The Fashion BusinessAlmost fifty years later, this description still rings true. British women are
renowned for skilfully combining high-fashion clothing with authentic ethnic
and antique items and the UK fashion press is exceptional in its representation
of this phenomenon. A cornucopia of period dress shops, ethnic emporia
and auction houses fuel and serve this demand.
Fashion’s appropriation of ethnographic sources is selective, often romanti-
cized and irreverent in its application. Original garments, as well as paintings,
engravings, sculpture and decorative ceramics are frequently used by designers
as inspirational material. The stylistic appropriation of non-Western clothing
and textiles into Western fashion can be dated to the late thirteenth century,
when Marco Polo brought the first Chinese artefacts into Europe. Since then,
the cut, patterning and colourings of Chinese, Indian, South East Asian and
Japanese (and to a lesser degree Persian/Iranian) textiles and dress have
recurrently fuelled the imagination of designers, dress reformers and entered
fashion’s forefront. This fascination and assimilation was the subject of an
exhibition (and catalogue) ‘Orientalism: Visions of the East in Western Dress’,
presented by Richard Martin and Harold Koda, at the Costume Institute at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1994.
The ‘Orientalism’ show presented a stunning range of beautifully displayed
historical and contemporary fashions. In spite of the development of
increasingly multi-cultural societies, most exhibits were conceived by designers
inspired by the raiment of cultures that were not their own – works by
Turkish-born Rifat Ozbek and Japanese designer Issey Miyake were among
the exceptions. Predominant were fashions by designers working during the
1980s and 1990s, who were irreverent and eclectic in their employment of
international references. A Gianni Versace design for Spring/Summer 1994
was inspired by the sari, fused with a punk aesthetic and re-presented as a
glamorous evening dress. The clinging two-piece was made in neon bright
synthetic jersey and featured a panel skirt provocatively fastened by eight
large safety pins. During the latter half of the 1990s, the sari inspired countless
designers and original sari fabrics were used to make fashion clothing,
accessories and furnishings.
Fashion formed just part of a broader trend and obsession for Asian
culture that permeated many areas of 1990s design and culture, including
the vogue for henna tattoos, Asian fashion models and music. Perhaps not
surprisingly these and similar developments prompted cynicism and even
hostility within sections of the Asian community, who saw the rich fabric of
their culture being reduced to little more than the latest lifestyle statement.
Hettie Judah presented this argument in an article published in the
Independent on Sunday called ‘Hands off our Culture’. Condemning the ‘pick
and mix’ attitude and consequent trivializing of Asian culture, the author