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Intentional Simplicity Vs. Western Fashion Systems

Anonymous Anonymous
1 day ago
4 min read

How dress, and its simplification, has been used as resistance against Western fashion and cultural structures.


During the late nineteenth century, and early twentieth century, western influence became an increasingly dominant presence among fashion and cultural systems (Barnard, 2020). This was largely due to Britain’s colonisation of culturally diverse regions such as India, and numerous other nations (Britannica, 2018). The pressures to conform to imperialist social norms, led to the suppression of cultural identity within many of these countries (Said, 1994), which led to movements of resistance through fashion. From this time, there are numerous examples of resistance against dominant western structures. However; an interesting comparison can be drawn between real world resistance against western imperialist fashion, and imagined alternatives of resistance emerging from within western society itself. In particular, how do utopian dress as envisioned in a British novel, and Khadi dress in India, differentially demonstrate resistance against western fashion and cultural systems?


When determining what resistance to western fashion may look like, it is important to consider the dominant cultural values of the time, and how people portrayed themselves to others through clothing. Western dominant systems, particularly throughout the late nineteenth century, were solidified in capitalism (Lehmann, 2023), which influenced society to value money and wealth above other social characteristics (Veblen, 1899). William Morris’s News from Nowhere, contrasts those systems with his depiction of Britain as a socialist society. The clothing in his novel was simple, described as modest, avoiding excessive decoration often associated with Victorian dress (Morris, 1891). This contrasts with popular clothing of the time, which featured tight bodices and exaggerated sleeves (Montz, 2008). Choosing not to adorn the body in fashionable styles, represents a rejection of western values of wealth and class, as what was deemed fashionable, was often used to communicate societal ideals and status to peers. Although Morris’s literary depiction of the world is fictional, it provides a ‘hypothetical construction’ as to what the Victorian era could have entailed without the constraints of materiality (Campbell, 2007). In particular, it envisions fashion as a separate entity to its social communication, distancing itself from western values and rather, focusing on how clothing serves as a functional unit.



Just as resistance to capitalist fashion systems can be enacted through the rejection of dominant western style, it can also be enacted through methods of clothing production. Khadi, is a form of cloth which is woven using hand spun yarn (Something Curated, 2022). It gained immense popularity during the early twentieth century in response to Britain’s control over India (Trivedi, 1999). Overarchingly, the popularity of hand-woven cloth and Indian textiles increased due to criticism against the British Government in its management of economic crises, famine and plague, and the resulting increase in Indian nationalism (Trivedi, 1999). As seen in Figure Three, protests led by the Swadeshi movement, encouraged foreign manufactured cloth to be burned in bonfires. The choice to burn clothing can be construed as a direct result of the artificially inflated prices of British clothing sale, due to the exportation of cloth from India to British fabric mills and its re-importation to be sold again (Something Curated, 2022). The popularity of Khadi can also be linked to Gandhi, who was a large advocate for the Indian independence movement (McGowan, 2016). As seen in Figure Two, Gandhi directly addressed his followers, and often could be seen spinning yarn by hand, as well as wearing plain, white, cloth shorts. His followers can also be seen wearing simplistic clothing made of white cloth. Dressing in Khadi was seen as a way of appealing to those described as ‘exploited peasants’ (Gonsalves, 2012). It was thought that educated Indians took pride in maintaining a Western lifestyle, and the elite were shocked by Gandhi’s dress in simple clothing (Gonsalves, 2012). Dressing in Khadi, resulted in direct resistance to Western fashion, due to its interpretation from westerners as appealing to those with low income, and its departure from the elite, educated nature in which the British viewed their culture (Gonsalves, 2012).




Resistance to western fashion systems can be enacted in numerous ways, however; implementing these forms of resistance are restrained by living in a capitalist society which values wealth above all else. This inherently links clothing with money, as it costs money, which is necessary to survive, or time, which could be spent earning money, to produce clothing of any kind. Therefore, the most effective ways to resist western fashion systems result in opposing and rejecting dominant social values. Although resisting western imperialist influence in India and rejecting victorian capitalist dress in News from Nowhere are inherently different, the former based in reality, the latter in fiction, both examples illustrate a form of resistance characterised by their rejection of western social values. Thus, communicating that intentional simplicity in fashion opposes dominant cultural systems.


References


Barnard, M. (2020). Globalization and Colonialism. In M. Barnard (Ed.), Fashion Theory. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781315099620/fashion-theory-malcolm-barnard


Britannica. (2018). British Empire | Origins, Countries, History, & Facts. In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/British-Empire


Campbell, W. (2007). Clothes from Nowhere: Costume as Social Symbol in the Work of William Morris. In D. Latham (Ed.), Writing on the Image. University of Toronto Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt2ttw1s.12



Gonsalves, P. (2012). “Unclothing” of the Mahatma (1914–48). In Khadi: Gandhi’s Mega Symbol of Subversion. SAGE Publications India Pvt, Ltd..


Lehmann, U. (2023). Fashion in Capitalism. In C. Breward, B. Lemire, & G. Riello (Eds.), The Cambridge Global History of Fashion. Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-global-history-of-fashion/fashion-in-capitalism/DF45BF0CCF68C8231649FB865A00EE89


McGowan, A. (2016). Khadi Curtains and Swadeshi Bed Covers: Textiles and the changing possibilities of home in western India, 1900-1960. Modern Asian Studies, 50(2). ProQuest. https://www.proquest.com/docview/1763009837?sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals


Montz, A. L. (2008). Dressing For England: Fashion and Nationalism in Victorian Novels [Dissertation]. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/41030649_Dressing_for_England_fashion_and_nationalism_in_victorian_novels



Said, E. W. (1994). Culture and Imperialism. Vintage Books. https://monoskop.org/images/f/f9/Said_Edward_Culture_and_Imperialism.pdf (Original work published 1993)


Something Curated. (2022, August 17). A History Of Khadi, India’s Fabric Of Resistance. Something Curated. https://somethingcurated.com/2022/08/17/a-history-of-khadi-indias-fabric-of-resistance/


Trivedi, L. N. (1999). Spinning the “nation”: Swadeshi politics, material culture and the making of the Indian nation, 1915-1930 [Dissertation]. https://www.proquest.com/docview/304496406?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true&sourcetype=Dissertations%20&%20Theses


Veblen, T. (1899). Conspicuous Leisure. In The Theory of the Leisure Class. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315135373/theory-leisure-class-thorstein-veblen


While addressing his followers, Gandhi spins by hand, 1930. (1930). [Online Image]. In Something Curated. https://somethingcurated.com/2022/08/17/a-history-of-khadi-indias-fabric-of-resistance/

 
 
 

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