Salwar Kameez suggestions

[beerdrinkinlass]

I recently got the go-ahead from my boss to purchase a couple of these for some upcoming conferences. If you're not familiar, the outfit consists of a knee length tunic (kameez), loose fitting pants that are long enough to pool at the ankles (salwar), and a scarf (dupatta). They are typically worn with shoes like thesePros of the salwar kameez

Comments

[onceupon]

Well, I am obviously not the cultural appropriation police but I don't know that *I* would be comfortable wearing clothing that was identifiable as the traditional dress of another culture. I think plenty of different national costumes are utterly gorgeous but my comfort - i.e., the compliments I receive wearing something beautiful, the literal comfort of the garment, that sort of thing - is secondary to the voices of the people of color I have heard speaking out about how appropriation makes them feel, especially in a community like this one.

I think my appropriation alarm bells wouldn't go off so much if it were a garment inspired by a national costume or traditional form of dress instead of a replica of said clothing. But even some garments "inspired" by clothing from other cultures is problematic for me.

I don't think there are any hard and fast rules on this subject. Maybe that is why it makes people so uncomfortable. There are as many different opinions on whether or not something is appropriative and why as there are members of this community it sometimes seems! But, personally, I would rather err on the side of caution.

As for Kyrgyzstan - would that be Kyrgyzstani or Kyrgyzstanian? - traditional dress.... Why would you be wearing it? Again, I'm no authority on this, but I would tend to think it was just fine if you were wearing it to a gathering that celebrated heritage whereas if you were just wearing it to the mall it would feel more inappropriate to me. I don't remember who brought it up but I was reading a blog entry a while back that discussed the way viewers can't know certain things about the way we dress. A viewer on the street, for example, might not realize you were wearing, say, a 1950s dress and apron ironically and instead would have their prejudicial opinions about women and their place reinforced.

[petitfour]

Wait, so are you saying that retro clothing reinforces the dominant values of the time-period they're from?

[onceupon]

I don't think, given the tenor of our past exchanges, that it would be in any way fruitful to try to explain what I meant to you. I was not making a blanket statement.

[petitfour]

Wow, I asked for a clarification on a metaphor you used, and you've decided that because I've disagreed with you in the past that I'm not worth talking to ever again.

Why comment back to me at all then? Because I would rather be ignored than belittled.

[onceupon]

I'm not belittling you. I am saying that we don't ever seem to be able to communicate without clashing and I would rather not put either of us through that. Ignoring you seemed far ruder to me than letting you know why I was not going to get into it.

[petitfour]

I just think it's interesting that you indicated to the OP your disappointment in her apparent unwillingness to engage with those offering criticism, and yet you feel so comfortable being openly and deliberately dismissive of mine.

[starsimplode]

Snap.

[acerzen]

oh I do love Gerri. And she sure wears the camel toe not so well herself!

[starsimplode]

There is some magical quality about Jerri. Her innocent misbehavior makes me smile like a proud mother.

[theoryofgravity]

I can't speak for onceupon, but my impression of her meaning is that a casual observer might see a woman wearing retro clothing and not realize she might be wearing it NOT to reinforce those values. For example, somebody could see me waddling around in a 1940s housedress, and based on my fashion choices they might assume I'm old-fashioned in my values as well (of course, this isn't the case). Not that my wearing the dress is automatically always a reinforcement of those values, just that some people may see it that way.

Obviously, in the end we can't control what people assume about us based on what we're wearing, and we can't know the intent behind what strangers wear. My own tendency is to err on the side of caution and avoid wearing anything that makes me feel like I have to elaborately explain my intentions to people. In my case that means I'm cool wearing vintage/retro stuff, but not wearing overtly ethnic stuff. But that's me, and clearly everyone is different.