Remember Kareena Kapoor Khan’s iconic character Poo in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham flaunting a black dupatta along with her beige jacket and halter-neck prime? Stylish, stylish and oh-so-elegant, Poo turned a style icon within the 2000s, setting off a development amongst school college students and younger millennials. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, too, rocked an identical look in Bride and Prejudice, pairing a slinky dupatta along with her Indo-Western ensembles.
Now, many years later, TikTok has repackaged this dupatta-wearing “2000s baddie” look right into a Western idea, calling it the “Scandinavian scarf” development.
Harshita Srivastava, senior college of style styling at Pearl Academy, defined that the Scandinavian scarf refers to “a comfortable piece of material resting on the entrance of the neck and shoulders, cascading down the again.” It’s now being sported by celebrities, fashions, and popular culture influencers, and broadly adopted by younger Western style fans.
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Decoding the development
The development has sparked criticism on social media, because the so-called “Scandinavian scarf” appears to be like suspiciously much like the South Asian dupatta. However the phenomenon of the West acknowledging and celebrating one thing solely once they undertake it’s hardly new.
“In 1498, Vasco da Gama ‘found’ India, they are saying, and paisley ‘rose to recognition’ within the 1800s due to Queen Victoria’s style. It raises the query: found for whom, and common the place?” requested Srivastava.
“The listing of such tendencies is infinite: yoga, chai tea lattes, turmeric milk, incense sticks, curry sauce, ‘namaste’, henna tattoos, naan bread, mango lassi… The purpose is, this isn’t an remoted occasion, and definitely not the primary time Europe has seen itself because the centre of the world,” she mentioned.
We dwell in a world that has been tilted, one the place no act of borrowing from one other tradition can exist with out historic context.
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Inspiration vs appropriation
“When a privileged group adopts from a marginalised one, particularly one which has confronted historic oppression, colonisation, and so forth., they set off and repeat the unique trauma. Imperialism, id, and systemic erasure are linked,” mentioned Srivastava.
In response to her, Eurocentric aesthetic preferences are how dominant cultures interact with a development whereas actively shrinking the visibility of the tradition and folks they’re adopting from, reinforcing unfair and oppressive structural dynamics.
“Cultural appropriation occurs when patterns, symbols, silhouettes or designs are taken from an oppressed tradition with out context or consent. Particularly when the dominant tradition ‘appreciates’ issues it as soon as dismissed, and even punished,” Srivastava mentioned.
She raised an vital concern –– who will get to revenue from a tradition and who’s punished for it?
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The Scandinavian scarf first picked up steam on TikTok (Supply: Instagram/@tkcdesigninc)
The skinny line between tribute and theft
Raghavendra Rathore, founding father of Raghavendra Rathore Jodhpur, mentioned that within the ever-shifting world of style, the road between inspiration and appropriation has grown much more tough, and extra essential.
“Inspiration comes from varied intervals and cultures and even the buildings and textures of nature; creativity lives on references. For designers, this referencing is a way of storytelling, a course of that revitalises basic types, not an imitator technique,” he defined.
However when reverence turns into replication, the integrity is misplaced. “Impressed work is legit when it’s trustworthy –– it acknowledges the supply, respects the context, and adapts with function. It’s about paying respect to historical past and the unique creator, not simply copying a glance,” he mentioned.
That mentioned, now, with social media, we now have the instruments and the ability to query and disrupt a repressive cultural erasure with radical visibility. We get to participate in a development whereas combating it on the similar time. To put on, flaunt, and have fun the dupatta with out calling it a “Scandinavian scarf”.
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When AI meets creativity
The rise of synthetic intelligence complicates the dialog additional. “AI recycles and redefines previous work by scanning billions of pictures, designs and types. Whereas this permits fast creation, it dangers diluting originality, resulting in a homogenised visible tradition,” mentioned Rathore, including that at this time’s concept of “originality” is already shifting since nearly every part we create is constructed on one thing that got here earlier than.
This debate is particularly related for Indian style, with its deep effectively of artisanal strategies, regional crafts, and visible range. As Indian designers reinterpret world influences and world homes borrow from Indian aesthetics, the query of impressed vs appropriated turns into a fancy one.
This dialogue is particularly vital for Indian style, which rests on a wealthy basis of custom, craftsmanship, and various regional aesthetics. The problem, in accordance with Rathore, is to maneuver from surface-level borrowing to respectful cultural change. In style – as in all artistic work – it comes all the way down to the integrity of the method.
“If one finds inspiration in one other’s work, the garment should clearly deviate in kind, perform, or context,” mentioned Rathore, who believes that paying respect to a supply actually marks mental and creative power relatively than an indication of weak spot.
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In a world changing into ever extra clear and algorithm-driven, Rathore believes the way forward for style belongs to those that can responsibly and honourably flip affect into innovation.
How one can model a dupatta
In case you are uninterested in the common manner of draping a dupatta and serving main conventional vibes, Srivastava shared some fast and simple methods to model this piece of material.
“You possibly can both drape it like a dupatta from the identical or a contrasting color and material household, draped like a scarf across the shoulders or the pinnacle, as a 90s scarf to tie the hair on a scorching summer time day or you may even go for a monochrome set, including bindis, chudis and even some ribbons,” mentioned the style skilled.
