Comments on: Cultural Garments – Ashley Burbano

By: Olivia Robinson

Olivia Robinson — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 20:35:12 +0000

Ashley, Silvia, Elise, and Kye, this article angers me too! I have read many articles about how colonialist countries (such as European countries, the U.S., Japan, etc.) have throughout history used the restriction of language, clothing, and religions to control and oppress people. Removing people’s culture is a way of disconnecting them from each other and also forcing them to assimilate to the colonizing power. There are also articles about how people have resisted this too! People have been very inventive about how to keep ties to their cultures in secretive or discreet ways when they have been outlawed.

I have also read articles about “sumptuary laws” in Europe that restricted the kinds of cloth or the colors of cloth that peasants could wear (such as purple was reserved only for royalty and thus became a symbol of royalty). I agree that it is amazing how powerful clothing is, yet it is still frivolous. How does clothing have power today?

By: kkye@andrew.cmu.edu

kkye@andrew.cmu.edu — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 03:01:07 +0000

Reading the article also made me very upset, and it surprised me that people were restricted from buying certain fabrics for clothes, not because they couldn’t afford it, but because they were of a certain caste. Even today we can sometimes see a difference of clothing between different socioeconomic groups, but that can differ based on personal style, whereas in Latin America, these styles were enforced. However, I did find it interesting that after Spanish colonialism, clothing colors became a part of a homogenous national identity. It is peculiar to me that light blue was prohibited because it was seen as the color of the enemy, and I wonder how well this worked in uniting the people that lived there.

By: edelgado@andrew.cmu.edu

edelgado@andrew.cmu.edu — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 02:17:09 +0000

Ashley, I had a very similar article that talked Caribbean fashion and how it was also diversely influenced by different colonizers. I agree that it is very sad to read and just know that Latin American history and even its garments is a story about oppression of native peoples. Forcing clothing among other things such as religion is very important to note when learning about the cultural aspect to Latino American garments. I wonder what garment native peoples wore before being colonized as it seems like that is truly where Latino American “fashion” or dress really started, not with the Spanish-colonizers.

By: suiqingc@andrew.cmu.edu

suiqingc@andrew.cmu.edu — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 02:08:52 +0000

I definitely agree that it’s rather sad that fashion and clothing was used as another form of oppression and prejudice. From reading this article and other articles, I saw this as a common theme in different cultures who were colonized at one point. I also agree that even though most of us see clothing as another part of daily life, in history and still in some cultures, it can be a symbol of oppression.