Is Said’s theory of Orientalism useful in the study of fashion?
To begin with, my initial understanding of Orientalism is that the west interoperate eastern culture as collective, a dangerous, unreasonable and different, the other of the west. All eastern cultures have their differences and Said argues that the representations of the Arab world were perceived incorrectly to his understanding of Arab lifestyle and culture, being himself an Arab, and through paintings and literatures and even movies, he felt the lens which the western world saw the eastern world was imperfect and the "representations of the orient have very little to do with what"... Said's…"own background and life",
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HQiHuEuuhk&feature=related (Online Interview).
"One of the problems with Orientalism is that it creates an image outside of history of something that is placid and still and eternal which is simply contradicted by the fact of history, one sense it a creation of what you might say an ideal other for Europe". (7.30minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HQiHuEuuhk&feature=related). To present Edwards Said’s quote in terms of fashion, I took a piece from Vivienne Westwood’s Spring/ Summer 2009 collection, which I felt enhanced this idea and agrees with Edwa
rd Said’s citation.
Vivienne Westwood S/S 2009 and a Traditionally Worn: Hijab
This image of an outfit designed by Vivienne Westwood is said to be, by Vogue, inspired by “The Arab hooded dresses pulled up over high hair”(
http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/show.aspx/catwalk-report/id,6642 Vivien westwood collection of s/s 2009). From my better understanding, the hijab is not a hooded dress but mearly a scarf worn over the head. There are some hijabs which have been made to fit around the head better and sometimes these come in two pieces, but the presentation in which Vivinne Westwood potrays the traditionally worn hijab as a hooded garment does not take inspiration from the traditonal aspect of wearing a hijab and from the image, I see it as a western inspiered design or possibly eastern with very little understanding of the hijab in a traditonal sense and to say this garment is inspired by the “Arab hooded dress” to me seems a little uneducated and sends out a inaccurate potrayal to the Western audience Viviene Westwood is hosting.
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