Negotiating Cultural Diversity and National Identity Through Indonesian National Costumes in Global Beauty Pageants
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47709/ijmdsa.v5i4.9543Keywords:
National Costume, Cultural Representation, Beauty Pageants, Stuart Hall, Cultural Diplomacy, Fashion StudiesAbstract
Indonesian national costumes have become prominent visual representations of cultural identity in international beauty pageants. However, existing studies tend to emphasize nationalism, aesthetics, or promotional value while giving limited attention to the representational processes through which regional cultural resources become nationally recognizable images. This study investigates how Indonesian national costumes translate the archipelago's cultural diversity into visual narratives for global pageant audiences. Using a qualitative multiple-case visual research design, the study comparatively analyzes costumes by five Indonesian designers through official photographs and videos, designer-produced documentation, institutional archives, contextual cultural sources, and Stuart Hall's theory of representation. The analysis followed six iterative stages: corpus familiarization, visual coding, contextual interpretation, representational analysis, within- and cross-case comparison, and conceptual synthesis. The findings identify four interconnected processes: visual translation of regional cultural heritage, negotiation between regional and national identities, cultural hybridization, and visual cultural diplomacy. Rather than reproducing tradition literally, designers reinterpret mythology, ritual traditions, architecture, maritime heritage, and indigenous philosophies through contemporary fashion practices that balance authenticity and innovation as well as cultural specificity and global readability. The study extends Hall's representation theory into fashion studies, demonstrates the analytical value of qualitative multiple-case visual research, and proposes the Indonesian National Costume Representation Framework (INCRF). The framework explains how regional cultural resources move through designer interpretation, visual translation, representational negotiation, and international circulation to form nationally recognizable visual identities.
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