The Traditional Thobe with Raised Pagoda Shoulders
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Kristian David ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Considering that this work was done in the midst of a global pandemic, I would like to start by expressing my sincerest gratitude to my parents who have let me turn their apartment into an atelier for a few months. Furthermore, I want to thank the faculty and lab operators at The Swedish School of Textiles for constantly making sure that their students are as content as can be. A large thank you goes to Ms. Caktas and Ms. Saikkonen for always going the extra mile in aiding with any construction- and sewing complications. An extra special thanks to Ms. Malmgren De Oliveira for always pushing to the full potential of a developed expression. My appreciation and thanks to Ms. Koohnavard for being an understanding and responsive go-to supervisor. In addition, I am also highly appreciative of Mr. Thornquist’s brief, yet utterly valuable teachings and comments during seminars and presentations. Last but certainly not least, I am indebted to my supervisor and mentor Ms. Blomgren who has gone above and beyond to teach me the valuable lesson of working narrowly and swiftly, but most importantly - to candidly trust the design process. 1 Kristian David To Construct A Bridge: Recontextualizing a selection of original and cultural Levantine and Arabian elements in a take on men’s suits, thobes and accompanying traditional attire 2 Kristian David ABSTRACT In terms of dress, there are various misconceptions that exist in our ever-so conscious society, which can make Easterners in the Occident neglect aesthetics that are linked to their roots. Orientalist notions of the Middle East and its complex history of conflict have both played their part in developing a cultural disconnection between the East and the Western world. This area of investigation explores the recontextualization of a selection of original and cultural elements from the Levant and Arabian Peninsula by the means of construction within men’s suits, thobes and accompanying traditional attire. The work implies to challenge the Western world’s dominant influence on fashion, where it becomes crucial to assert cultural aspects linked to facts and aesthetic value. What could be deemed as lacking in fashion is an intricate appropriation of Levantine and Arabian elements in relation to shape, proportion and material. In this exploration, it is executed through placing the selected components alongside Westerly ‘reserved’ categories such as the exaggerated shoulder pad, where each action is influenced by the outcome of the previous. The result can be described as a convergence between expressions that are culturally polarizing, which can reinvent the narrative of Westerly misperceived dress and symbols that are both ubiquitous and preserved in the transcultural region. KEYWORDS - Fashion Design - Menswear - Recontextualization - Convergence - Symbolism 3 Kristian David DESIGN RESULT All keffiyehs used in this work are woven in the Hirbawi Textile Factory in Hebron, Palestine. Lookbook images by Carlo Baudone. 4 Kristian David 5 Kristian David 6 Kristian David 7 Kristian David 8 Kristian David 9 Kristian David 10 Kristian David 11 Kristian David TABLE OF CONTENT 2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3. AIM 4. ABSTRACT + KEYWORDS 5. LOOKBOOK 14. INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD 15. MOTIVE 16. STATE OF THE ART 19. METHOD AND DEVELOPMENT 29. RESULT 36. TECH PACK 40. DISCUSSION 41. REFERENCES 12 Kristian David - INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD THE MIDDLE EAST & ORIENTALISM Generally, from a cultural point of view, there are many differences between the West, also known as the Occident, and the East, established as the Orient (Said 1979). Numerous cultural and traditional objects are ubiquitous in various parts of the world, in this case the Middle East, yet controversial in the Western hemisphere. But what is this disconnection based on? According to Mulder (2020), imperial systems such as those that ruled the Middle East for the majority of its history — [...] “spanning vast swathes of the globe and encompassing an immense diversity of ethnicities, faith traditions and customs — have of pragmatic necessity had to develop systems of accommodation, ways to avoid war”. This implies certain principles that inhabitants in the Occident might struggle to acknowledge. Edward Said has established the term ‘Orientalism’, which serves as a critical concept to outline the Western world’s common portrayal of the ‘The East’ i.e. the Orient (Wikipedia, 2020). The term generally reflects the Western style to restructure, dictate, and acquire authority over the East (Kwon 2011). This makes the concept to date the central source of faulty cultural representations that shapes the Western perception and thought of the Eastern world (2020). 