How Far Will The West Go?

So, the first week of May, every Monday, is THE MET GALA. The ever so luxurious red carpet, which takes place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, where rich people dress up in over-the-top outfits, while the working class around the world puts their sorting hat on to judge every celebrity who graces the carpet. This year’s theme is- “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” aka couture inspired by black dandyism and importance of clothing and style to the formation of the black identity, mainly in the USA. History aside, it's such a cool theme and this year, many Indian-origin stars like SRK, Diljit Dosanjh, and Kiara Advani attended this year. And Diljit? He stole the show. The amount of sheer work put into his outfit was truly visible. The turban? The Prabal Gurung fit, the recreation of the iconic Patiala necklace adorned around his neck, the Gurumukhi embroidery? He was flaunting his Punjabi roots with pride.

As a fashion girlie myself,  I was so proud to see our clothing being shown on a global level like such, but one thing rubbed me the wrong way: when it was revealed that Diljit was rejected by Cartier, the France-based luxury fashion house, to wear the choker because it was too “fragile” and “museum status” to wear the original piece, thus he wore the recreation. What’s funny is, in 2022, Emma Chamberlain, a white Youtuber, wore a part of that necklace on the carpet. It wasn't fragile when she wore it? Peak comedy. They did provide other pieces of jewelry to wear, but, it doesn’t deny the fact that they denied an Indian, to wear a piece of history which belongs to us. 

This is so infuriating, because for ages, the West has been stealing our culture and rebranding it as theirs- calling a dupatta a ‘Scandinavian scarf', or when hair oiling became the trend and all the white influencers jumped the train; swearing they’ve been doing it for ages when they most probably bullied poor Indian girls in oiled hair back in school. You know why Cartier denied Diljit this piece, despite letting Emma wear it? Because if Emma wore it, it’s “A beautiful piece from Cartier’s house of luxury”. But if Diljit wore it, it’s “A piece of history belonging to the Punjabi people which disappeared due to colonialism”. Cartier doesn’t want that. 

They don’t want you to think this piece of jewelry (which was most probably stolen) should be the face of Cartier. So, instead? They denied it. This is the West’s way of shutting people of color out and appropriating our culture. Truly the cruel reality.

Harshitha M.