I recently got the go-ahead from my boss to purchase a couple of these for some upcoming conferences. If you're not familiar, the outfit consists of a knee length tunic (kameez), loose fitting pants that are long enough to pool at the ankles (salwar), and a scarf (dupatta). They are typically worn with shoes like these.

Pros of the salwar kameez:

1) It's comfortable.
2) It covers my tattoos completely (no worrying about a leg tat peeping out from under my skirt suit or getting too hot and wanting desperately to take off my jacket or blazer and reveal my arm tat).
3) They come in all kinds of colors and patterns.
4) They're much less expensive than a typical Western pants or skirt suit.
5) The bright colors will make me stand out in the crowd and make it easier for people to find and remember me (I'm in sales and the conferences are HUGE, so this is important).
6) They are feminine without giving the dirty old straight white men anything to leer at (I get this a lot in my line of work even though I'm definitely no super model. Male CEOs and other executives in my industry seem to think that any woman there is fair game to ogle and not a serious business woman since we are in the minority).

Cons:

1) I feel that it may be disrespectful to appropriate a cultural clothing item like this as I am white, even though the websites I've been on that sell these tout the fact that fashion designers are making these more mainstream nowadays.
2) I won't have the chance to check out the quality or measurement accuracy until I actually purchase one, which leads me to this post.

Has anyone purchased from this ebay seller before? What was the fit like? Were the measurements accurate? I was told by the seller to take my body measurements and then add 2" to each measurement to figure out the actual size I should order. Is this enough room for plus size women?

Any advice or suggestions are welcome.

Went to the Farmer's Market with some pals today and decided it was time to wear ALL THE COLORS.

Fatshionistas, I'd like to start a discussion about clothing and appropriation.

As a community that is often forced to think creatively about what we wear due to the dearth of variety in clothing choices, we often look to other cultures for sartorial inspiration.

However, as a fat person, as a person of color and as someone who actively thinks about race and culture and privilege and appropriation, I wonder where the line is drawn between respectful borrowing and appropriation.

For example, a couple of fatshionistas have recommended wearing lightweight salwar kameezes during the summer months. I didn't want to call individuals out, because that is not the point. I don't want to talk about your personal clothing choices. Rather, I'd like to talk about this on a larger (so to speak) scale and discuss the complex set of issues behind wearing items of clothing that are most traditionally associated with other cultures (in this case, South Asian).

And, of course, this extends beyond salwar kameezes. I mean, as a community, what do we think about non-Japanese people wearing "kimono shirts," or fashion borrowing (stealing) from Native cultures, hip hop and Black culture? Is it ok to wear fusion fashion, or, as first world consumers who might have race and/or class privilege, is this something that we need to think about on a deeper level?

Thoughts and input?


ETA: Here is a great bell hooks quote on fashion and appropriation that ladyinhotpink was nice enough to type out along with some other great quotes.

"Currently, the commodification of difference promotes paradigms of consumption wherein whatever difference the Other inhabits is eradicated, via exchange , by a consumer cannibalism that not only displaces the Other but denies the significance of that Other's history through a process of decontextualizaiton."