Introduced in the nineteenth century to modernize Ottoman fashion, the fez came to represent resistance to change. The processes by which this shift occurred reveal the dynamism and complexity of the late Ottoman society.
Building on fashion blocks that were laid in the 1920s, fashion in the 2010s reached peak informality while also moving at warp speed. In the 2010s, fashion changed and traveled quickly thanks to new social media platforms and technology. As image-based social media platform Instagram exploded onto the scene, the ability to access or share fashion instantly was literally in everyone’s hands. While the voyeuristic nature of social media may have inspired some to dress to impress, one of the overarching trends of the decade was athleisure and a move towards casual dressing, which eventually even hit the runway.
Produced by the Asante peoples in Ghana, adinkra is a flat, cotton textile that is stamped with symbols which create the meaning of the garment.
Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s “God Save the Queen” T-shirt is a white, long-sleeve shirt with distressed elements and a bold graphic by Jamie Reid featuring lyrics to the Sex Pistols song. It has become an iconic representation of early British Punk style.
This crinoline-style day dress from 1855 combines decorative elements such as fringe and bold patterns and reflects the rise of voluminous tiered garments, improved cloth printing, and luxurious colors and embellishments utilized during the 1850s.
A loose-fitting pullover tunic traditionally worn in West African cultures that was adopted by African diasporic communities as a symbol of African heritage in the 1960s and then more widely worn as a popular item of “ethnic” fashion.
A banyan is a loose-fitted informal robe or gown worn by men in the late 17th to the early 19th centuries.
This intricate 1855 day dress includes many fashionable elements of the time period, including beautiful silk fringe trimming and stripe designs.
An agal is a rope made from animal hair which wraps around a keffiya (square cloth) on the head and is worn typically by Bedouin men.
Bogolanfini (bogolan- meaning cloth; fini- meaning mud) is a cotton cloth made from strips of woven fabric, which are decorated with symbolic patterns using the mud-resist technique, sewn together at the selvage to create a fabric that is utilized during the main four stages of a West African Bamana woman’s life: puberty, marriage, motherhood, and death.
A xicolli is a sleeveless, sewn vest usually embellished with fringe that comes in various lengths worn by priests and high rank warriors in ancient Mesoamerican cultures.
In the 23rd century, ex-military taxi driver Korben Dallas must assist a mysterious being named Leeloo in recovering four mystical stones that are the key to the survival of the human race.
The Fez and the Ottoman Path to Modernity
1869 – Red Silk Dress
katazome (stencil printing)
1905 – André Derain, Lucien Gilbert
Inès Gâches-Sarraute and the Straight-Front Corset