Remembering the time I was in India to attend a wedding and my friend's family decided to 'dress the foreigners up in traditional costumes', and how ... because of cultural appropriation backlash fears, I never shared photos or wore those clothes again, once home. Seems a waste.
@WanderingBeekeeper Yeah, but it's sooooo tiring to need to explain to someone who thinks I'm being insensitive.
@vollink I wouldn't wear my kurta to a costume party, but I wear it on Diwali. The first year I was in San Antonio, I was the senior onsite manager for my insourced group. An Indian coworker told me I needed a kurta and to order the ladoos, as I had a responsibility. My spouse has an outfit that she bought after the shopkeeper saw her browsing the sidewalk rack and hurried out, telling her "I have your size!" It's not cultural appropriation when the folk of that culture say, "wear this".