Not Fashion, Its Culture

 So its festivval season soon, and searching through the most fabulous high street stores seems so fun, in preparation for new summer styles but whats this you notice? A bindi being sold as accessories? Well it must be a vogue worthy trend upcoming. well...NO! Just Because it sits on the shelves of oh so popular fashion stores doesn't mean it should be worn. Actually it's a cultural or religious tradition with meaning behind wearing it, which (NoOOWAY!) is important to a lot of people. 

So my feminists rant for today is shining a light on why we shouldn't use culture to move a level up the fashion rank.

What is cultural appropriation you may wonder? Well it's usually when jewellery, clothes or traditions from a culture gets adopted by people who don't have any origins from the culture but feel they are being style savy. Like wearing cultural makeup for Halloween or to festivals.  

Then why can't we share the trends, isn't that how they became cultures anyway? Somehow it's not that simple and it's not about other cultures just seeing something they find trendy (like a bindi or headdress) and wearing it. Because; like some hairstyles, it was a way of people keeping certain types of hair clean. It was never a trend to them. Like music styles were a way of expressing themselves when being discriminated. We should know before wearing someone else's way of survival to a party so you look fab.

But then wouldn't that be showing respect for the culture? Well judging by some music videos, certain cultural appearances were being used mockingly, and people of certain cultures being used as props. There is a bigger separation between showing respect and stereotyping when taking on jewellery or hairstyles ( people finding them interesting or cute) because the cultures are already being put down by society, telling us to dismiss them. If, all cultures were treated equally (which I wish was the truth) they could exchange hairstyles and clothes. 

But here's a creative solution: let's make our own culture, original fashion and lifestyle. Let's not follow fashions guidelines and take other cultures! We can make out own style look however we want (no rules!) We can be our own culture, but love other ones too and know the origins before adopting!