13 Kristian David MOTIVE Having roots in the Middle East whilst being in a Western country can make many feel pressure to conform to Western society. In this case, the adoption of trends and neglection of one's own culture is common in order to gain acceptance. Crucial examples are changing one’s name to a Western one, believing it is a purification process that will help in employment, and refraining from speaking a native language in public. Also, since one is likely standing out ethnically, it can for many become crucial to be selective of what one is wearing in certain environments in order to avoid being racially profiled. For instance, according to Lynch et al. (2015), many muslim men in the West pull back from wearing pan-Islamic fashion on a daily basis because it is linked to political extremism or religious fanaticism. Therefore, one often chooses to dignify oneself by simply conforming to societal standards as the ‘easy way out’. Consequently, relying on this ‘mainstream’ manner comes with disregarding valuable, cultural components such as the keffiyeh and/or the thobe, as they are perceived as controversial in the West. Edward Said further describes Orientalism as a discourse that exists in an uneven exchange with various kinds of power, such as power morals based on the ideas of “[...] (what ‘we’ do and what ‘they’ 'cannot do or understand as ‘we’ do).” (1979). He continues by stating that the Westerner is put in a whole series of potential relations with the Orient without ever losing the upper hand, based on a constant dependency on positional superiority (Said 1979). This indicates that the Orientalist narrative portrays Easterners as inferior, which is why it becomes crucial in this case to take back a sense of authority that the Occident claims over the Orient. In that sense, an effective tool is to impenitently appropriate a Western power symbol adjacent to Westerly controversial elements, and this is where shoulder pads can play a role. In their newly established and reappropriated forms, they can rewrite the narrative of hierarchical aesthetics in the West. Although recontextualization is a concept that has been touched upon by a few designers, an intricate reimagination of cultural components that creates a convergence could still be deemed as uninvestigated. When looking at designers who have integrated Arabian or Levantine prints, there is a sense of miscommunication and exotification present in the way symbols are simply printed and displayed in a stereotypical manner. On the other hand, recontextualizing a segment of Westerly misrepresented cultural components from the transcultural region creates potential for modernization and destigmatization, whilst also forming a bridge between polarizing expressions. Having Assyrian roots also indirectly forms a responsibility to reclaim cultural objects that are tied to that heritage, seeing that elements such as the keffiyeh/shemagh has a Sumerian history (Worsley 2011). The aim of this work is to recontextualize a selection of original and cultural Levantine and Arabian elements in a take on men’s suits, thobes and accompanying traditional attire 14 Kristian David STATE OF THE ART Paria Farzaneh is an example of a menswear designer who combines her Iranian heritage with the streetwear genre to challenge preconceptions of the Middle East (Davey 2018). Her mix of Western and Middle Eastern references includes wood-block printed textiles made in Iran, that she fuses with garments such as anoraks. This meeting, along with working with inserts such as piping and letting the textile take over whole garments creates an innovative clash between two worlds. To form a modern convergence with the traditional wood-block print in mind, Farzaneh combines beige, olive green and scarlet red alongside technical materials. These aspects can be further built on, where, for one, the cultural item in question can be integrated in a variety of colors, such as in a monochromatic manner. Also, texture-wise, there is a gap to fill in treating and modifying the integrated materials to enhance and widen the recontextualization. Further, the expression is presented in Westerly conventional silhouettes, especially in relation to streetwear. While this approach makes the textile a dominant feature, it is a fairly orthodox way of recontextualizing cultural elements, especially Middle Eastern ones. Therefore, another aspect to consider is pushing the envelope regarding shape in relation to the selected components and their respective adaptations. 15 Kristian David In his 2018 fall-collection that radiates cross-cultural meanings, Alessandro Michele does not shy away from touching upon questions such as self-regeneration and constructing an identity (Mower 2018). With Michele’s consistent mixture of prints, colors and materials,