A teen named Keziah Daum in Utah picked out a special dress to wear to her prom, as many seniors would. But her dress was very unique in which she wore a Chinese inspired cheongsam, which according to Wikipedia is a "body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women," also known as a qipao. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheongsam

She received much criticism though for her attire and she had mentioned that "it's just a dress." In my eyes, I do think it is just a dress and I loved it. According to the Washington Post, however, there was an uproar on the dress as it caused a cultural appropriation debate in the U.S. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp...

In her eyes, she loved the dress and had thought nothing of it. She really appreciated what the dress had to offer and it even gave her a sense of appreciation for other cultures as she revealed. Others though took it as though she was insulting the Chinese culture. They felt she could have been mocking the culture which she was not trying to do at all.

I will also say that I think she saw the dress and loved it, so she wanted to wear it to prom. I also do not think she did anything extreme and that is the rest of my opinion. Jeremy Lan however, a Chinese adult had responded to her Twitter post of her showing off her dress saying that her dress is not his culture. He also mentioned that the dress is not meant to be for American Consumerism.

Some argue that since she is not Chinese, she should not wear it. However, can she wear it if she admires it and appreciates it? As I told a friend, I would not expect someone to wear a Jewish Yamaka if he/she is not Jewish, so perhaps the history of the dress (if there is significant history) should have been considered before she wore it. But then with other particular items, designs, and clothing such as Henna tattoos and do-rags, are they allowed to be displayed on certain Americans?

It may depend on what the design is and the history behind it, and many Asian Americans were even supporting Daum on wearing the dress, saying that they enjoyed that she was appreciating their culture and happy to have their style of clothing be spread.

Daum's mother had mentioned that she had put her in a more diverse school to have more exposure to other cultures. Perhaps that influenced her choice behind the dress.

At the end of the day, there are billions of people in the world, and one is bound to get offended by something. She had mentioned that she would wear the dress again, which I personally do not have a problem with, but others would. But is this dress different from the things I have mentioned before such as Henna tattoos and do-rags? So which items from other backgrounds and cultures are we allowed to wear?

This is a very unique topic which needs to be discussed, but I do support her wearing the dress; I thought it looked beautiful.

I hope you stay safe from the attacks Daum, and I also believe that instead of being attacked by others, they should be teaching us and even let us appreciate other cultures. History is great to learn for a brighter future.

What do you think about her wearing the dress?