Week 2
Nation and Dress
Elaine Yang
Nation and Dress
My interpretation of cultural attire has always been that the design is specific to each community, location, and clothes are always worn with pride, with the sense of uniting the people into one cohesive social and spiritual identity. Cultural dresses are sacred in that each design and thread represent a story in a specific period, representing the people and their intention as they move through those times. Therefore, I have always been skeptical about the idea of using traditional clothing in tourism settings for example how the hanbok is represented in Korea.
However, reading through the article by Michael Hurt on clothing and social empathy provided me with a different perspective on the idea of using these traditional clothes to act as a global communication mechanism and further immerse visitors into the authentic experience. In the article, Hurt explains that tourists participate in these 'dress-up' experiences to connect with the culture that they are currently participating in.
For some, it may be the physical connection with the area, for some, it may be simply paying respect and admiration for the local, regional history, and for some, it may simply be to showcase their accomplishment of traveling to the region as a memory. No matter what the underlying intentions are, these experiences allow people to build different forms of connection with these cultures. With the assistance of social media, these experiences are also shared globally, further spreading the arts and traditions of these cultures.
How would we encourage the understanding, appreciation of the cultural history of traditional attires through history?
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