This one is just silly...
Sep. 13th, 2021 11:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anna_winghttps://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2021/sep/12/double-duty-hybrid-outfits-suit-the-mood-for-return-to-the-office
(a) I would not myself consider the fashions in this article to be Western appropriations of a shalwar khameez or the general tunic-and-trousers concept of which a shalwar khameez is a local example. They are Western versions. It's rather common globally to have local versions of originally-foreign things, just ask Kit-Kat Japan, Jollibee, or Samsung.
(b) A shalwar khameez in its multiple Asian incarnations is not in fact "gender neutral", any more than a sarong or a longyi or a dhoti is. There are male styles and female styles. Wearing one when you're the other will at the very least require explanation, in most relevant countries ("I'm a foreigner" is usually a perfectly acceptable explanation; also "I'm a rich and upper-class local with avant-garde tastes in fashion"). The Western version may be considered so, I suppose, in the context of Western clothing conventions. The actual internationally accepted gender-neutral costume is jeans and a T-shirt, which has been in existence as such for some decades now.
(c) The Chanel frilly version with lace is basically pyjamas, to my eye. And not even proper lounging pyjamas (see the late, great Marjorie Hollis for the distinction among lounging pyjamas, hostess pyjamas, beach pyjamas and sleeping pyjamas).
(c) A tunic is not a frock, and never has been, anywhere, East, West or all points between. That's just fashion illiteracy.
(a) I would not myself consider the fashions in this article to be Western appropriations of a shalwar khameez or the general tunic-and-trousers concept of which a shalwar khameez is a local example. They are Western versions. It's rather common globally to have local versions of originally-foreign things, just ask Kit-Kat Japan, Jollibee, or Samsung.
(b) A shalwar khameez in its multiple Asian incarnations is not in fact "gender neutral", any more than a sarong or a longyi or a dhoti is. There are male styles and female styles. Wearing one when you're the other will at the very least require explanation, in most relevant countries ("I'm a foreigner" is usually a perfectly acceptable explanation; also "I'm a rich and upper-class local with avant-garde tastes in fashion"). The Western version may be considered so, I suppose, in the context of Western clothing conventions. The actual internationally accepted gender-neutral costume is jeans and a T-shirt, which has been in existence as such for some decades now.
(c) The Chanel frilly version with lace is basically pyjamas, to my eye. And not even proper lounging pyjamas (see the late, great Marjorie Hollis for the distinction among lounging pyjamas, hostess pyjamas, beach pyjamas and sleeping pyjamas).
(c) A tunic is not a frock, and never has been, anywhere, East, West or all points between. That's just fashion illiteracy.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-13 01:34 pm (UTC)You're unfortunately right about jeans and tshirts, but I've always wondered why anyone in a country where it gets over 29C would wear the uncomfortable stiff sweaty things.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-14 04:34 am (UTC)