The Olympics Bonds by Fashion
When it comes to why I came to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, yes, it was rooted in a series of unfortunate experiences I have had growing up. However, it is not one of the reasons that I have stayed.
While scrolling through Threads (by Instagram) I saw a creator, by the name of “oloriswank”, post about a particular country's attire at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. It reads, “I didn’t think anyone was topping Haiti when it came to 2024 Olympic uniforms but Mongolia said aht aht aht… OMG. Mongolia’s uniforms for the opening ceremony in Paris are insane.”
As one who leans towards anything related to culture and people studies, and as a self-proclaimed fashionista, I had to see what Mongolia had laid out for us… and they did not disappoint.
Mongolian Uniforms Designed by Mongolian couture house Michel & Amazonka featured on the left two photos with a black background.
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The comments are filled with individuals commending Haiti and Mongolia's attire. And my thoughts concur with all who wrote warming emojis and comments of “fire” and “slay”. It is a demonstration of how important the representation of our traditions is, and the variety of ways that they can show up.
And this is one of the spaces where I find my whys! It's the moment that fosters connections between different groups based on creative storytelling. Our narratives, our family’s narratives, and our culture’s narratives are reliant on our ability to continue the stories orally, through the written word (aka literature), or through apparel like done so here.
Even the small representation of your nation, country, tribe's flag, or marker is enough to allow someone to understand you and your perspective a little bit more. And this is in no way supposed to spark opposition unless you are intentionally taking another culture's regalia or attire or history to disrespect and misrepresent them (aka cultural appropriation).
On the opposite end of this positive interaction, we have the recent events with Delta Airlines. The well-known travel company changed its policy for flight attendants, preventing them from displaying and wearing any pins that may represent a country or nationality that is not the United States.
I'm interested to see how things move forward from here. Are we going to look towards the perspective of freedom of speech? Is it moving away from having “inclusivity and respect for all”, as Delta provides their standards written in their response on the X platform? From this, I wonder how things shift perspective so quickly in the eyes of expressions. Because on one end, the display of one's culture through attire is celebrated, on the other it’s painted to be feared.
As always Darchelle Burnett/Dose of Darchelle tries to take no sides publicly to any matters that may offend anyone. I encourage all to research and review all resources to all matters of opposition.
