‘Fashion matters’ proposes a new-materialist framework to look at global fashion. A new-materialist
approach helps to highlight fashion’s materiality and understand the hybrid mix of both local and
global matters in fashion. An analysis of the material details of the—often ironic—use of cultural
heritage in contemporary Dutch fashion (e.g. Viktor&Rolf, Klavers van Engelen, The People of the
Labyrinths, Oilily, Scotch & Soda) reveals how Dutch fashion designers tap into local clothing styles
and crafts. Such examples are part of a growing preoccupation with local roots in times of globalisation. The current interest of Western countries in their own local, national roots cannot be separated
from a fascination for ‘cultural otherness’ and for ‘other’ local traditions. Fashion designers and firms
establish a look that is both local and global at the same time; or: ‘glocal.’ The ‘material turn’ enables
an understanding of ‘glocal’ fashion as both a material reuse of local crafts and as an immaterial phenomenon of globalized identities.
Keywords: cultural heritage; materiality; glocalization; Dutch fashion; new materialism.
Fashion Matters
The ‘Glocal’ Mix of Dutch Fashion
