GLOBAL MAPPING OF FASHION Mika Tse (OHS) Maps may dictate borders, but they don’t prevent people from travelling across the globe. Cultural globalisation describes the transmission of cultures, products, values and attitudes of people across the world, and this concept is further accelerated by today’s consumer society and technology, with the quickness and ease of social media and the internet. The fashion world in particular has become international, as we are becoming heavily influenced by the clothes of people from all cultures, ages and classes. Fashion is playing a huge role in cultural globalisation to change and shape the dreams, thoughts and environments of people across the world. However, this leads us to consider the challenges of cultural identity that this can bring – is this creating a global monoculture where everyone is becoming more homogenised and local cultures are getting lost?
Japan, Kyoto,1912
In 1912, millionaire French banker and philanthropist Albert Kahn created a project called Les Archives de la Planète (Archives of the Planet) where he travelled around the world to record “the aspects and the practices of human activity which will inevitably disappear over time”.1 Les Archives de la Planète includes 72,000 autochrome plates and many black and white films lasting many hundreds of hours from around the world between 1909-1931. A diverse world of local fashions and life can be seen in his works – at that time a person’s clothing was truly a reflection of their cultural identity of where and how they lived. Kahn’s archives are now kept at the Musée AlbertKahn near Paris in Boulogne-Billancourt. However, Kahn’s project would not have the same impact if carried out today as everyday people from across the world tend to dress in similar ways.
India, Bombay, 1913
Many countries in Europe and North America rely on the globalisation of fashion to help their economy. For example, blue denim jeans are perhaps the most popular item of clothing. Denim material was first made in the French town of Nîmes, and so the word derives from the phrase ‘serge de Nîmes’ which means ‘serge (a sturdy fabric) from Nimes’. During the Cold War they became a symbol of America’s strength and freedom in comparison to communism in Russia and China. Fashioned after the trousers of cowboys and
Sweden, near Gagnef, 1910
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