Postcolonial Sites, Global Flows and Fashion Codes: A Case-Study of Power Cheongsams and Other Clothing Styles in Modern Singapore

Abstract

In globalization, cultural hybridity can operate concurrently with cultural indigenization wherein the indigenous is rediscovered in order to contribute its invented "pure" cultural artifacts to the hybrid culture. These processes are illustrated by the complex sets of fashion practices of the multiethnic cultural populations of modern Singapore. Discourse on Asian values & the process of re-ethnicization (into Chinese, Malay, & Indians) have affected the clothes that Chinese & Malay groups wear, particularly women. The formal cheongsam has reemerged as a sign of Chinese cultural pride among well-educated, middle-class Chinese. The traditional tight-fitting Malay kerbaya has become unacceptable among Malay Muslims & has been replaced by the looser, yet vibrantly colored, baju kurong. In contrast to these traditional clothes, fashionable youth often dress in black. The less-educated Chinese youth (Ah Beng & Ah Lian) groups favor bright gaudy clothes from Japan & Hong Kong. M. Pflum.