Dressing the Nation

Catalog description

What can national dress reveal about identity, belonging, and power? How is it shaped, preserved, or reimagined - and is it fashion or something else entirely? While centered on the Emirati National Dress, the course explores how national dress emerges, becomes standardized, and adapts to shifting urban, environmental, and social conditions. Special attention is given to the crafts that underpin Emirati dress -embroidery, weaving, scenting - and their cultural and symbolic significance across men's and women's attire. We also examine the contemporary economies of craft, from local artisanal practices to global fashion systems, considering how tradition is preserved, commodified, or reinterpreted - and the tensions that may arise, including appropriation, dilution, or loss of meaning. Through debates, design experiments, and fieldwork with local organizations, designers, and artisans, students will produce a final exhibition and develop a nuanced understanding of the evolving relationship between Emirati dress, craft, design, and fashion. This course will be offered in January-Term 2026.