For someone who has had a stint with long cantankerous hair, verdant spikes, and had even flirted with bell-bottoms at one point, I appreciate fashion in all its facets.
My "contribution" to the scheme appears legit if at all my hoary heavy metal orientation is anything: Spikes, Goth metal chains, shredded skinny denims, Pumas and Converse. I still attend formal government dinners in tired denims, bombed-out ancient Chuck Taylors, and heavy leather wristbands, or my faithful traditional Naga warriors' necklaces. I love their look and feel, and you will never find me without a piece of leather or metal. Or war-worn denims.
Now, fashion has a habit of provoking the borders of our cultural skirts especially if you happened to be someone from India's northeastern province. In 2010, The Telegraph called and sought perspectives about the then-climactic surge of interest in Korean and Japanese fashion that was pervading the youth population of the northeastern states. I told them it was merely a temporary movement by teenagers, not a projection of cultural mainstay that we ought to be concerned about.
I understand the national media's interest in the phenomenon, which spread during 2005-2012 across the more liberal states of Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland. I also understand the criticism from some sections of the stratum against the 'pretentious' movement.
The Difference between Statement and Stating
There must be a point of reconciliation somewhere though; a point of reference to gauge what exactly exemplifies (and differentiates)
This is my perspective:
The wave of "Korean" and Japanese "fashion" would have had been more palatable had the brains and minds of the Koreans and Japanese also arrived with the hair.
South Korea and Japan walk among the most progressive societies of the world: It is not just their roads, public services, or their obsession with accountability and clean governance. It is also about how they treat their interpersonal lives, family, and community; how they treat public property; how they value their cultural heritage; how they effectively engage education to create catalysts that inject humanism into their pursuit of positive living and productive social will. It is about how they inspire social activism, and how proactive in dealing with corruption, social injustice, and flawed leadership. It is about how they inspire values, and respect for identity even in the face of a world lost to materialistic ethos.
In other words, at best, Japan / South Korea can meet third-world societies such as ours only at a point of dichotomy.
If one would just take a minute of introspection, and examine the aesthetic motivation that nurtured the two great Asian cultures, we will find that we are primarily cavemen that just about discovered branded and expensive cars. Forgive my self-righteous denunciations, for I, too, am part of it. Our attitudes to thoughts and systems, education and activism, corruption and governance, and people and society, satisfy motives that are characteristic of small, third-world minds — and living.
Likewise, our attitudes do not reflect the goodwill that we pronounce in the media, social networking communities, and families and relationships. Our progressive statements do not reflect in the behavior of our government. Even basic social propriety is limited only to a few knowledgeable sections of our 'educated' population. Our sartorial expressions do not hold water: Our holism finds reflection only in the small variables, but never in the important demands of social responsibility. in the past more than 50 years, we have failed in the greater goals of development and in the way we demonstrate our ideas of peace and war, progress and activism.
The Good Fashion = Good Human Quotient
Now, the preceding statements must sound as if a good set of apparel compulsorily demands a socially — and personally, no less — humane makeover. Perhaps, perhaps not. That line is a blur. Nonetheless, allow me to explain again another point of reference:
To the Koreans or the Japanese, fashion is not an elective compulsion. It is a creative diversion they can afford. I saw a meme on Facebook once. The image showed a young woman, purportedly from NE India. The first image to the composite meme showed her in tasteful apparel. The text in the first image was this: "When outside."
Now the second image showed her in a dingy, dim bamboo dwelling (a bamboo kitchen?). She was dining on "sukha maas chutunty" ( a basic spice-paste made of dried fish and chili. It is consumed as a condiment by tribal communities in NE India). The punch-line on the image was this: "Sukha maas chutunty after coming home." In the corner of the image was the wildly popular symbol of sarcasm known as the "Bitch Please" face.
That is not to say a person cannot be fashionable, or have a taste for fashionable apparel, if his economic condition failed to qualify conventional standards of elitist narratives. Not at all. What the Meme meant, I believe, was this: We are placing superficial interests and shallow pursuits ahead of real issues and real demands of well-being.
Allow me, again: My mom returned from the church once, and narrated a conversation she had with a parishioner. "We're barely surviving on their father's meager salary, but they (her children) only want the latest expensive clothes. How can we survive?" the church member, a mother of five teenagers, seems to have told my mother.
That, my friend, is my point of reference; the difference between the Japanese / Koreans and most youths from NE India.
