Thursday, May 1, 2014

Incorporating Culture into Fashion


Over the last hundred years or so, the world has advanced tremendously in terms of knowledge of other cultures. Thanks to airplanes, the internet, and long-distance calls, the rest of the world is now more accessible than it's ever been. This has lead to a "potluck of traditions" in fashion; meaning that we can now pick and choose what clothing from other cultures we'd like to wear, regardless of whether or not we know the culture itself.
While this can (and has) led to quite a debate over whether or not someone can take advantage of one part of a culture while ignoring the rest, I personally love this "potluck". If we can adopt such concepts as political movements and spiritual beliefs from other parts of the world, I see no harm in adopting a type of earring or a new style of dress. Here's a couple examples of some of my favorite traditional attire that's been snatched up by modern pop culture as a fashion trend.

Moccasins
Left: A woman dressed in traditional Wôbanaki clothing from the 1770's, including a pair of summer moccasins. Right: Lindsay Lohan in moccasin boots.


Nath 


Left: A model wears a traditional Indian wedding nose ring, otherwise known as a nath, on the cover of an Asian wedding magazine. Right: Kendall Jenner wears a nath to Coachella.


Bindi
Left: Selena Gomez sports a decorative bindi at the Beats Music Launch. Right: An Indian bride puts the finishing touch on her traditional wedding bindi before her wedding.


Kimono
Left: A young Japanese woman in a contemporary kimono. Right: Alexa Chung models a Westernized version of a kimono.

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