Month: March 2022

I find personal pleasure in draping yards of soft fabric fluidly over my body; adjusting the folded pleats carefully which tucks into the petticoat and pull the material to suit a particular form, translating into a sartorial sense of elegance. The sari creates an embodiment of grace and conceals as much as it reveals. It reflects and communicates, evoking a feeling of nostalgia, memory, and identity. Wearing a sari is second nature to me and more often worn at celebratory events. My luxurious saris occupy the wardrobe and I stumble across a range of colourful ones. I reach out to a ruby red satin-silk sari and unravel the metres of fabric, feeling smooth against my skin; the smell derived from sericin in the silkworm gum and the rustling sound of silk determines its quality. The cropped sleeveless blouse has seven hook and eyes secured down the centre front seam. I add stylish trainers to the attire and wear a large coat to cover any revealing skin. I nervously hop onto the tube expecting to have eyes judging me, but it was surprisingly quiet. At university in England wearing a sari, is quite unheard of and given it was first experience of this, I felt strangely nauseous, exposed, and apprehensive – yet comfortable. After hearing compliments from peers, I felt at ease. I vividly remember someone say, “You look like you are dressed to go to an event.” This led me to ask, is culturally dressing not deemed professional?

Our identities are exemplified through dress. It exposes a language of gender, ethnicity, class, social, religion, culture, and race.  The dress provides us an intimate feeling and an exhilarating experience of the self. In principle, it is through our dress we position ourselves in society and that our identities are revealed or even concealed from others. Dress choices almost always generates tension between individuals and the social discourse.

A dress or a garment on a mannequin leaves a notion of absence and no feeling – which is half understood. Therefore, the idea of body and dress are inextricable from one another. Dress is so intimately connected to the body, which brings me to how a dressed body is closely linked to identity. The identity is manifested through the body, dress, and self; and these are perceived simultaneously as whole. Dress provides layers of meaning to the body and the body in relation to the dress. Would dress be defined as a static cultural object? True to some extent when not on a body but this would still reveal a narrative of someone’s identity based on assumptions. (Pereira-Ares, N. 2018).

I am a British Asian Indian born in the UK and my identity was shaped by my parents up to a certain age. As a Sikh woman and since a young age it had been hammered into me not to forget who I am through religious practice and through clothing. Yet strangely, I have not worn a sari or salwar and Kameez to work or as a student. I also do not see many South Asian Indians wearing their cultural dress at university. Why is that? I feel there is a deep narrative behind these reasons, and there could be many reasons such as, uncomfortable, wrongly judged, and the discomfort feeling through exclusion.

On reflection, the interview in Deem Journal offered a great deal of knowledge about strategies in engaging the audience and why they work? I feel that Adrienne is a combination of both a teacher and a facilitator. Adrienne believes that the way she delivers in a workshop is magic and moment the magic occurs is through relationships and faith, which ‘had resonated with me in a spiritual way. The piece on ‘intentional adaptation’ is about figuring out the intention, moving towards it and how to make sure the change has made a difference? I know we should have a direction in mind, but it can go either way as our thinking shifts, and we are constantly evolving – but it is all about figuring it out.

A terminology created by Adrienne is ‘Imagination battles’ essentially this means preaching and imposing your own ideas onto someone. In contrast, ‘Imagination collaboration’, is about collaborating with a group of people who have different disciplines and bringing a set of creative minds to the table. I was drawn to the ways on how Adrienne creates engagement in a room and all through using the correct questions, particularly open-ended ones. This led me to the article that I am reading called ‘The Art of Powerful Questions’ by Eric E. Vogt, Juanita Brown, and David Isaacs. When using key powerful questions to facilitate a workshop they not only engage groups of individuals, but you end up with a fruitful outcome.

I quite agree with the fact of your true “authentic self is the irresistible experience” stated by Adrienne, but it is also depends on how one approaches a workshop or lesson in creating a “wow- factor”. Bottom line – work on an idea that you feel passionate about, which can develop into something meaningful.