Artist Manasi Arya didn’t grow up fearing ghosts, ghouls, or monsters during Halloween.
- Manasi, an immigrant from India who came to the United States as a first generation, found it “difficult to fit in” at school during Halloween.
- The American holiday “wasn’t a thing” at home, so she was unable to dress up like the other kids.
- Consequently, her mother would advise her to “just wear an Indian outfit” for Halloween rather than purchase a costume.
- The mother-daughter team did, however, enter a pumpkin competition with a drawing of an Indian woman decked up in traditional jewelry.
- Manasi realized that the two aspects of her identity could coexist after they prevailed.
- Jhumka-wearing skeletons
- According to Manasi, the encounter served as the inspiration for her apparel line, which combines traditional cultural attire worn by South Asian women with iconic Halloween imagery.
- One of her T-shirts, for instance, features the well-known mask worn by Ghostface in the horror film series Scream, but it also includes a red bindi dot on the forehead.
- Another depicts a skeleton with a tikka—a headdress—and large Indian earrings known as jhumkas.
- Since she began the line three years ago, Manasi said there has been “an overwhelmingly positive response”.
- Indian parents have expressed gratitude to her, according to her, for providing them with a “fun but educational” approach to introduce their children to who they are.
- However, there is a more somber side to Manasi’s art, since discussions on appropriate Halloween attire have been trending on social media for some time.
- While some support dressing up as the celebrities they admire, others criticize them for “cosplaying” characters from other cultures.
- Manasi says she hopes to initiate discussions about appropriation and appreciation through her clothes brand.
- Black British musician, activist, and influencer Solana has firsthand experience with that.
- Solana wrote a TikTok earlier this month about her experience participating in the well-known student pub crawl, the Leeds Otley Run, last year and meeting a white man dressed as a “Jamaican” with an afro wig.
- She claims that after noticing Solana and her friends who are black seated across from him, the man took off the wig.
- Solana responds, “Why would they feel the need to do that if the costume they were wearing was okay?“
- She maintains that “cultures are not costumes” and that if individuals choose to dress up, “the focus should be less on cultural stereotypes” and more on expressing one’s own sense of fashion.
- According to Manasi, people who are “ignorant” of traditional dress and its origins are largely responsible for some costume choices.
- She claims to have challenged a white girl once who was wearing a bindi; the girl did not realize that bindis serve as Hindus’ third eye and believed them to be merely “pretty” decorations.
- Manasi believes that her clothing line would educate people about South Asian culture and spark a discussion about the boundaries of admiration and appropriation.
- She claims that because her wardrobe consists “mostly of T-shirts, sweaters, and denim,” she is “comfortable with anyone” wearing it.
- However, it appears that her creations are providing the inspiration that Manasi was deprived of as a child.
- A young Indian girl, she claims, told her that her artwork “inspired” her to dress up as a “desi witch” for Halloween, replete with a witch’s cap and a green and black sari.