Fashioning Jamaica from colony to nation: textile production, dress and the fashionability of African diaspora between 1950-1975

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceeding with ISSN or ISBNConference contribution with ISSN or ISBNpeer-review

Abstract

Design has played an important role in the remaking of the Caribbean, particularly in the fashion and textiles industry. This research project considers the ways in which fashion and textiles, produced in Jamaica between 1950 and 1975, were employed to navigate shifting subjectivities in a nation undergoing transition. In particular, it considers how national identities were constructed in a period of decolonisation and how fashion and textiles were utilised in this process. Considering the complex relationship between colony and metropole and subsequent narratives, I will examine the acts of resistance to Empire that formed part of the struggle for independence, in addition to considering the role played by design in resisting and/or accommodating a globalized British and European aesthetic. Using the Jamaican Fashion Guild as a case study, this paper aims to show how Jamaicans sought to control their own representations, engaging with design practices to construct a ‘modern’ Jamaica. It considers the ways in which Jamaicans negotiated notions of race, class and gender to come to terms with their colonial history. It argues that an examination of postcolonial design practices can help us rethink and reconceptualise fashion and textiles histories.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication'Modernisms' locations 1
Subtitle of host publicationtransnational exchange through design
Publication statusAccepted/In press - 26 Oct 2016

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