A British brand has met with unsparing criticism online for selling "vintage, boho dresses". The reason - many people couldn't help but notice that the 'dresses' look a lot like traditional Indian kurtas or kameez with their side-slits and traditional motifs. The brand, Thrifted, has been slammed for cultural appropriation.
"Vintage boho dress????? girl u got on a kameez with no salwar," wrote a Twitter user named Diya on Saturday, sharing screenshots of the 'dresses' in question. Her tweet went viral in no time at all, collecting almost 7,000 'reweets' and twice as many 'likes'. The screenshots show models wearing dresses/kurtas priced between 20 to 36 pounds (approximately Rs 1,770 - Rs 3,100)
vintage boho dress????? girl u got on a damn kameez with no salwar...... pic.twitter.com/9qJBWfPCMd
— diya (@dxya_d) September 7, 2019
"There's a well established term for this, it's called cultural appropriation," wrote one person in response to the tweet. "The red one is cut from the sides. It's a kurta!" said another.
Take a look at some of the other reactions:
One time, I wore my Indian outfit into a grocery store and a man walked all the way down the aisle just to tell me and my mom to “go back to where it's okay to dress like that.”
— Tan 🍯 (@tanyamamootil) September 10, 2019
Apparently my culture is “okay”, but only when it's on a white body. pic.twitter.com/Iczr5nmWDW
The caucasity
— Bipolar Satellite (@cupofcalypso) September 10, 2019
People also criticised the brand for selling an "incomplete outfit" - a kameez is usually worn with a salwar and a dupatta.
Not to mention the fact that hey're selling an incomplete outfit for 36 whopping dollars🤣🤣🤣
— sopeNoona 🌼 (@sope_noona) September 10, 2019
Really concerned what happened to the salwars or pyajamis of these kurtas. Or are they sold separately as vintage boho chic colourful indie oriental exotic pants? 🤔🤔
— Neha (@_Neha_G) September 10, 2019
It seems consignment of Salwars/ churidaars was lost in transit! 🤭
— Y_a_s_h_a_s_v_i 🇮🇳 (@Ya_2317) September 10, 2019
According to Metro, Thrifted took down the garments after the massive backlash.
Speaking to Metro, a spokesperson said: "Thrifted.com purchased a bulk mix of vintage/secondhand dresses from a supplier who had labelled them as "boho". 'They were then listed on the website under this name.
"It was brought to the customer service team's attention that not all of these secondhand dresses were actually boho dresses. Some were, in fact, south Asian salwar kameezes. All of these items were then removed from our website. We apologise for any offence caused. We are updating our stock checking system as a result."
Here are seven other instances of when the west tried to sell desi products with videsi names.
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