Historical and Contextual Studies in Fashion - Essay Example

Historical & Contextual Studies in Fashion (Module) Day Dress v. Burqa After visiting the museum, I identified Day Dress from the Western clothing and Burqa from the adjacent areas. Day Dress originated from Paris France between 1860 and 1880 and its artist or maker was Monsieur Vignon. On the other hand, Burqa originated from Afghanistan in about 1850 and it is won as traditional clothing for Muslims. I chose the dresses because the Day Dress is fully structured to fit the body while the Burqa is designed out of the body so that it does not reveal the shape of the body (Cosgrave, 2000). These clothing were sketched as shown below. Day Dress The Burqa The Day Dress is ribbed with silk and trimmed with Satin. Its face area is made of cotton. The physical appearance of the dress is characterized by two different bodices, a bow, peplum and skirt. The bow is made up of magenta ribbed silk. The coloured magenta ribbed silk gives the dress a flamboyant, rich and beautiful appearance. The colour shows that the dress was probably dyed using the new colours that were discovered in late 1850s, two decades before Day Dress was made. However, there is a possibility that they were dyed using natural colours. The jacket bodice of the dress is located above the waist. It has darts, long sleeves and a high round neck (V&A, 2015a). The dress has some concealed hooks used to fasten the jacket bodice on the front. Ruchings trimmed with matching satin bows are used to trim the front and the sleeves, and arranged such that they create diamond-shaped voids full of gathered tulle. There is also a white metal hook with double prong, which is fastened with the cream silk waistband. The second bodice is the skirt which has an applied trimming on the front, fastened with re-embroidered buttons that match the trimming. The front part of the skirt has a straight cut and a pleat within the waistband. There is also a straight-cut with a train at the back. Flounces are also used to trim the parts of the skirt within the hem from the knee. The shape, design and colour of the Day Dress reflect female dressing of the western countries. It reveals some parts of the body and curves perfectly to draw the shape of the body in a beautiful way, typical of the fashion designed for females in western countries. The dress and jacket bodies, with all the perfect shapes and colours show female beauty that is desired by western women (Cosgrave, 2000). It shows elegance and flamboyance of the western woman who is comfortable with displaying some parts of her body. The Day Dress is therefore attached to the western culture because it shows the places the women as sources of beauty, and elegance in fashion as part of that beauty. Despite the beauty associated with the dress, there were concerns over health risks posed by the coloured synthetic dyes used in the dresses. A German chemist found some arsenic in fabric with magenta dyes. This arsenic could leak in a rainy season or during washing. They may also cause skin diseases as a result of exposure to aniline dyes. On the other hand, Burqa was made up of white cotton with silk. It has a full veil to cover the body from head to toe. This differs from the Day Dress which does not fully cover the face, hands and feet. Muslim ladies wore the dress from the outside to cover their inner cloths whenever they went out to public places, e.g. places of worship. White cotton Burqa from Afghanistan combines the white face veil and a chador (V&A, 2015b). The face-veil is a rectangular semi-transparent cloth attached to the headscarf at the top edge so that it hangs down to cover the face, and can be opened whenever the woman wishes to uncover her face. Embroidered openwork is worn over the eyes and matching trousers called chaqchur. These trousers covered the feet and they were loose-footed. Their skirts were also tucked inside. The entire outfit is then worn with boots or heeled slippers. Unlike the Day Dress which was dyed flamboyantly, the Burqa is just made out of white silk embroidery. The main reason for the making of this dress was to conceal the bodies and faces of Islamic women, as part of their traditions. This differs from the Day Dress whose main aim was to show beauty and elegance of a woman. Both of them are part of a culture, where one is religious (Islamic/Asian) and the other is secular (Western). Muslim women wore the Burqa when they were leaving their homes, and traditionally they were not allowed to remove it until they get back home. Burqa is therefore about religious traditions; it communicates the values and lifestyle of women ladies. The women of Afghanistan used to wear the dress as a way of showing respect by hiding the entire body parts. Not even the shape of the body was supposed to be displayed. If one wears the Burqa, she feels completely covered and concealed; and nothing about her can be known. It is a reflection of privacy, sacredness and holiness. Religiously speaking, it symbolizes purity of both the body and the soul (Yasgur, 2002). It makes one feel right with God and protected from exposure to worldly and sinful things (Yasgur, 2002). However, with regards to fashion, the Burqa design is unique and demonstrates careful work on the embroidery. In conclusion, it is clear that the Day Dress and Burqa have some similarities and differences. In terms of similarities, the two dresses have some silk as part of their making. They are also tall and covered a significant part of the body, although the Burqa conceals more than Day Dress. In terms of differences, Burqa represents religious traditions of the Asian and Muslim world while Day Dress represents the secular culture of the western world. Day Dress is worn to show beauty and elegance of a woman while Burqa is won to conceal the body in public as a sign of good conduct and righteousness. Day Dress is designed with a structure that shows the shape of the body but Burqa does not show the shape of the body. References list Cosgrave, B 2000, The complete history of costume & fashion: From ancient Egypt to the present day, Checkmark Books, New York. Malhotra, J. 2009, “An election in Afghanistan”, Business Standard. V&A 2015a, Day Dress. Accessed March 18, 2015 from http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O115837/dress-vignon/ V&A 2015b, Burqa. Accessed March 18, 2015 from http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O480364/burqa/. Yasgur, BS 2002, Behind the burqa: Our life in Afghanistan and how we escaped to freedom. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, N.J. Read More