Wearing the past, dressing the future: Rethinking fashion through cultural continuity

In an age of fast fashion, cultural homogeneity and environmental urgency, clothing maintains its position as a symbol of resistance, bearer of identity and holder of memories. This issue of Clothing Cultures highlights global dress practices connecting heritage, sustainability and self-expression across contexts from Ghana to Indonesia, North America to Scandinavia. The articles examine the pre-industrial dress practices of the makers and wearers of Nordic clothing, the continuing relevance of Ghana’s slit and kaba, the cultural resistance of the kebaya, and the journey and significance of Irish lace in early twentieth-century America. A study of Indonesian millennial menswear explores fashion’s mediation of national pride and personal identity. An updated edition of Queer Style revisits the evolving conversations around queerness and dress. These contributions challenge dominant fashion narratives and call for an increasingly thoughtful and culturally grounded vision on clothing promoting an approach that values integrity, adaptability and continuity over excess. The articles remind us that clothing can be a lived, shared and sustained experience, linking across time, the personal to the historical.