Hang-Ups : Reflections on the Causes and Consequences of Fashion’s ‘Western’-Centrism

The Covid-19 pandemic heightened people’s awareness of long-standing inequalities within the fashion industry. Amid calls for greater accountability and ethical awareness, efforts are being made within and beyond the industry, chiefly in the cultural and education sectors, to decentralize fashion: to make the conception, creation and consumption of fashionable dress and appearance less ‘western’-centric. Supporting this premise, Hang-Ups argues that purposeful and permanent change within the fashion industry and fashion education is more likely if it is understood how the contemporary industry became ‘western’-centric. To institute effective change, it is necessary to revert to first principles and understand how the fashion industry developed into what it is today. During a period when the concepts of fashion, history and culture are being intensely scrutinized, and with suggestions they are reaching their nadir, the imperative to understand the extent to which they relate, and facilitate the presentation of people’s fashionable bodies, is urgent. Hang-Ups explores the origins and consequences of the fashion industry’s ‘western’-centrism by focusing on nine binaries, defined in the crucible of empire, that continue to be sites of negotiation as the ‘west’s’ traditions and ideals are contested by different cultural perspectives and changing global realities.