US Singer Wears Traditional Vietnamese Outfit With No Pants, Netizens Cry ‘Cultural Appropriation’

By
Victor Fong
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The US Singer in question is Kacey Musgraves, an American singer with six Grammy awards known for her neotraditional country music.

Huh… Now did you say no pants?

Where can I find this said outfit? I swear it’s for research purposes and to understand why netizens are crying over it.

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So here:

Image: Instagram (spaceykacey)

What she appears to be wearing here is an Ao Dai. This was worn in a concert in Dallas, so she performed while wearing that live.

Image: Twitter (Kacey Musgraves Brasil)

Ao Dai, Vietnamese National Garment

To understand why people are angry, this is how it is supposed to look like:

Image: Wikimedia Commons

As you can probably tell, Musgraves’ wear is missing the pants, which is the white part in the above picture. Ao Dai also literally translates to “long shirt”.

Travesty! A crime against the Vietnamese! I can’t believe they only removed the pants!

Editor: What?

What?

I mean, a crime! I can’t believe they removed the pants!

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Fetishisation Of Ao Dai

See, the problem here that people not happy about is that the outfit is not only worn wrongly, but more importantly it sexualises the outfit.

So we get comments like this to remind her to put on her pants:

And also reminding people that the headpiece is a random accessory that doesn’t belong:

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Michelle Phan, an American makeup artist and YouTuber, also chimed in her thoughts, explaining that “people are just tired of narratives that perpetuates the fetishism of asian women.”

Image: Instagram (michellephan)

And to be clear on this, it seems like most netizens are actually fine if Musgraves chooses to reveal skin. It’s the sexualisation here that angers them.

But Hold Your Pitchforks

Image: Giphy

Because this is also the same singer that helped a random Vietnamese mom-and-pop photography shop get business. She also raised more than US$100,000 for local school arts programs and a nature reserve with her concert.

Musgraves, although seemingly insensitive in this case, isn’t really a racist or bad person.

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So here’s the real thing you should be angry about: ignorance and stupidity.

Yep, what’s happening here isn’t an attack on the Vietnamese. It’s more than likely someone in charge of the outfit (it could be someone other than Musgraves who decides the costume afterall) doesn’t know of the potential lash back.

And here’s another question: is it really an Ao Dai, or does it just look like one?

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Victor Fong
Email: [email protected]