Fashion around the Globe: as Nation Identity

Text : Nor Azua Ruslan

[ Dressing Architecture : Colour, Style & Fashion ]

In Relation With Architects and Clothing

Original works submitted to the Manchester School of Architecture for the Bachelor of Architecture dated April 2009. Received a commendation in Summer 2010.

2.3] Fashion around the Globe: as Nation Identity

·       Fashion in Clothing

Every man around the globe has their traditional clothes to portray their national identity. For example, people in Malaysia wears Baju Kurung or Baju Melayu/Nehru Suit during a special cultural event, Japanese in Japan wears their Kimono during their cultural festival, Chinese in Cheongsam and Indian in Saris on the eve of their cultural celebration. This is how fashion derives from, culture.

FIG.2.4: Baju Kurung    

FIG.2.5: Baju Melayu/ Nehru Suit

·       Fashion in Architecture

Architecture around the worlds is similar to clothing, to portray an identity of the country. Each and every country has their designated heritage buildings to show their unique identity. As you travel around the globe, you shall experience and identify the nation’s identity of the country by examining their historical buildings. For example, a vernacular architecture is an identity mostly in Asian countries.

FIG.2.6: Vernacular Architecture

In Rome, architects made note of the reduction of temperature created by the huge stonewalls and their shadows. The walls were made of stuccoed brick and were typically twelve to twenty feet wide which allowed for an extended area to be captured in the shadows of the walls keeping the city cool during the midday hours (Oktay). The stuccoed walls are an example of climate-responsive architecture, or architecture that is constructed and built with designs that make use of the surrounding climate and its natural effects......

........With the help of new climate technology, many developing countries, such as Algeria, are making use of climate-responsive architecture and its benefits in helping to keep humans comfortable (Bensalem). The impact in Algeria is strong because with the country’s struggling economy and varying climate zones, it is a huge step to be able to use the country’s natural environment as a building tool instead of expensive technology. Climate responsive architecture takes advantage of free energy in the form of heat and light. Each region of the world employs its own techniques and designs in its buildings that are best suited to that particular region and that encompass the region’s cultural patterns. This is known more commonly as vernacular architecture, or “forms which grow out of the practical needs of the inhabitants of a place and the constraints of the site and climate..[4]

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[4] Lauren T. (2003), Climate and Architecture in Report for Honor's Section 8 of MET1010:Introduction to the Atmosphere. Florida State Universty: United State

http://www.learn.londonmet.ac.uk/packages/clear/thermal/climate/images/climate_and_architecture.pdf (accessed on Feb 2009)