FROM FABRIC TO MYTH: A SEMIOTIC INQUIRY INTO SARTORIAL CHOICES AND POLITICAL SYMBOLISM IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

This research explores the role of clothing within Pakistan’s socio-political environment, looking at how it operates as a visual signifier in the construction of political identity and leadership performance. This qualitative study, based on Roland Barthes’ semiotic theory of orders of signification, interprets the sartorial semiotics of Maryam Nawaz and Imran Khan, two major political figures, through selected public and media spectacles. The analysis reveals how military and political apparel performance spell out democracy’s moral authority, religious piety, secularism, and patriotism. It is noted that male and female political leaders have to navigate an intersectional landscape and project authority alongside modernist credentials; lower female leaders who wear traditionally masculine clothing are shown to operate within modern patriarchal frameworks. This study addresses the gap in South Asia revolving around the convergence of fashion, politics, and visual communication. It further adds to the scholarly discussion regarding image politics, gendered leadership, and soft power iconography in postcolonial Muslim societies. Furthermore, employing the semiotics of political dress enables one to appreciate the undermining, contestation, and transformation of global and national myths and ideologies of leadership in contemporary Pakistan.