The changes of Malay women's fashion clothing in relation to socio-cultural context between 1950s- 1990s / Hasma Ahmad

Fashion compositions are determined by pieces of clothing that enhanced by accessories as an overall style portraying the aesthetic phenomenon that underlies culture and origin of the wearer. The globalisation caused by developed nations had encouraged the Malay culture to compete and adapt to the most popular foreign culture across the globe by giving an option to the wearer to choose any culture as preference. The process towards the wave of globalisation makes it difficult to recognise values related to customs, the tradition of societies, and religions which lead to the loss of national pride, shows that practicalities or pragmatism not only transforms physical appearance but also changes the way towards appreciating the values in Malay fashion clothing. The past fashion changes in Malay physical appearance needs further investigation to assist in identifying fashion clothing identity during the 1950s until the 1990s based on Malaysia's sociocultural context. This study used a combination of textual and visual content methodologies. A systematic literature review was conducted to justify the scenario and determine factors that had contributed towards Malay women fashion clothing changes. Content analysis was conducted to justify the clothing content-characteristic. Visual analyses through printed photography of image-clothing from the Malay local magazines were performed to examine the physical and appearance of fashion changes. The method was concluded with interviews with several experts as conformance to the evolution. The Malay women's fashion clothing framework model of 'MCCC displayed the key features of garment that reflects the design principles of Malay fashion. Findings showed that the underlying concept of the Malay clothing was vital as this possesses elements of styles and details component of the Malay clothing that have social and cultural values and attributes. The key findings demonstrated that Malay women's fashion clothing that evolved during this period served as an appearance of women that portrayed myriad achievements acknowledged by society. This research study somehow offered an insight and a novel discovery into the design model of the Malay women's fashion. The uniqueness values of the Malay fashion clothing are crucial to be sustained as it holds the historical features of the garment that will be treasured and passed to the future generation.