Quasi-religious callout culture

Against the background of the more individualized lives of citizens in postindustrial nations like America today, social media callouts provide a potent means for participating in ersatz collective identities and ersatz social justice movements. They enable people to mobilize quickly behind vague, racialized notions of "Asian” or "black” culture and against equally vague, essentialist notions of white supremacy, and to claim cultural ownership, or gatekeeping authority, over the wearing of kimono, cheongsam, cornrows and dreadlocks, over hip-hop performance, or over choices of actors for "Asian”-themed movies.

The quasi-religious character of this callout culture finds expression in ritualized shaming and demands for atonement, and for recognition of cultural ownership from those who sacrilegiously transgress against it; and in the ritualized atonement and recognition duly offered up by repentant transgressors.

Cultural appropriation outrage persists because — at the touch of an electronic screen — it serves powerful emotional needs to belong to a particular collective identity, and to social justice causes with highly inclusive lists of victims, such as those with no plausible national connection to the "appropriated” culture. All this is bad news for advocates for the popularization and internationalization of Japanese arts, anime, manga, cosplay and kimono fashion. What should they do?

They can take to social media to highlight the incoherence in cultural appropriation outrage, and show that more racialized understandings of culture play into the hands of actual white supremacists and nationalists, who are busy creating their own Wagnerian variations on the themes of "white” and "European” culture.

They can remind Twitter and Tumblr that Japanese practitioners of traditional arts like the shakuhachi are gladly sharing that art with non-Japanese musicians. They can also point to the internationalist ambitions of kimono designers such as Hiromi Asai, who explained her vision to me as follows: "I believe kimono is a universal fashion that is beyond cultural and ethnic boundaries.”

Rather like Johann Herder and his intellectual heir, Lafcadio Hearn, they can demonstrate that the survival and flourishing of minority and non-European arts, folklores and traditions can depend upon their internationalized transmission.

Venerating the past, traditional costume fever grips Thailand

“Out of the 30 years I’ve been running this shop, this is the peak for us,” 53-year-old Siri told Reuters as she stitched a Thai sarong for a client.

History fever is gripping Thailand and a growing number of Thais are wearing traditional dress, a phenomenon encouraged by the junta and the palace, and fueled by a popular television soap opera.

But the trend, which began with a ‘winter fair’ initiated by King Maha Vajiralongkorn in February, has also been criticized by some as an attempt to glorify an era of absolute monarchy and gloss over the junta’s shortcomings nearly four years after it took power.

“History has long been used by the elite to maintain their status in politics,” said Anusorn Unno, Dean of the Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology at Thammasat University.

“Right now the junta is facing new challenges from a new generation of people so they have retreated to history to say that the past is better and more suitable for Thailand.”

Among the popular costumes are those worn during the reign of former King Chulalongkorn, known as Rama V, who ruled from 1868 to 1910 and is credited with saving Thailand from Western colonialism.

Television has also played a part.

“Love Destiny”, a soap opera set during the 1656 to 1688 reign of King Narai the Great, has taken Thailand by storm.

Many Thais are visiting the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok, where scenes from “Love Destiny” take place. They pose for “selfies” dressed in traditional garb against the backdrop of the ruins.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha met with cast members this week at Government House and hailed the series as an example of the government’s longstanding policy of promoting ‘Thai-ness’.

Prayuth’s own cabinet has held some recent meetings in the traditional dress of a 19th century elite. He dressed in a buttoned up silk jacket, breeches and a wide sash.

A coup led by Prayuth in 2014 followed months of unrest as demonstrators supporting the urban middle class and military-backed elite demanded the resignation of then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose biggest following was among the rural poor.

That long-standing division shows little sign of having disappeared despite four years of military rule.

Although the junta has now promised elections for February 2019, signs of frustration over repeated delays to the ballot have prompted protests in recent weeks.

Colorful and Majestic Costa Rican Costumes

Costa Rica is identified as a country full of love for its culture, generated precisely from the multicultural ancestry. Before talking about the typical costumes, it is important to know a little bit about the history and traditions that originated all those typical costumes are used for both women and men.

This country is part of Latin America and like other countries in the same continent, they often include in their clothing a diversity of colors, accompanied by an authenticity that makes them be different and widely recognized all around the world.

Costa Rica’s society takes into account that the elaboration of its typical costumes must be perfectly made. That is why those costumes are usually based on their cultural traditions.

In the case of women, they use to wearing a skirt adorned with a lot of bright colors, drawing much attention from the surroundings. For the top, it is usual to wear a shirt which reaches the shoulders preferably white since it cannot be as colorful as the skirt so they can stand out at the same time. The hair should be full of showy flowers.

