My culture is not a trend.

My culture is not a trend. I was scrolling through this year's fashion trends when I saw this: a traditional Chinese jacket labeled as a "Mandarin jacket." After deep diving, I saw many quiet luxury brands selling the same silhouette without acknowledging the culture it was inspired by. As a Chinese Australian, I feel conflicted. On one side, I love that elements of my culture are being celebrated, and I personally want these to be normalized instead of exoticized. However, there is a fine line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. Appreciation is welcome, but when a brand chooses to profit from another culture without credit, without context, and without even using the right terms to name it, that's not appreciation, that's appropriation. My take is, if you're going to design or buy something inspired by another culture, please do it with intention. 01: Learn the real name. This is a traditional Chinese Tang jacket, Tangzhuang, featuring pankou or frog buttons. This is a qipao with a Mandarin collar. My second piece of advice: 02: Stop the "trend" framing. The fashion industry's trend cycle is designed for disposability. Reducing Tang jackets to a trend strips them of thousands of years of history, craftsmanship, and cultural meaning. 03: Support Asian designers. There are so many talented Asian designers who have been creating these silhouettes their whole lives, but up until this point have been labeled as niche. I personally put together a list of my favorite Asian-owned brands. Comment below and I'll send that to you. And also I would love if you could comment your favorite Asian-owned brands below to help me build the list.