With Halloween around the corner, it is necessary to take a look at what’s for sale — and what shouldn’t, perhaps, be purchased at all. Many costumes and props can include racial stereotyping. Some are more outwardly offensive than others. It is important to identify the historical and cultural backgrounds of these identities, before we wear them as costumes for a day of fun.
In many instances, it’s not just the costume itself, but it’s the implications of appropriating a culture that is not yours in the first place. Black culture is popularized and appropriated by mainstream media when it is convenient and profitable. Being a person of color is not a mask, a costume, or a wig that you can simply remove when you no longer want the identity or attention. For many, it is part of their identities that presents itself the minute they step foot into a room before they can even speak.
We can look to big-time Halloween costume producers like Party City, which markets an Afro Rasta Mask with the description, “Cool costume, mon! Our Afro Rasta Mask features a wrinkled face with holes in the eyes, nose, and mouth… An attached wig of curly black afro hair gives you an authentic Rasta look. Jammin’!” and recognize that they have made a terribly inappropriate re-creation of the Western idea of the Rastafari movement. The Rastafari movement is an Abrahamic religion that is focused on the African diaspora with the belief that black people will be brought back to Africa. For just $39.99, Party City assures you that you will be an authentic Rasta with this poor depiction through a latex mask.
Costumes like these send a message that it is okay to portray marginalized communities because it’s just for one day. It gives permission to consumers to pretend to embody the experience of a POC, when in reality, the experiences of a POC are not ones that can be recreated or understood by white people.
Though I am a person of color, it is not my place to decide what other POC should deem offensive or not. However, there are respectful ways to depict other cultures. Sexualization and mockery of facial features are not some of them. For example, costumes that appropriate women of color are often sexualized and fetishized. Featured on Costume Craze under the “sexy” section is a Day of the Dead Adult Costume and Adult Geisha Costume. For the Day of the Dead costume it is described as being sexy, sassy, and “authentic Spanish.” The geisha costume is described as “alluring” and is under the “oriental” section of the website. By having white women modeling in these costumes it shows that these companies are not attempting to appreciate or include women of the actual cultures they stem from. It is incredibly easy to hire a Japanese women or geisha to encompass an accurate and thoughtful depiction of their own culture. Instead, we see these costumes and images depicting Asian women as people with slanted eyes, powdered white faces, and chopsticks. Take Katy Perry’s 2013 performance at the American Music Awards where her and her dancers dressed up as geishas. Nolan Feeney writes in this Atlantic article about how Perry’s performance and attire further stereotypes Asian women and geisha culture: “Even without including any actual Asian women, Perry accomplishes something similar. She and her dancers spend much of their performance time putting their palms together and bowing, scurrying across the stage trying to be light on their feet, and hiding behind umbrellas and fans. Dainty, subservient, shy.”
Perry’s performance is just one example of Asian fetishization. She doesn’t bother to distinguish the difference between the Japanese and Chinese cultural references she is taking away directly from, because Asians are all the same, right? The hypersexualization and fetishization of cultures of color promotes the idea that othering and exotification are permissible.
Perhaps a more appropriate time to wear garments or sacred cultural pieces is when you are in the country of origin. Now, I don’t mean when you go to Cabo and decide to run around in a sombrero or when you are posing in a Mexican poncho for Instagram. When you are respectfully learning about and recognizing the roots of the specific culture with its native people. Even then, it is still questionable to wear the traditional garments of someone else’s heritage. Who determines what is permissible in these instances and where is the line drawn?
During the Fashion Culture and Justice: A NYFW Dialogue Panel, held on September 12 and sponsored by Parsons and Chromat, four women discussed the intersectionalities of race and fashion. Panelist Amy Farid, who is Native American, broke down why referring to Native clothing as costumes is offensive. According to an article in Teen Vogue, she said, “‘When Native people dance, those are not costumes and I’ve heard them called costumes before. It’s called regalia. We are not ‘dressing up as.’” She explained how sacred warbonnets (also referred to as headdresses) are to her culture. She described that the feathers are earned and each one holds a special meaning specific to the tribe member. So when you see people carelessly wearing warbonnets to music festivals like Coachella or in a Super Deluxe Cherokee Mistress Adult Costume, it’s incredibly disrespectful.
Even if your friends from minority cultures approves of you wearing something from their cultures, it may be in your best interest to think again. In the age of Google search, it is very easy to research where the origins of a costume or prop has come from before you decide to appropriate it on your own terms. Halloween costumes with racial and ethnic ties are not “just costumes.” To the cultures that they have been stolen from, they are perpetuating stereotypes and further antagonizing the experience of marginalized groups. When choosing your Halloween costume this year, though your intentions may not be harmful, it is important to be respectful and mindful of other cultures.
Illustration by Ashlie Juarbe