With regard to men, Costa Rican culture focuses on making them look like gentlemen. This is always achieved by placing a completely white suit with a bright color handkerchief that attracts a lot of attention.

The typical Costa Rican costumes demonstrate how friendly this culture is, through the chosen colors that will highlight all the typical costumes that exist.

Typical costumes always keep the features of the ancient indigenous tribes that populated this territory. Costa Rica has an extraordinary wealth of cultural manifestations, legends, popular festivals, music, local traditions, and dance. All that is an important part of the nation´s identity.

When one refers to a typical costume of a country, it goes hand in hand with other important aspects of the culture like its meals, the way of speaking, expressions, customs, symbols of identity, flags, dances, and so on.

Much of the typical costumes of the country are used in specific scenarios: festivities, carnivals, or other events that commemorate facts of the history of Costa Rican society. Let’s mention some examples:

Province of Guanacaste. The typical costumes of this province will depend on the celebration and have evolved according to their history. However, one of the most common dances is the Batijuela, with costumes characterized by its abundant lace, high hairstyles divided according to the age of the ladies taking part. The younger wear a blanket; the older ones put on a pair of pants.

There is no variation to the typical costumes of Costa Rica for men. In general, it is practically the same with a red scarf, but without a hat.

Province of Puntarenas. They maintain a classic range of clothing brought from colonial times. During Holy Week they were characterized by a scarf full of sequins and bright colors

Province of Heredia. This province differs from the others because it does not use lively colors like the others, instead characterized by using dark and opaque colors. Silk and cotton is the ideal for their clothing. This fabric can be either unicolor or printed. The type of dress of Heredia is extremely conservative, distinguished by having details with buttons,

Province of San José. Women often use many decorations in their hair, which they wear with natural flowers. They usually identify themselves by including colors like purple and white, while men are dressed in black.

Province El Limón. They usually use turbans made with colored fabrics, this is an essence of the Afro-Caribbean garments, and the rest is very similar to the typical national costume.

Women wear white with colorful fabric ornaments. A turban is always worn in carnival dresses, the skirt of high flights up to the ankles, elastic at the waist. Men are accompanied by a machete, a kind of long knife, a colored belt, cut down pants and leather shoes.

Cartago. Some of the costumes were brought from Great Britain, adorned with fine laces. Men wear ties of canvas, jackets or vests, and hats in white or black.

Reliquary

Known as an indispensable part of the national costumes of Costa Rica, it consists of a burgundy colored ribbon, the function of which is the same as a usual string. Most women used this as a symbol of love, as they carried pieces of hair of their loved ones inside the reliquary.

Garments

They use large rings around the ears, likewise decorating their hairstyles with generally natural flowers. Within the garments, we can mention the selection of underpants with abundant laces and, in the case of women, reaching the knees.

Kalak, a Kyrgyz woman's proud headwear

Haznihan Turdi is proud that she makes the best Kalak, a traditional headwear for Kyrgyz women, in her village. The wedding headwears of most girls in Gaizi village of Aketao County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China are made by the 65-year-old woman.

Haznihan's hands are swift and nimble, but it took her 10 years to make a headwear for each of her five daughters.

Perhaps, however, the proudest thing for her is that her youngest daughter Gulisari has learned the craft from her. Before that, the woman worried that the heirloom of her family might someday get lost in the world.

Like other old traditions, the Kalak is in the danger of vanishing as few young women can rival the old in needlework, let alone the most intricate skill in making the Kalak. Kalak making involves sophisticated stitching, tassel weaving and horse mane coiling. Every step requires patience. Haznihan spent three years imparting the craft to her daughter.

Besides, ancient coins, the most important ornament in Kalak, are hard to find in recent years.

Actually, every household in Gaizi, like Haznihan, boasts an old Kalak that might have been passed on and carefully preserved for generations. The oldest Kalak in the village is said to be three or four hundred years old.

The Kalak is deeply rooted in the Kyrgyz culture. According to the Epic of Manas, a centuries-old epic extolling a tribal leader named Manas, Kanykei, wife of Manas, wears a Kalak headdress everyday in her life. As time fleets, Manas and Kanykei are nowhere to find, but the Kalak remains intact in the unobtrusive village of Gaizi.

The making of the Kalak consumes not only time but also sumptuous raw materials. To complete a Kalak headwear, one needs a length of 45-meter white cloth as the interior adornment. On the exterior, a lot of precious decorations will be used, like silver and gold, ancient coins, corals, agate and precious stones among others. All the things together weigh tens of kilograms.

