The other day I went to a Bollywood store to find a thick, cuff bracelet with chains. I had recently watched Bend It Like Beckham and really wanted a massive clinky bracelet. I found the perfect one but the lady in the store was so rude to me it was bordering on impossible to buy the damn thing. She ignored me the entire time I was in there until I stood at the counter and she said ‘You buy?’. It was only when I replied yes that she actually stood up to serve me. She then asked me if I was attending a Bollywood party. I replied that no, I wasn’t attending a Bollywood party and that I thought the bracelet was beautiful and just wanted to wear it. She then gave me a death stare like I have never experienced before and did not so much as utter one more word to me while completing my transaction. I left the store feeling like a stupid little white girl wanting to play Indian dress ups. My beautiful new bracelet (that I wore the very next day) is now tainted with a strange and confused kind of guilt. I’m questioning whether or not I should actually be wearing it.
I adore reading fashion blogs and seeing the different outfits that people wear through out the world. I love seeing people working with different styles and being true to their origins and experimenting with different things. I get most of my style inspiration from fashion blogs and I often try out styles that I have seen. The question is, does anyone get offended when other people rip off their nations traditional dress? I know I don’t get offended when I see people in other countries wearing stubbies and thongs but I think that’s over simplyfying the problem. Australia is a relatively young and multicultural country. We have few (if any) nation wide rituals. Therefore we don’t seem to have much of a traditional sense of dress or any sartorial representation of our heritage. I suppose you could argue about the Akubra and the Driza-Bone but both of those articles were practical and designed for specific use. I can’t see anyone clomping down the catwalk in either of these babies anytime soon. So I am blaming my wonderful and multicultural upbringing for my ignorance of the spirituality (or lack of) behind traditional costumes and dressing rituals.
So to put it quite simply – I need advice. My question to you is should we be mindful of emulating traditional costumes? Is it ethically a little offensive to go around wearing bindis, turbans, crucifixes and henna tattoos as fashion statements? Or is it exactly the same as copying a look from the catwalk? Is there a difference between wearing Swedish clogs (sorry if this is an incorrect stereotype) which have no religious conotations and wearing a Muslim hijab which has spiritual and emotional meaning? Is it all fashion in the end or do we have to tread carefully?
What do you think?
Do you have any religious or traditional costumes that you cherish and find it offensive when others wear them? Do you believe that fashion is fair game?
I would love to know what you all think about this issue.
Love Lady Smaggle
xxx