Orientalism in Western fashion

Orientalism

In Western

Fashion

Fashion Designers today live in a very globalised world where inspiration is taken from a variety of cultures. However, sometimes that inspiration comes in the form of cultural appropriation.

Cultural appropriation is the adoption of elements of one culture by members of another culture. With many characteristics of western fashion today embedded in Asian culture, it is important to recognise how orientalism has shaped western fashion today. It is essential to understand orientalism because of its social and cultural importance in history. We must acknowledge the original sources of elements in western fashion to help remove ourselves from this Eurocentric view of the world.

Since the seventeenth century, when Western Europe was first introduced to goods from China, India and Turkey, fashion designers have been greatly inspired by the Orient. This appropriation of exotic stylistic conventions of the Asian continent is generally referred to as ‘Orientalism’(Mears, 2010,p.546).

Orientalism comes in many forms, overt or more discrete forms.

Countless historical European styles such Gothic and Rococo were brought together during the Victorian era. Components of Japanese culture were often mixed with this. The consequence of this amalgamation was the birth of the aesthetic movement. (ibid, p.546) The aesthetic movement was a late nineteenth century movement that valued the visual and sensual qualities of art rather than the narrative(Tate, n.d). This movement is at the heart of early orientalism, where Japanese artefacts, designs or garments are appropriated for their “exotic” and interesting design rather than appreciated for their cultural value or social context. By taking an item out of its social context it changes the meaning to those who created it.

Fig 1

In this case, the French fabric interprets an Indian export fabric that itself was a copy of what was considered a Chinese pattern. - The Met (n.d)

Eastern dress has long been seen as costume by the west for its exotic shapes and styles. It is only seen as fashion once it is appropriated by the west and its social context is changed.

Clothing created more in the realm of craft by artists such as Mariano Fortuny and Monica Monaci Gallenga also fused historical European and Asian styles into cohesive aesthetic statements. Using silk velvet as a base, both Fortuny and Gallenga precisely incorporated textile patterns from East Asia and the Islamic world for their creations.

(Mears, 2010, p.567) Renowned Couturier Monaci Gallenga Maria’s black and gold dress was very fitting for the time. Women were liberated in body and mind. After taking up the roles of the men during the war, women were free from the corset as they dressed for comfort and practicality but still wanted to look stylish. Dropped waistlines and boyish figures were popular styles.

The exotic oriental print on the dress embodied new beginnings, a sign of change. Although oriental design had been around for over a century at this point and its cultural meanings striped, these oriental designs became signs of prosperity as they once were in their original context.

Fig 2

T

he wife of the magnate John Paul Getty Jr, Talitha Getty remains the avatar of North African style in fashion circles today.

In an exhibition in 2008, the Bergé-Laurent foundation in Paris held an exhibition, ‘Une Passion Marocaine’, of caftans and jewellery inspired by the kinds that Talitha would wear in her Pleasure Palace in Marrakesh. Dries van Noten, Robert Cavalli and Dolce and Gabanna all rose to the plate with thin and flowing dresses and pants suits, pulsing with colour and contrasts. It was an orgy of orientalism: flowers, feathers, paisley and curlicues were the order of the day, an aggressive hedonism. (Geczy, 2013, p.154) The amalgamation of all these oriental elements created their own social context in the west. In the political backdrop of the time, this new wave of ‘Orientalism’ was what fuelled a generation.

Fig 3

The photograph can be used to formulate an insight into the kind of meanings that orientalism appears to hold for that time. Talitha represented the last age of romanticism in 1970’s ‘Age of Aquarius’, in which men and women of Europe and America joined hands in a mass wave of Eastern revivalism prompted by Gandhi earlier in the century. (ibid, p.154) This new-found sense of belonging and heightened spiritual awareness continued the Wests love for all things oriental. Oriental garments and patterns were often linked to religion or cultural ritual. This fed the Wests desire to belong to a rich culture or be spiritually enlightened.