In that case, the Kalak headwear is rare and precious, and is usually passed on for generations. Women in Gaizi prepare the headwear a few years before wedding as their dowry.

Thanks to cultural protection efforts from the government, Haznihan's worry wanes lately as the Kalak headwears are regaining eminence in her hometown on the Pamir Plateau. Once a reserved gift at weddings, the sumptuous headdress is also making increasing appearance during festivals. In Aketao County, an institution has been founded to promote the ancient costume to a wider market.

Haznihan and several other Kalak makers have started a business in the village. They work hand in hand to make tailored Kalak headwears for tourists. Each one is worth 3,000 yuan ( roughly 440 U.S. dollars) to 10,000 yuan as to how exquisite it is.

The woman is glad that her precious heirloom has found a way to keep fresh and alive.

The History Of Men & Skirts

In the UK, where I live, a debate has recently erupted over student dress codes, as gender-neutral uniforms will soon be instituted at at least one school. Though the actual issue at hand has to do with students feeling free to express their gender identity and is rather complex, the media narrative is a bit more simplified: should boys be allowed to wear skirts, just as women can now wear pants?

But what you might not get from the current discussion is the notion that pants are masculine — and skirts are feminine — is much newer than most of us think. The entire idea of skirts as specifically female dress was brought about in European thought by a combination of tailoring innovation and particular occupations; and the tradition of men in cloth wraps, skirts, tunics, robes and other non-pant items is vast and ancient. So why are we getting our minis in a twist about private school kilts being available to all students?

Skirts on men have, of course, been used as a quick method of signaling gender-conforming behavior for decades, from the glorious gown-wearing David Bowie to Kurt Cobain and Nirvana sulking around in floral dresses. However, the movement to make skirts socially acceptable wear for men — something ordinary instead of a sign of specific thought or intent — is garnering strength on the world's catwalks and among certain millennial men. What's often missing in the discussions of skirts on men is historical context, so let's get into the realities of how men have been sporting flowing hemlines for eons.

Ancient World: Skirts For All Except Horse Riders

Skirts were the matter-of-fact wear of many of humanity's most ancient civilizations, on both sides of the gender divide. Gauzy wraps and loincloths for Egyptians, togas denoting class and status for Greeks and Romans, ornate military costumes for Aztecs: many ancient costumes were based around the idea of the skirt, purely because they were easy to construct and created huge freedom of movement. Whether you were fighting, building, farming or engaging in some kind of religious ritual, skirts provided cheap and efficient use. Short skirts among soldiers from the height of the Roman Empire, noted an exhibition at the Met called "Braveheart: Men In Skirts," were considered proof of virility, and allowed for swiftness while in combat.

14th-15th Century Europe: Suddenly, There's Hosiery

However, the demarcation between trousers-for-men and skirts-for-women wasn't actually completely set in stone until around the 19th century. For an extremely long time, the tunic or short skirt was a key part of the male outfit in medieval and Renaissance Europe; just going out with hose wasn't seen as acceptable. And even when the tunic overlay fell out of fashion, trousers themselves would swell to skirt-like proportions among the fashionable; 16th and 17th century nobles in England and elsewhere, for instance, were sometimes expected to wear hose, perhaps a codpiece, and giant breeches puffed to high heaven.

Even in the 19th century, as the paint-like breeches beloved of such dandies as Beau Brummel set the hearts of ladies aflutter (because they revealed everything of a gentleman's legs and buttocks), skirted garments were still acceptable in many contexts in European society. Academics, monks and men of leisure wore gowns, all of which are still in use today.

19th Century US & Europe: Male Children Start Wearing Pants

However, in the 19th century, the practice of "breeching" came into fashion, in which small boys, somewhere between the ages of 4 and 7, were given their first pair of trousers (breeches) to show that they'd gone beyond infancy. Part of this was due to new ideas about childhood and children's brains, but it was also down to shifting perspectives on what made a "man"— which led to skirts becoming less and less acceptable for young male children.

Modern Day: Skirts For Men Are Only Taboo In Certain Cultures

Fashion, as 1883 Magazine points out, is having a decidedly male-skirted moment; many contemporary menswear lines are sending skirts down the runway, though it remains to be seen whether the look will actually percolate into the mainstream (and not just on professionally quirky fashionable types, like Jared Leto). Men's skirts have received mainstream resistance — often based around the idea that, since the skirt is inherently feminine, a man wearing one is either feminine and therefore weakened, harkening back to a less sophisticated past, or looking for attention. But the idea that skirts are entirely feminine is in fact very Western-centered.