South Asian textiles have shaped British fashion and dress for hundreds of years, from the cotton fabrics and fashionable chintzes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to the silk and Paisley patterns of the nineteenth century and the hippy fashions of 1960s bohemia.
In the twenty-first century a new generation of British Asian fashion designers, stylists, photographers, film-makers and media entrepreneurs now influences contemporary British fashion, having recast the traditions of both British and South Asian styles in exciting ways that have entered the mainstream as ‘Asian Kool’ or ‘Indo-Chic’. Similarly, the dress styles of South Asian people now resident in Britain have contributed to an everyday cosmopolitanism in which identity is expressed through the language of dress, embracing the street style of Asian youth as well as traditional embroidery crafted by their grandparents, from sportswear to haute couture.
Multiple contributions by leading cultural commentators unite the intertwined histories of production, commerce, aesthetics, retail, display and migration, and show how British Asian style has become a vibrant part of our cultural heritage.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Christopher Breward
Christopher Breward is Professor of Historical and Cultural Studies at the London College of Fashion (London Institute). In 1995, he published the first academic textbook on fashion, The Culture of Fashion, which was very well received. He has curated various exhibitions, including 2004's Capital Fashion for the Museum of London, has made appearances on radio 3 and 4 on Today, and oman's Hour, and has acted as a historical consultant for channel 4 and BBC programmes such as The Victorian House, Head to Toe, and Behind the Seams.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Philip Crang
Philip Crang, Department of Geography, University College London, UK - Mark Goodwin, Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Wales Aberystwyth, UK.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rosemary Crill
Rosemary Crill is Deputy Curator of the Indian & South-East Asian Department of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, where she specialises in Indian textiles and Rajasthani paiting. Her publications include Hats from India, Tie-dyed Textiles of India (co-author), Colours of the Indus: Costume and Textiles of Pakistan (co-author), Indian Ikat Textiles, Marwar Paiting: A History of the Jodhpur Style, and Indian Embroiderey.
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