the place where the question of the flash, of the bared body is lying on the one hand, while on the other hand, we see the falling fabric, the disappearance of the skin, and the moving away from the body. In current western fashion the place at which the moving away from the body is present is rare. If I was to point out on the reasons for this lack in fashion, of this shift from the contour of the body, towards a more open definition of bodies and clothes, than I was to point out on the need to be commercial, as well as of Islamophobia. A phobia which embraces the western and neo-liberal answer of what it means to be free. While given it a very narrow answer, we can see how hard it has become to find western collections which are not afraid to present a fully covered woman or man, which use fabric to an extent. I wish to talk on the way in which this moving away from the body, which has to do with Islamophobia, don’t let us think identity in a broader sense, outside of the exposed body. How attached the west has become to its own body, and how western fashion don’t let go from the body, and at the end makes it less and less possible to meet the truly new design, that which is created in the non-western world, as opposed to that which is inspired by the west. Moreover, I would like to draw through the covered body the relation between non-western fashion and fashion at the edge.

 

 

SESSION 4B: DECONSTRUCTING THE CENTER-PERIPHERY

 

How Do Chinese Fashion Designers Become Global Fashion Leaders? A New Perspective on Legitimization in China’s Fashion System Tim Lindgren

 

The term fashion system describes inter-relationships between production and consumption, illustrating how the production of fashion is a collective activity. For instance, Yuniya Kawamura (2011) notes systems for the production of fashion differ around the globe and are subject to constant change, and Jennifer Craik (1994, 6) draws attention to an ‘array of competing and intermeshing systems cutting across western and non-western cultures. In China, Shanghai’s nascent fashion system seeks to emulate the Eurocentric system of Fashion Weeks and industry support groups. It promises designers a platform for global competition, yet there are tensions from within. Interaction with a fashion system inevitably means becoming validated or legitimised. Legitimisation in turn depends upon gatekeepers who make aesthetic judgments about the status, quality, and cultural value of a designers work (Becker 2008). My paper offers a new perspective on legitimisation that is drawn mainly from my PhD research. I argue that some Chinese fashion designers are on the path to becoming global fashion designers because they have embraced a global aesthetic that resonates with the human condition, rather than the manufactured authenticity of a Eurocentric fashion system that perpetuates endless consumption. In this way, they are able to ‘self-legitimise’. I contend these designers are ‘designers for humans’, because they are able to look beyond the mythology of fashion brands, and the Eurocentric fashion system, where they explore the tensions of man and culture in their practice. Furthermore, their design ethos pursues beauty, truth and harmony in the Chinese philosophical sense, as well as incorporating financial return in a process that is still enacted through a fashion system. Accordingly, cultural tradition, heritage and modernity, while still valuable, have less impact on their practice.

References: Becker, H. S. 2008. Art Worlds. Berkely and Los Angeles: University of California Press; Craik, J. 1994. The Face of Fashion : Cultural Studies in Fashion. London, New York: Routledge; Kawamura, Y. 2011. Doing Research in Fashion and Dress. New York: Berg.

 

Aso Asiko (Fashion Forwardness): Yoruba Traditional Textiles and Contemporary Fashion Aesthetics Eni Bankole-Race

 

This paper examines the near invisibility of non-western textiles in current mainstream (western) fashion and explores possible reasons for non-adoption of this wealth of resources. It suggests some alternative models based on the work of African designers, such as Ituen Basi. From the intricacy of Madagascan lamba akotofahana, through strip- woven Kente and Aso-Oke to various configurations of Adire, traditional African textiles have inspired and been appropriated for centuries. Yet, like other contemporary non-western resources, are generally positioned as “other”, trend or niche. Does this indicate intellectual and imaginative laziness among western designers to incorporate these sensibilities or is it industry ignorance as to their potential in contemporary fashion? Is it the role of “local” designers to interpret and mediate their culture as accessible for the western consumer– with the unsupportable responsibility of protecting its integrity? Even mainstream non- western designers rarely “carry their culture” with them, their ethnicity used merely as accent, embellishment or counterpoint to designs western in perspective, rather than built on the versatility of their cultural textile capital. Is it reluctance to expose self and culture to a hypercritical western eye, fear of appearing parochial, unsophisticated, branded exotic and of limited appeal? 

Non-western apparel, including textiles, may be considered “anti-fashion” a la Proctor and Polhemus – unchanging, static, moribund. Asakitikpi posits ‘The tradition of aso-ebi serves a number of functions. The first and major one being that it ensures... new and innovative designs are developed’ (A. O. Asakitikpi, Nordic Journal of African Studies 16(1): (2007). We can observe the concept of “Aso Asiko” (“fashion forwardness”) especially Aso-ebi among the Yoruba in Nigeria, as driving the dynamics of style and design. contemporising traditional textile techniques, provide models which renew precarious knowledge in creative contemporary fashion. This paper will use several visual examples to illustrate recent challenges and invention in this area.

