Reading Cloth

Never had I taken the topic of ‘reading cloth’ seriously nor had I given it much importance. I had not even dreamt of attending lectures specifically catering to this subject. The very first session arose a sense of inquisitiveness and curiosity within me and I could not wait to get back home and look up more on information related to how the symbol ‘cross’ came into existence, why even in a democratic system like France craft got a side line, Austrian Empire, Removal of Ornamentation etc.

At first, when Rakhi spoke about Adolf Loos’ essay on, ‘Ornamentation and Crime’ where he explains his philosophy, describing how ornamentation can have an effect of causing objects to go out of style and thus become obsolete. It struck him that it was a crime to waste the effort needed to add ornamentation, when the ornamentation would cause the object to soon go out of style. After a considerable amount of research, I came to the conclusion that Adolf Loos was trying to bring out the importance of evolution of culture through elimination of ornament from useful objects.

However, my line of thought is not totally in tandem with Adolf loos’ as In today’s world dressing up elaborately is still considered as a form of expression. It’s an expression of our culture, of individuality and of what we hold. So it is important for the reasons of expression of those emotions and feelings, which we cannot express verbally. Can we imagine a culture where everyone dresses up in the same manner and where dressing is not a reflection of their moods and emotions? With a lack of being able to express one's individuality, other ways would have to come forward for that to happen.

Also that really directed my eye to was the concept of symmetry within a cloth, which maintains order, and once left loose, it’s no longer in order. Put in a kind of geometry makes a cloth stronger. At certain level fabric is all about surfaces and that’s why it’s a niche. Fabric can be customized whereas other forms of weaving are inherited. Fabric is both public and private, material and symbolic, always caught within the lived experience and providing an incredible tool to study culture and history. The fabric likewise examines the impact of fashion as a manufacturing industry and as a culture industry that shapes the identities of nations and cities in a cross-cultural perspective, within a global framework.