Distorted Holy: Steps towards sexless fashion, inspired by the Libyan garment

May 30, 2020

Since ages humanity held the masculine group above the feminine group, providing them with all the joy of war and dominance and the positive space of society, whereas the negative space remained with the feminine sector bearing the responsibility to run the household chores. History never seized to highlight the male dominant society and this ritual continues to the present generation. Following this very same notion, the world’s first draped garment, Jard or Holy prevailed in the same manner. This piece of garment, a single length of unstitched fabric, originated from Libya, a country from the NAWA (North Africa West Asia) region. The beginning of the garment was the beginning of gender-bias thoughts in the society of art and culture, as the Jard was only to be worn by the men but woven by the women.

Libya is a politically unstable country. Though the General National Congress was founded there in 2014 with 200 seats for both men and women, but it still remains male-dominated. Art and law can play the lead roles to get out of these sexist and orthodox thoughts and take the society forward. Law can influence the daily life of the individuals and art can influence the entire nation as it plays with emotions and psyche and allows individuals to be the superior. Art in any form, from clothing to food, architecture to movies leaves an impact on everyone from every perspective of color to shape, sound to form, etc. All these combines to form different opinions from the entire population and thus mark the change on the face of the society. When such hypothetical thoughts do not go well, criticisms surface quickly. Hence, today the society moves on with these thoughts and problems but never forgets them.

Thus, advancements in art and clothing culture can push the society forward. Art can help the entire society make a huge change by influencing the age-old male-dominant costume to a rather sexless unit. Libya being a large country with comparatively less population would face the effects of art much faster, changing the mindsets quicker. The thought process of our society works in a very strange manner that to complete a woman a man is necessary but a man is complete by himself, even the words ‘man’ and ‘woman’ say so literally. This very same thing is described in the story of the Jard. The women weave and produce it but the journey of the garment is completed when worn by the men. This sexist thought process not only affects the clothing differences of the gender but also leaves a drastic impact on the roles and rights of the two sexes. So, for the clothing to bring a change in the society, this very entity can be distorted to result in a beautiful sexless product, garment or merchandise.

This Blog tends to highlight the fact that society has been at the center of gender unequal thoughts since its beginning. So, to help the society out of this ever-going trap it needs to be pushed forward, distorting world’s first draped garment into a sexless unit. Where neither male nor female are to be over one another. The Blog also focuses on balancing both the masculine and the feminine parts of the society.

Author:
Avirup Mallik, Student, Semester-VI, B. Des. Fashion Design, Unitedworld Institute of Design (UID)

Disclaimer: The opinions / views expressed in this article are solely of the author in his / her individual capacity. They do not purport to reflect the opinions and/or views of the College and/or University or its members.