Cultural Costumes: Navigating Clothes from Around the World

 As we grow as a society and as our exposure to other cultures increases, the question of whether or not we can wear another culture's traditional costume becomes a sensitive subject. Most of us want to avoid the cultural faux pas of wearing a costume that offends a majority of people! So, how does one navigate these tricky waters? 

What are we trying to Avoid?

I think going into this, we want to consider what may be wrong with wearing a costume from another culture: 

• Showcase our Ignorance
• Encourage Negative Stereotypes
• Portray a Caricature 
• Reducing or Mocking a Culture
• Display Arrogance
• Lack of Empathy

In our day and age of information access, ignorance of a culture is no longer an acceptable excuse...past a certain age. Admittedly, children under a certain level of maturity do not have the capacity to grasp important historical realities for other people. They grow into it. And I think the current generation of parents are more culturally sensitive than previous ones and are therefore able to relate this to younger children appropriately. 

Everything else was, in some cases, an act of ignorance and/or a refusal to become less ignorant. Ignorance is a poor excuse, but I would say, if you learn from your mistakes and regret any wrongdoing, then don't paint yourself a villain. 

Is it Appropriation?

Cultural Appropriation is a slippery slope from both sides of the argument. It used to be that exchange of culture could end up with some kind of fusion or interpretation from one culture to another. The idea behind preventing appropriation is meant to protect/preserve a minority culture from a majority culture. Classic examples are colonizers vs natives. While some individuals take this to an extreme to say that any fair-skinned person cannot wear anything but European cultured clothes because, in the past, they were colonizers and conquerors. It is important to reflect on the past and learn how to live more harmoniously with others, but we should not be punished for sins of the past. It's also not fair to speak on behalf of that minority culture if you are not of that culture yourself.  

However, I think it is legitimate to respect the concerns and wishes of a people to preserve their ways how they see fit. If they prefer not to have other people replicate their cultural garb, then even though I may not agree with them, I would still respect the request. I would also offer the same respect if it is only an individual I am interacting with who would prefer not to see me wear the clothes of their people.  

My Culture is Not a Costume

This is where we want to distinguish between the idea of costume and garb. Costume comes off as "fake" or "cheap" (regardless of how much you spend on it). Garb is authentic and usually not meant for a frivolous event. 

Halloween parties are usually the target of the slogan. Because Halloween parties are the height of frivolous. Commercial costume patterns, both current and from the past, are often highly inaccurate. This can come from past ignorance, but it's also, in some cases, trying to make something difficult accessible to a newbie. (It does look very cheap compared to how they SHOULD look.) 

That's not to say you can't use parts of the pattern as a base. You know, I love researching, but not everyone does. It can take a lot more work, and in a time crunch, there may not be time. 

Appropriate Venues for Cultural Clothes

Many of these things will vary based on the public-ness of the venue and how much social media may be a factor. Also, this is all advice, so use your own judgment!

• A Multi-Culture Festival
• A Specific Culture's Festival/Holiday Celebration
• Visiting the Country/Culture of Origin
• Invited to a Wedding/Religious Celebration of someone from that culture
• It's your uniform at a restaurant
• Going about your daily life (shopping, eating out, etc.) (Granted, it probably is a casual outfit in this case.)
• A friend's private party
• Sitting in your own home
• If you get any encouragement from someone of that culture to wear it
• Reenactment
• Show support/empathy 
• Celebrating your admiration of a culture's beautiful designs (while adhering to their traditions)

This is just a sliver of ideas. 

Maybe Avoid the Internet

In my experience, most of the outrage comes from strangers online. If you don't have a lot of scrutiny on you, then you may never experience negative commentary on your ancestors and their offenses. However, I have seen exchanges between two people in real life that sparked controversy. (This was before smartphones and Twitter though.) Storytime!

The Cheap Geisha Costume

Going back in time to the year 2005. I'm in undergrad, part of the anime club, and Memoirs of a Geisha was a popular book-turned-movie. (I had only read the book at this point.) One of my friends claimed to be 25% Japanese (maybe) and tried to imitate the Ganguro fashion. (Not to the point of near black-face, but keep this point in mind as it kind of makes the rest of this exchange a bit ironic.) 

It's Halloween, and we are going to hang out together and eat terribly and do dumb college stuff. 

One of my friends decided that he was going to be a geisha...and it was in part...to upset our 25% Japanese friend. He painted his face white with red lips and black eyeliner and wore a silk bathrobe. I can't remember if he had a wig or not, but most of us were cracking up! It may also be important for the full irony of the story to mention that he was black...wearing white-face. 

Now, the intention was to offend this person and call out her hypocrisy. I'm not saying it was a good thing to do because intention does not forgive a wrong action. But this is the kind of thing that you can't get away with anymore. 

Best Approaches

If you have a genuine interest in replicating a cultural costume, then you should feel no fear about making the outfit regardless of your skin color, race, or country of origin. However, I would suggest that you put forth your best effort in research to make sure you are sensitive to the meanings behind colors, when a particular outfit is worn, how it is worn, and who should wear it. It would be a faux pas to wear traditional funeral attire to a wedding or pick colors reserved for royalty with your peasant garb. 

And keep in mind that you can't please everyone, and you can't always anticipate what may offend someone. And perhaps just avoid the internet.