<span class='italic'>Fashion Systems in the Indian Ocean World, from Ancient Times to</span> c. 1850

doi:10.1017/9781108850353.021

19 - Fashion Systems in the Indian Ocean World, from Ancient Times to c. 1850

from Part III - Many Worlds of Fashion

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2023

Sarah Fee

Edited by

Christopher Breward ,

Beverly Lemire and

Giorgio Riello

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Christopher Breward: Affiliation:
National Museums of Scotland
Beverly Lemire: Affiliation:
University of Alberta
Giorgio Riello: Affiliation:
European University Institute, Florence

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Summary

In his pioneering studies on the longue durée in the Indian Ocean world, K. N. Chaudhuri stressed the dynamism of dress in this vast region, finding in some instances ‘all the ingredients for high fashion’.1 He forcefully argued for revising Fernand Braudel’s earlier conclusions, based on studies of the greater Mediterranean, that fashion originated in (and was exclusive to) Europe.2 Although not immediately ‘intelligible or accessible to outsiders’, wrote Chaudhuri, the ‘dress habits of the people of the Indian Ocean changed’.3 The basic garment shape or silhouette might endure over time, but those-in-the-know gauged fashionability in subtle modifications of cut, length, pleating, and, above all, in details of fibre, fabric, and ornamentation. Sumptuary laws and cultural norms strongly guided garment choice in many times and places, but even so, dress was continually modified as a powerful signifier of status and allegiance, further open to ‘expressions of individual tastes and preferences’.4

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Global History of Fashion
From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century
, pp. 630 - 671

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108850353.021 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2023

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