Mute | PUPUREN

When Shasha and I visited Chennai, we were swept up by an entirely new culture, and of course, the clothes. We might have bought a tad too many Kurtas in our shopping expedition, and so the logical thing to do, in my mind, was to wear them when we came back to Singapore. I wore my favourite piece one day and paired it up with a pair of heart-patterned tights instead of the loose pants usually worn with the garment. I thought the unconventional pairing went well together, but ever aware of the increasingly PC culture on and offline, I eventually decided to retire these beauties to the back of the wardrobe, especially now that I don’t even have the excuse of being in the proper geographical context. It spurred a thought bubble on cultural appropriation and the boundaries of being politically-correct in my head; I suppose it’s still pretty contentious, if you’re trying to find an answer on Wikipedia. For myself I don’t feel particularly attached to what’s supposed to be my culture, so I don’t even have the confidence to judge when other people take it – my only qualm is if it’s appropriated poorly from an aesthetic point. So I guess I’m not in a position to justify when I take from other cultures? I don’t even know anymore, so I guess I’ll shut up now.