Fashion and colonialisation

The Nina Simone-inspired hat (Photo by Sven Vanlaer)

Have you ever reflected on why you like the things you like and how are they tied to your social values and history? I never used to question why I liked the things I like and for as long as I could remember I had always been in love with the style of the women of the British monarchy. Princess Diana was my personal favourite! In fact, I held the style advice from European fashion influence paramount to any. Vogue and Elle magazines always gave me an immense amount of satisfaction even though I could only dream about having some of the pieces. I never stopped to wonder why I liked them though.

20141115the last wordTo be quite honest, I was never really aware of the fashion trends associated with our culture. With the exclusion of tie-dye and traditional African prints, forgive my ignorance, but what else was there really? If there was anything else, it was certainly heavily disguised by European and American fashions that had a superior air to them. Local trends are associated with occasion wear and are often seen as not fitting into everyday life. This may be because we were programmed into thinking in such a way, since forever.