Dress and adornment are social documents of time and place and at the same time convey aspects of individual and community identities. Details of dress—patterning, style, and color—may indicate age, marital status, geographic region, and social position. Dress can have a performative quality as well, echoing and amplifying the movements of the wearer.
The Fowler Museum maintains one of the world’s most encyclopedic collections of textiles and other items of dress. This section of Art and Knowledge features frequently changing displays of items selected from those collections, which reveal how people from various cultures around the globe communicate their identity and preserve and transmit cultural wisdom through textiles and related accoutrements.
Not Currently On View in Intersections
Woman’s blouse
Khanjuri
Bansali peoples (a Hindu farming jati)
Kutch, Gujarat, India
Before 1977
Silk, cotton, mirror
L: 44.5 cm, H: 77.5 cm (L: 17.5 in, H: 30.5 in)
Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Richard B. Rogers. X77.1428
Not Currently On View in Intersections
Bride’s outfit
Sonara peoples (Muslim goldsmiths)
Mothara, Abrasar district, Kutch, Gujarat, India
Circa 1920’s
Silk, cotton, metallic threads, mirror, sequins
L: 42.5 cm, H: 82.5 cm (L: 16.7 in, H: 32.5 in)
Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Richard B. Rogers. X77.1444a-c
Not Currently On View in Intersections
Womanäs tunic (aba) and pants (selwa)
Khatrie peoples (Muslim textile dyers)
Khavdah, Bhuj district, Gujarat, India
Circa 1963
Cotton, silk, mirror
L: 94.0 cm, H: 102.8 cm (L: 37.0 in, H: 40.5 in)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard B. Rogers. X77.1449a,b
Not Currently On View in Intersections
Woman’s blouse
Ahir peoples (a Hindu farming jati)
Kutch, Gujarat, India
Before 1977
Cotton, silk, mirror
L: 90.0 cm, H: 52.6 cm (L: 35.4 in, H: 20.7 in)
Museum purchase. X78.1563
Not Currently On View in Intersections
Woman’s blouse (Khanjuri)
Rabari peoples (Hindu pastoralists)
Bavarneepur, Kutch, Gujarat, India
Before 1977
Silk, cotton, mirror, plastic buttons, sequins
W: 79.2 cm, L: 51.4 cm (W: 31.2 in, L: 20.2 in)
Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Richard B. Rogers and William Lloyd Davis. X81.1052
Not Currently On View in Intersections
Bride’s outfit
Memmon or Kutri Muslims
Kotara, western Kutch, Gujarat, India
Circa 1910
Silk, metallic thread, sequins
H: 120.0 cm, W: 108.0 cm (H: 47.2 in, W: 42.5 in)
Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Jonathan E. Fielding. X81.319a-c
Not Currently On View in Intersections
Wedding veil (odhni)
Khatrie peoples (Muslim textile dyers)
Suthrie, Abrasar district, Kutch, Gujarat, India
Circa 1925
Silk, metal, metallic thread
L: 170.2 cm, D: 144.8 cm (L: 67 in, D: 57 in)
Gift of Mrs. W. Thomas Davis. X82.1164