Fashion may seem like a frivolous topic, inconsequential to greater country-shaping events. In these pages, we shall prove this notion wrong by examining how various aspects of fashion enables the study of Singapore history, by revealing details about human behaviour, economic and social transformation.
Since colonial days, Singapore has had interactions with many other countries through trade. By studying fashion in Singapore through the years, the extent of Western influence on Singapore society can be examined. Details gleaned from looking at Singapore fashion from 1950s to 1990s can tell us much about gender differences in society, social hierarchy, and the differential values system between generations.
Definitions
In this project, we adopt Storey’s (1993) definition of popular culture – a mixture of all forms of cultures that originated since the industrial revolution and urbanisation period. It is commonly regarded as mass culture and an exclusion of high culture practised by the elites.
We also adopt Sproles’ (1994) definition of fashion – a general representation to products and the manner in which the product is accepted by the society, a social group, or an individual. In the following pages, the products examined are clothing well-received by the masses.
As described by Sproles (1994), fashion consists of six key stages:
- Creation,
- Fashion leadership,
- Increasing social visibility,
- Conformity,
- Saturation,
- Decline, and
- Obsolescence.
In particular, the third to the fifth stage are closely related to popular culture as they involve the masses, the way they spend their money, and mass dissemination mechanisms. The process of creation and adoption of a particular type of fashion also involves a collective effort of a community, thus justifying fashion as a form of popular culture.
Western Fashion Adopted in Singapore
Under British colonial rule, Singapore flourished as a trading post to both the region and the world. Although the settlers in Singapore were exposed to foreign (especially Western) influence, the issue of struggle between the younger and older generation was not significant. It was not until the 1970s that this issue of struggle became more pronounced. Disputes about the traditional and western style of fashion reveals the different perspectives of the younger and older generation.
According to Sproles (1994), it was observed that there was a greater interest in fashion among the youth in California in the 1960s. Similarly in Singapore, unisex and hippie Western fashion were only adopted in the early 1970s. As described by National Archives (2009), jeans was one of the first “truly unisex item in the mass fashion market”. The spread of unisex fashion among the youth in Singapore was inevitable because of the accessibility of mass media such as newspapers, radios, and television in the early 1970s. The advancement in technology played a vital role in creating awareness of Western fashion among the youth. For example, as noted by Jia (2007), Rediffusion was Singapore’s first commericial radio station and the programme broadcasts were initially from the United Kingdom which included “Rock ‘n’ Roll” music that was popular among the youth. The decline of Rediffusion in 1979 due to the launch of Speak Chinese Campaign did not stop the spread of Western fashion among the youth. This was not surprising as television was the main media responsible for the spread of Western fashion since reliable broadcasting service and four hours of English programme were implemented in August 1963. Although censorship in mass media was introduced by the government to impose restriction on programmes, there was no stopping of Western fashion, which could enter Singapore society through other avenues.
Different forms of unisex and hippie fashion such as platform shoes, bell-bottom jeans, miniskirt, embroidered jeans and many more were among the favourites in Singapore from 1970s to 1980s. This acceptance of western fashion reflects the changing roles among the youths in 1970s society. As described by Goei (1997) in the movie “Forever Fever”, 1970s Singapore’s society marks the hybrid of Western and Asian culture where the “East meets West”. With Singapore’s growing economy, this younger generation people are financially dependent and have the ability to pursue their fashion interest. Therefore interest in fashion among the generation began to shift traditional values and culture to the backseat. As such, the challenges posed to traditional values were viewed as a threat by the older generation and so efforts to restore the traditional values created a bone of contention between these two groups in Singapore’s 1970s and 1980s society.
This process was viewed as social reform rather than a lack of tolerance as seen in the case of racial riots in the 1950s. In this social reformation, both the younger and older generation came to a compromise. For example in the movie “Forever Fever”, Leslie’s transformation was eventually accepted by his traditional family (Goei, 1997). Furthermore, in 1973, the introduction of “Chingay” parade where multiracial and different style of costumes and cultures were displayed annually. This demonstrated the successful hybridisation of Western and traditional fashion in Singapore.
With the successful consensus between the younger and older generation in the 1970s, the 1980s were centred at luxury fashion which includes branded clothes with designers’ brands. Lanvin, Gucci, and Fendi are some examples of branded fashion in Singapore. With the increase in luxury fashion, Singapore’s fashion market was flooded with black-market outlets that sell fake branded clothes such as “FJ Benjamin's specialty Lanvin shirts” (Wang, 2009). To counter this persisting problem in the 1980s, numerous campaigns and education by the use of mass media were targeted at the masses on how to differentiate fake from genuine products (Wang, 2009). In addition, the government created tough laws to crack and tackle these unauthorized dealers.
