Re-orienting Fashion: Breaking Down Colonial Narratives in Style

Fashion is not just about clothes. It’s about the stories, power, and history behind each piece we wear. From colonial times to today, the way we think about fashion has been influenced by larger ideas, many of which are rooted in colonial thinking.

In his famous book Orientalism, Edward Said explained how the West has always viewed the East, or the “Orient,” as exotic, wild, and uncivilized. Through literature and academic studies, the West created a view of the East as something to be controlled and changed. This view went on to shape how people saw themselves and others. Fashion was a part of this colonization as the West continued to impose its ideals on other cultures and making them inferior to their way of life.

But can fashion break free from these old ideas? Can we look at fashion without seeing it as just a divide between East and West or colonizer and colonized? Gabriele Genge and Angela Stercken, in their essay Textiles Designing Another History, believe that we can. They argue that if we see fashion and textiles as active parts of a larger global story, we can get past thinking in simple opposites. This could make fashion a dynamic force influenced by many different cultures versus just from the West.

Hopefully, this could allow us to see how garments from places like Nigeria, India, or Peru are not merely “ethnic inspiration” but part of a living, breathing conversation about beauty, function, and meaning. Can you imagine this new fashion narrative? The Global South wouldn’t just be a resource for materials or labor; instead, it would be a co-creator of fashion’s present and future.

One way to shift the fashion narrative could be by “re-orienting fashion”. This term invites us to change our point of view. Instead of constantly centering on Western ideals, aesthetics, and timelines, this approach asks us to look at fashion through the eyes of those historically marginalized, exploited, or silenced by colonial forces. This includes not just communities in the Global South, but also Indigenous creators, Black and Brown designers, garment workers, queer artisans, and others who have long contributed to fashion without recognition or power.

By re-orienting fashion in this way, we could also see more reclamation of people's power. Marginalized communities with the right tools and resources could use fashion as a tool to tell their own stories, assert their cultural memory, and challenge the colonial and capitalist legacies that have shaped the industry. It would go beyond representation on the runway or in marketing campaigns. Re-orienting fashion toward ethical and sustainable systems of production, authorship, and value would be essential for a more just future. So we need to ask ourselves: Who gets to decide what’s fashionable? Who profits from it? Whose labor and creativity are seen as legitimate?

And it wouldn’t be just a trend or a one-off initiative, but more so a political and cultural shift. It would imply building a future where fashion doesn’t replicate the hierarchies of colonial empires entrenched in greed, violence, and warfare.

Homi Bhabha’s concept of “hybridity” further helps us understand this. Bhabha rejects the idea of a “pure” culture and instead focuses on how cultures mix and influence each other over time. This idea allows for a new understanding of identity where it becomes fluid and evolving versus rigid and exclusionary. It also challenges how colonized people should either adopt the colonizer’s culture or stay in a position of “otherness.” Instead, it opens up the possibility for new identities that resist power structures.

This is especially important when the recent global refugee crisis has displaced millions of people and affected global industries. Many of these refugees end up being used as cheap labor by greedy brands in the industry, which is also described as the “ethnicization” of fashion production. Certain styles have repetitively been STOLEN from other cultures and sold to the West without respect for their original meaning or significance.

Yet, fashion can and should help us to reclaim our true, authentic identities. As bell hooks writes, photography and fashion can help marginalized groups reconnect with their pasts and redefine themselves.

A way to resist indoctrination from colonial narratives and to tell their true, cultural stories rooted in history and self alignment.

But while fashion can be a way to challenge colonialism, it will carry its baggage of its past.

For example, figures like Adolf Loos, who praised minimalist Western fashion and criticized other cultures for their “ornamentation,” shaped the way we think about style.

Loos saw men’s fashion as modern and refined, while women’s clothing was seen as unnecessary and overly decorative. These colonial and patriarchal views still affect how we judge fashion today.

Loos’ also criticized women’s fashion shows….. another example of how some men have tried to control women’s identities. This is especially so when they think women should appeal to men by looking a certain way. These outdated ideas still affect how we fight for our individual identity, given our gender and race. It affects women’s journey to self-actualization and their ties to their culture and society.

So, as the world changes, let us reflect on our identity. We need to understand ourselves to resist colonial forces. We need fashion connected with those embracing post-colonial theory to break down the old systems of power. This path would help us embrace an inclusive, flexible, and self-defined view of style and a just future for all.

Fashion should be a way to express who we are, where we come from, and where we are going. It should not just reflect colonial ideas but allow us to create new stories and identities.

We should and need to embrace change in the fashion industry.

There is beauty and fluidity in our shared history and the future we can build together. We deserve a future where we celebrate the complexity of all cultures, especially within the fashion industry.