The Zalazar View

Its spring break! Senior year is definatly not easy at all. There are so many things to do, especially when you are doing IB certificates, so this break just came in handy. I can relax a little bit, not so much since I also need to catch up in my studying (IB final exams are coming up). So when I was having one of my breaks from studying, I was reading this book called “The Complete History of Costume and Fashion: from ancient Egypt to the present day” by Bronwyn Cosgrave, and the little I read was fascinating and extremely interesting. I always loved history, especially the Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilizations but I never really took attention to the clothing style of those times. That’s why Cosgrave’s book its perfect! It gives you the style information of the different civilizations as well analyzing how fashion trends evolved from those times to this day. My “little” break ended up lasting 5 hours.

Linen fabric made me think about how in most of the countries, in order to represent their identity, culture and tradition, it is reflected sometimes through the type of fabric. In Egypt, the most common fabric was linen. In my country, Paraguay, we have a fabric called "Ao po’i". It all started when the president at that time, Rodriguez de Francia, prohibited any import or export, allowing the Ao po’i production to grow and developed.

In Ghana, where I lived for almost four years, it can also be perceived the high use of fabrics that give the Ghanaian the identity and proud of their nation. One fabric in which is very respected and used in only special events is called "kente".