Fashioning the heritage by costumes: Visualizing elite female jackets in Colombo Museum

Abstract

The concept of heritage establishes and develops the inventories of cultural properties such as themes of memory, performance, identity, tangibility, and intangibility forms of the culture. Furthermore, the idea of heritage is used to construct, reconstruct and negotiate a range of identities, social and cultural values and meanings in the past as well as in the present. The elite and state-sanctioned cultural institutions promote heritage. They regulate cultural and consensus version of history. Heritage intertwines histories of cultural values and meanings. It keeps changes based on the socio and political needs of people of society. Heritage also requires a sense of ownership. This paper identifies a unique and distinct regional style of female jackets that flavors the perception of Kandyan origins. The present ethnological study involves in- house museum studies and field surveys. By conducting thorough observations on the patterns and garment technology of jackets, the transmitted knowledge of rights over material things and non-material things such as memories, names, associations, stories, privileges, family traditions, and memberships were identified. The assemble methods of garment pieces involve sustainable methods. Primary data was gathered through observational studies. Visualization of jackets involves simultaneous hand sketches. Besides, original documents were used to extract secondary data. Temple paintings of the Kandyan period were also observed and recorded for verifying the silhouettes of jackets. The present practices of traditional stitching methods were also studied.

This paper ascertains a range of certain narratives and cultural and social experiences and assumptions about the innate and immutable cultural values of heritage that are linked to concepts of aesthetics. Socio, political and economic factors that brought novelty in jacket styles, trade activities that enforce consume luxurious textiles, developing a fashion trend among royal clan provide a sense of aestheticism. The present study is vital for policymakers who are concerned about the sustainability in the apparel sector. It was revealed that the reworking of the discourse of heritage at this time marks the development of an explicit and active way of negotiating cultural and social change.