Week 10-Westernization of Clothing

Alyssa Vang - ASA 141 - Week 10 - Westernization of Clothing

     The two readings for this week talks a lot about how the Western fashion is turning around Asian clothing and presenting them as a trendy fashion statement. Many would say this is wrong and many would say that nothing is wrong with it but because we are in a Asian American Studies class, I will argue that it goes to a certain extent. When it comes to fashion, I never really thought that the word is derived from the west, I normally thought it was a diverse word that everyone uses in the fashion industry world. I guess the word Fashion is different where ever you go and however the person interprets it. Sometimes I feel like the word fashion can get abused and it becomes something it's not (which is possible), and I feel this way because fashion is constantly changing and the way clothes is made is different, like how fast fashion is a thing when we should really be appreciating clothes as something we love and have fashion for. As a Asian American designer, I feel like we lost the idea of what fashion is and its also because its 2019, we've run out of ideas and replicated the same ones hoping it will become a new trend. This goes into the idea of Asian clothes being remade by designers who think it's okay not knowing what the importance is; yet again another Western mistake. But as before I said it goes to a certain extent, if you're making a piece that you are knowledge about then as a designer I give them props to take time to understand and make the garment itself because you are appreciating the art of a culture while creating your own thing. But to what extend does a designer need to know in order to have the respect of the cultural inspiration? As before, it's different for everyone but to at least know the background and why its there, what it means. You don't need a whole presentation on it, unless they want to. (: When it comes to my designs I do it based on my own culture and I will admit, there have been times where I've used textiles and not know what the meanings are or why it's designed that way. In the future I would love to design more clothing that spans out of my culture and try other designs but before I do that I really do want to learn what specific pieces are for and the importance of it; I feel like that makes the piece twice as more important.