Yuniya Kawamura

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

 

Yuniya Kawamura

Fashion Institute of Technology

State University of NY

 

 

Abstract

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. 

 

 

Bio

Yuniya Kawamura is associate professor of sociology at the Fashion Institute of Technology/State University of NY. She is the author of The Japanese Revolution in Paris Fashion (2004), Doing Research in Fashion and Dress (2011), and Fashioning Japanese Subcultures (2012). Her second book Fashion-ology (2005) has been translated into Italian, Swedish, Russian and Chinese. She is an editorial board member of three academic journals: Fashion Theory, Fashion Practice and The International Journal of Fashion Studies. Her current research focuses on sneaker collectors/fans in New York.  She earned her PhD from Columbia University in 2001.