Fashioning Identities

Fashioning Identities
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Introduction
Said’s defines Orientalism as an assessment of the ways by which Britain and France settled depicted North African Middle East in the 19th and 20th century. He attempts to assess how this concept continues to exist even today as evident in the way the media in these regions continue report on and depict these Arab nations in after independence (Trefflich, 2011: 16). He appears to suggest that, the machinery of these western super powers continue to exist even after independence. When the European powerful nations started entering the Northern African and Middle East lands, they interacted with the natives in these places that were still much less developed. While interacting with their culture and civilization, they found it to be quite bizarre. This is the point where they came up with the science of Orientalism. Then, this was the Oriental’s study, trying to settle in these areas. Looking at Said’s synopsis, it is quite evident that he believes the Western powers divided the world into two segments i.e. east and the west or rather the civilized nations and non-civilized nations. At this point, the west often used the terms them and us to show the distinction existing between them in terms of culture, civilization, and even skin tone.
Generally, Orientalism can be defined in simple terms as an approach of study or perception that appears to misrepresent and corrupt Arab personalities and their culture in comparison to that of the western world. The objective of this paper is to discuss critically how elements of Orientalism continue to exist in fashion branding campaigns and collections.
Edward Said clearly exposes to his readers how this concept of Orientalism was advanced and how the Orientals or rather the Middle East settlers started being viewed as non-human beings that were inferior. The western people clearly attempted to create a clear distinction between their culture and civilization using the terms theirs and ours. Considering the Orientals as uncivilized and unsophisticated, they believed it was their duty to civilize these individuals since they believed they were the advanced and superior race (Varisco, 2007: 31). To achieve this, they decided to colonize these people. They even believed that the Orientals were incapable of governing themselves. For this reason, they believed it was even their duty to represent them in the west (Varisco, 2007: 31). In the process of doing this, they started shaping this people the way they believed they were supposed to be. The process was referred to as orientalization. The west also viewed the Orientals as being indolent and illogical. This meant that, to be successful in their mission they had to become the opposite of these traits.
To see this through, they decided to generalize the culture, including fashion, of the inferior group. This has not changed much even in current times as evident in the way the Arabian people continue to attempt orientalizing their culture. For instance, in the past two decades, Indonesian women in major urban areas are increasing adopting a kind of Islamic dress referred to as busana Muslim. This change can be possibly viewed as a manifestation of two ostensibly conflicting or rather mutually exclusive observable facts i.e. an upsurge in Islamic devoutness and consumerism. Undoubtedly, this is evidence to the fact that the Islam think that, instead of trimming down the status of Islamic fashion in the area to either religion or consumerism, the increase in fame of Islamic fashion ought to be looked at within a context of discussions regarding modernity and piety.
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Busana Muslim
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In Indonesia, the propagation or rather increase in popularity of Islamic fashion is quite noticeable in different places e.g. different shopping malls, TV shows, institutions of higher learning and even elementary institutions (Jones, 2007: 211). Just as the sites where this fashion is becoming predominant, the styles are also diverse. The diversity in terms of outlets, technique, and skill highlights universal connections to alternative centers of global flavor. This is evidence to the fact that, the western domination that has existed for a while is finally facing some serious new competition. Most upcoming outlets in Indonesia concentrate majorly on Islamic fashions and aggressively advertised women’s magazines deal with and perceive their readers as a market segment that shares the interest in carrying themselves out in Islamic fashion. This has proved critics both in and outside the country right. The critics hold the opinion that these changes have transformed religious identity into meager lifestyle. The development of a native-like fashion industry in the country, which appreciates neo-traditional techniques and a western-style at the same time, for a while has been a fundamental element of national development approaches. This development is not only perceived in terms of economic growth, but also cultural (Jones, 2007: 213).
Edward Said notes that, a couple of factors that differentiates the earlier Orientlists from the new ones. For instance, the earlier ones were silent observers, while the new ones are involved in the daily life of the orients. The earlier ones never networked or rather interrelated a lot with the orients, unlike the new ones who coexist among them in a manner that would suggest they are one of them. It is important to note that, even though they often interacted with the orients, this was not because they appreciated their lifestyle. However, it was strategy aimed at getting to be acquainted further with them to be able to rule them appropriately. Even though a good number of scholars appeared to be a little liberal and frequently attempted to protect the rights of the orients, some inherited bias was still quite visible in their work.
According to Said, after the Second World War, Orientalism appeared to be taking a more liberal attitude towards most of its subjects. However, the situation was much different with Islam (Varisco, 2007:34). Continuous attacks aimed at depicting Islam as a weak religion were still quite dominant. After the Second World War, it was believed that Orientals occident no longer existed. However, this was not the real case as it is still quite visible even today. Western bigotry channeled towards eastern nations was still quite open. Frequently, the West was successful in generalizing most of the nations in the region. For instance, Arabs were frequently depicted as mean and vicious people and Muslims perceived to be terrorists (Varisco, 2007:34). This was a clear illustration that, even in an environment where globalization and awareness was on the rise, such bias was still witnessed in citizens of the industrialized nations. Generally, Said does not condemn the generalization being made by the Orientlists. However, he is clearly against the boundaries being created separating the different groups of people. Ones culture and style ought not to be viewed as being more superior to the other as still evident today. Undoubtedly, fashion has not been left out, as numerous elements of Orientalism are still present in this industry.
A number of years back Sandra Nielsen presented her critical assessment regarding the manner in which the study of fashion had grown. She believes that fashion history originated on the foundations of western art history. Even though this view was disputed largely years back by most art historians, the legacy of this view...