'My Culture Is Not Your Prom Dress': Twitter Erupts Over Photo

A high schooler in Utah has ignited a national conversation about cultural appropriation after she posted photos on Twitter of herself wearing a traditional Chinese gown as a prom dress. In the photos, 18-year-old Twitter user @daumkeziah, who is not Chinese, is wearing a red and gold cheongsam, or qipao. The garment dates to the 17th century and for many, is symbolic of patriarchal oppression.

Over the next week her tweet received intense backlash. The tweet garnered tens of thousands likes and thousands of comments from people who either supported her decision to wear the dress or criticized it as cultural appropriation, referring to when a dominant culture adopts minority cultures.

PROM pic.twitter.com/gsJ0LtsCmP
— Keziah (@daumkeziah) April 22, 2018

When asked by a fellow user whether she was Chinese, Keziah responded "Nope! It's just a pretty dress I found and it's a vintage dress from a vintage shop!:)"

In response to the photos, Twitter user Jeremy Lam said: "My culture is not your... prom dress."

Lam said the pictures bothered him because the qipao was initially used as a loose, formless gown used for domestic chores and house cleaning.

"It was then altered and embroidered as a beautiful form-fitting outfit to wear publically, which Chinese women were not allowed to do at during the times of extreme patriarchal oppression," he wrote.

He later added: “I’m proud of my culture, including the extreme barriers marginalised people within that culture have had to overcome those obstacles. For it to simply be subject to American consumerism and cater to a white audience, is parallel to colonial ideology.”

Femme factory workers wore this dress!!! And the style was then spread throughout Asian as a beautiful garment and sign of women's liberation.
— Jeremy Lam (@jere_bare) April 28, 2018

Other users joined him in lambasting her choice of dress, with some even calling for her to take down the photos.

"This isn’t ok," user JeannieBeanie99 tweeted in response.

"I wouldn’t wear traditional Korean, Japanese or any other traditional dress and I’m Asian. I wouldn’t wear traditional Irish or Swedish or Greek dress either. There’s a lot of history behind these clothes. Sad," she wrote.

The original photos were posted on the evening of April 22. The fierce response prompted Keziah to respond.

“To everyone who says I’m ignorant, I fully understand everyone’s concerns and views on my dress. I mean no harm. I am in no way being discriminative or racist. I’m tired of all the backlash and hate when my only intent was to show my love,” Keziah wrote.

But she still defended her pictures and refused to take them down.

"To everyone causing so much negativity: I mean no disrespect to the Chinese culture. I’m simply showing my appreciation to their culture. I’m not deleting my post because I’ve done nothing but show my love for the culture. It’s a f---ing dress. And it’s beautiful."

Photo credit: Photo by China Photos/Getty Images