Fashion discarded any inhibition with scrutiny of colour or restraint of line, as fluidity of oneself was reflected in their fashion. Paisley gained great mass appeal during the 1960s and 1980s. It marked a generational hunger for Eastern religion and anything that preached peaceful alternatives to Cold War tension and hypocrisy. These decades were an era of mass social experimentation in which art and fashion played a vital role. Artists pushed to bring art out of the gallery and dissolve the divisions between art and life. (ibid, p.154) However, in early orientalism the division between art and life were being furthered by the west. During the aesthetic movement the artistry of Japanese design was admired but the previous social life of the design and the people who ordinally wore it was abandoned.

Ralph Lauren is a designer brand which pushes a status of privilege, prim self-satisfaction and privateschool education. However, the textile design of this Ralph Lauren polo shirt is a proverbial symbol of the alternative. Originating in India and Indonesia, tiedye became the flag for anti-establishmentarians of the Protest Era. Often worn by the ‘Western spiritual sons and daughters of Gandhi, who abstained from meat in the name of cruelty to animals and educated their children on communes so their minds would not be corrupted by a world of corporate rapacity’(ibid, p.197).

Tie-dye has not been the most favourable oriental techniques in the west. On early introduction into the West, the bright colours and unusual patterns meant it was seen as costume rather than fashion.

Later on, tie-dye became more accepted as holiday wear, when westerners could dress more exotically than they would at home. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, those who wore tie-dye were seen as “hippies” and were looked down on by the establishment.

Now the same symbolic forces that once scorned tie- dye and its nuances are now adopting it. This somewhat simple shirt is an example of how the absorption of oriental styles into mainstream fashion creates the loss of the tie-dye design’s transgressive connotations. Furthermore, this allows the culturally rich designs to be degraded to convectional clothing, while the powerful armature of the Polo shirt remains intact(ibid, p.197).

Fig 4

Reference List

Geczy, A. (2013) Fashion and Orientalism: Dress, Textiles and Culture from the 17th to the 21st Century. London Bloomsbury Academic. Available from : https://www.bloomsburyfashioncentral.com/products/berg-fashionlibrary/book/fashion-and-orientalism-dress-textiles-and-culture-from-the17th-to-the-21st-century [Accessed on 11/01/2019] Mears, P. (2010) The Berg companion to fashion. Oxford Bloomsbury Academic. Available from : https://www.bloomsburyfashioncentral.com/ products/berg-fashion-library/encyclopedia/the-berg-companion-tofashion/orientalism. [Accessed on 11/01/2019]

Figure list

Figure 1. Metropolitan museum of art.

(1964 [1760] ) Robe à la Française [online image]

Figure 2. Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris. (1991 [1925]) Maria Monaci Gallenga dress. [online image]

Figure 3. litchfield.

P, (1969) Talitha and John Paul Getty on the Top of Their Pleasure Palace in Marrakesh [online image]

Figure 4. ASOS. (2019) Ralph lauren tie-dye polo shirt [online image]

Figure 1: Metropolitan museum of art. (1964 [1760] ) Robe à la Française [online image] Available from: https://www.metmuseum.org/ toah/works-of-art/C.I.64.32.3a,b/ https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/C.I.64.32.3a,b/ Figure 2 : Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris. (1991 [1925]). Maria Monaci Gallenga dress. [online image]. Available from: http://parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/palais-galliera/oeuvres/robe-392. [Accessed 20/02/2019].

Figure 3 : Litchfield. P, (1969) Talitha and John Paul Getty on the Top of Their Pleasure Palace in Marrakesh [online image.] Available from: https://www.bloomsburyfashioncentral.com/products/berg-fashion-library/book/fashion-and-orientalism-dress-textiles-and-culture-fromthe-17th-to-the-21st-century/1944-2011-postwar-revivalism-and-transorientalism Figure 4 : ASOS. (2019). Polo Ralph Lauren Polo Shirt with Tie Dye Regular Fit. [online image]. Available from: https://www.asos.com/polo-ralph-lauren/polo-ralph-lauren-polo-shirt-with-tie-dye-regular-fit/ prd/5219767. [Accessed 20/02/2019].