Traditional Culture and Its Influence on Contemporary Fashion Design: A Multi-Level Analysis

This study examines how traditional culture shapes contemporary fashion design through three interconnected levels—intangible, behavioral, and tangible—within the spatial perspective of culture (Leong & Clark, 2003). Addressing a research gap, it employs a structured methodology combining expert case selection, thematic mapping, and visual analysis of 16 fashion cases. Interpretation is enriched through three design dimensions—reflective, behavioral, and visceral—adapted from Norman (2004) via Lin (2005). The findings reveal fashion as a living cultural system in which tradition is dynamically reinterpreted in relation to contemporary values, social behaviors, and environmental challenges. At the intangible level, emotions, symbols, and narratives convey cultural values and stories, preserving heritage while enabling renewal. The behavioral level reflects cultural identity, lifestyles, craftsmanship, and utilization, demonstrating fashion’s role in linking heritage and innovation, translating traditional languages into modern communicative forms, and supporting sustainable practices. At the tangible level, color, silhouette, textiles, and decoration express cultural meaning, advance sustainability, and encourage artistic experimentation. Sustainability functions as a transversal principle influencing ethical, aesthetic, and functional decisions across all levels. The proposed visual model synthesizes these interactions, mapping cultural levels to design dimensions and providing a conceptual and practical framework for culturally grounded and sustainable fashion design with future relevance.