10/04/2026
Fashion as a Cultural Conversation: Cultural Appreciation vs. Cultural Appropriation in Fashion 🌏
The Qipao is far more than a garment; it is a powerful expression of Chinese heritage, craftsmanship, femininity and cultural pride. Its distinctive silhouette celebrates the female form while conveying confidence, strength and poise. Traditional Qipaos can reflect generations of artisanal knowledge through techniques such as intricate embroidery and hand-stitched frog buttons, or pankou. Symbolic motifs can also carry deeper cultural meanings, with imagery such as peonies and lotus flowers associated with ideas including prosperity, love, purity and good fortune.
But what happens when a garment so deeply rooted in cultural identity enters the global fashion conversation?
Fashion has always crossed borders, borrowed ideas and evolved through cultural exchange. That exchange can be beautiful, respectful and mutually inspiring — but it can also become complicated when cultural elements are separated from their history, meaning and the people to whom they belong.
This is where the conversation around cultural appreciation vs. cultural appropriation becomes important. And rather than approaching the subject with the intention of creating further division, I believe we need to be willing to ask questions, understand context and acknowledge the people, history and craftsmanship behind the clothes we wear.
The Qipao offers a particularly compelling example of how fashion can be both a celebration of culture and a point of cultural conversation. It also raises an important question for designers: How do we draw inspiration from another culture while respecting its origins, meaning and contribution?
That is the conversation explored in my latest piece on Substack — including a closer look at the designer’s vision and contribution, and where the line between influence, appreciation and appropriation becomes more nuanced.
Check out my latest conversation piece on Substack
https://inspiredaddict.substack.com/p/fashion-as-a-cultural-conversation?r=53hvsj&utm_medium=ios