 

Non-Western Dress in the West Linda Welters

 

Over 30 years ago, when I was beginning my dissertation research, Mary Ellen Roach and Kathleen Musa had just published a handbook entitled New Perspectives on the History of Western Dress. In the opening chapter, the authors explained European folk dress as slow-changing garb that is bound to custom rather than constant change as in Western fashionable dress. Therefore, they chose to ‘omit European peasant dress from the definition of Western dress’ along with all dress styles originating outside of Europe (Roach and Musa, 1980: 3). The authors’ position reflects scholarship at the time: they cite François Boucher, who, along with others, claimed that fashion began in fourteenth-century Europe. This position influenced the study of fashion history for decades, and only in recent years have scholars begun to question these maxims. My thinking about my own research has gone through similar changes. For most of my career, I have studied Greek folk dress. For a period of twelve years in the 1980s and 1990s, I conducted field research among elderly villagers who lived within a 150-mile radius of Athens about the dress of their youth. Villagers spoke mostly about the first half of the twentieth century. Although these villagers resided in Western Europe in the country that gave the world classical dress, the clothing they wore has been categorized as non-Western. In this era of globalization, when localities around the world display an infinite number of riffs on the fashion process, the notion of changing styles of dress (e.g. ‘fashion’) and its association with urban Europe needs to be re-examined. In this paper, I will examine the fashion process as applied to the so-called ‘traditional’ dress of rural Greece in the last century. Key points include the following: (1) clothing systems in rural Greece were never static; and (2) clothing systems throughout Greece were localized depending on various factors including ethnicity and location.

Reference: Roach, Mary Ellen and Musa, Kathleen Ehle. New Perspectives on the History of Western Dress: A Handbook. New York: NutriGuides, 1980.

 

 

SESSION 4C: RECLAMING CULTURAL PROPERTY

 

Africa’s Design Industry: From Creative Pursuits to the Business of Fashion  Adwoa Agyeman

 

Africa has inspired Western fashion and visual culture for decades. Constant appropriation of African design and textile ingenuity by the global fashion industry moves profits abroad and subverts cultural dynamics. However, a new generation of African designers has begun and is gaining global recognition and pioneering strategies to market and brand fashion concepts grounded in cultural heritage. I will focus on strategies to legitimize, strengthen and protect Africa’s design industry: protecting intellectual cultural property, and building foundational structures to support a continent-wide fashion industry with the capacity to grow, thrive, and contribute strategically to economic growth. My interdisciplinary approach draws upon interviews, Afropolitan media, design blogs, and my own collaborations with entrepreneurs in communities that have emerged as art and design centers in Ghana and Senegal. I analyze global fashion dynamics in terms of connections between the realms of creative design, economics (marketing, patterns of production, market segmentation, business development, and entrepreneurship), and social anthropology (economic and political organization, law, and patterns of consumption and exchange). A more formalized textile and design industry needs to be nurtured to get African products to local, regional, and global consumers. Small- and medium-scale clothing and textile entrepreneurs already contribute to Africa’s economic development, particularly in Nigeria, South Africa, and Ghana. To become competitive, profitable, and sustainable, the next steps include developing marketable design content, deepening business processes and mechanisms of mass production, and establishing effective marketing and distribution channels. Government support to develop and promote cultural industries is vital; relevant strategies need to be consistently integrated into national development agendas. I close by looking at emerging best practices from South Africa’s Clothing and Textiles Competitiveness Programme (CTCP) initiative and African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) among other initiatives, to explore what African designers need to make the jump to standardization and mass production for larger markets.

 

The Origin of ‘Fashion’ in Chinese: Imported or Created? Christine Tsui

 

It is widely regarded that fashion (refers to clothing-fashion / clothing-in-vogue in this context) was firstly started from Europe and then expanded to the rest of the world. This paper aims to study “fashion” from vocabulary perspective to testify whether China imported the word of “fashion” from the West or actually it existed long before “fashion” was imported. Unlike Japanese and Korean languages who both adopt directly the pronunciation and transliteration form of the English word “fashion”, Chinese has its own version of the English word “fashion” - “shi zhuang”, which does not have any similarity with the English word in form and pronunciation, the two Chinese characters mean “clothing (zhuang) that fitting for the time (shi)”. The hypothesis is Chinese actually had her own edition of “fashion” long before the Western fashion was introduced to China – “fashion” is not something borrowed from the West. I will use textual analysis to explore all the Chinese characters and vocabularies that are related with “shi zhuang” (fashion) since history and compare the origin and meaning of the words with the English and French edition of “fashion” (since France is widely regarded as where ‘fashion’ started from) to testify whether Chinese created or imported the word of “fashion” from the West.  If Chinese had the word of “fashion” long before the West exported the word and material “fashion” to China that means “fashion” actually existed in non-Western countries before the West expanded it to the world.