Personally, I do not judge what our youths wear. I'm fickle and wild when it comes to fashion too. However, the challenge, I would like to believe, is in trying to be a good person and a proactive citizen when it comes to the problems facing our society, or who I am to my family and friends. The latter is more important to me. I would like to believe that I try to live with that conviction whether I am expressing my opinions in the mass media, or interacting with readers and friends on Facebook. (Would you like to be a part of my small world on Facebook? You'll find me here)
I do not bother about what could be Japanese or Korean, Nigerian or Burmese, much less about what was American or Martian. My only concern is our youths giving preeminence to fashion sense, when we urgently require a sense of responsibility for the sad direction Nagaland has taken. We always dressed well, but we are also regressed, especially now that our land and people remain in tatters since 20-30 years ago.
The Koreans and the Japanese can afford to exploit the realms of fashion or philosophy. Why? The answer is simple: the demands of economics, good governance, social harmony, peace, cultural accountability, and the pursuit of social welfare are already in place. Us, we are still looking out our caves. That is not to say Japan or Korea are paradise - just that they do what needs to be done to make their societies a bit of a paradise.
As long as our youths do not learn to appreciate the finer values of civilization in mind and in initiative first, our society shall never find value and beauty in us. After all isn't fashion all about reflecting what is valuable and beautiful?
My "contribution" to the scheme appears legit if at all my hoary heavy metal orientation is anything: Spikes, Goth metal chains, shredded skinny denims, Pumas and Converse. I still attend formal government dinners in tired denims, bombed-out ancient Chuck Taylors, and heavy leather wristbands, or my faithful traditional Naga warriors' necklaces. I love their look and feel, and you will never find me without a piece of leather or metal. Or war-worn denims.
 |
| That's my latest wristband (and my hand!). The triple band is the latest member of my family of rock accessories:) A wonderful friend gifted the gorgeous band to me. She has a good taste :) |
I understand the national media's interest in the phenomenon, which spread during 2005-2012 across the more liberal states of Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland. I also understand the criticism from some sections of the stratum against the 'pretentious' movement.
The Difference between Statement and Stating
There must be a point of reconciliation somewhere though; a point of reference to gauge what exactly exemplifies (and differentiates)
- Fashion as a culture of statement, from
- Fashion as a statement of culture
This is my perspective:
The wave of "Korean" and Japanese "fashion" would have had been more palatable had the brains and minds of the Koreans and Japanese also arrived with the hair.
South Korea and Japan walk among the most progressive societies of the world: It is not just their roads, public services, or their obsession with accountability and clean governance. It is also about how they treat their interpersonal lives, family, and community; how they treat public property; how they value their cultural heritage; how they effectively engage education to create catalysts that inject humanism into their pursuit of positive living and productive social will. It is about how they inspire social activism, and how proactive in dealing with corruption, social injustice, and flawed leadership. It is about how they inspire values, and respect for identity even in the face of a world lost to materialistic ethos.
In other words, at best, Japan / South Korea can meet third-world societies such as ours only at a point of dichotomy.
If one would just take a minute of introspection, and examine the aesthetic motivation that nurtured the two great Asian cultures, we will find that we are primarily cavemen that just about discovered branded and expensive cars. Forgive my self-righteous denunciations, for I, too, am part of it. Our attitudes to thoughts and systems, education and activism, corruption and governance, and people and society, satisfy motives that are characteristic of small, third-world minds — and living.
Likewise, our attitudes do not reflect the goodwill that we pronounce in the media, social networking communities, and families and relationships. Our progressive statements do not reflect in the behavior of our government. Even basic social propriety is limited only to a few knowledgeable sections of our 'educated' population. Our sartorial expressions do not hold water: Our holism finds reflection only in the small variables, but never in the important demands of social responsibility. in the past more than 50 years, we have failed in the greater goals of development and in the way we demonstrate our ideas of peace and war, progress and activism.
The Good Fashion = Good Human Quotient
Now, the preceding statements must sound as if a good set of apparel compulsorily demands a socially — and personally, no less — humane makeover. Perhaps, perhaps not. That line is a blur. Nonetheless, allow me to explain again another point of reference:
To the Koreans or the Japanese, fashion is not an elective compulsion. It is a creative diversion they can afford. I saw a meme on Facebook once. The image showed a young woman, purportedly from NE India. The first image to the composite meme showed her in tasteful apparel. The text in the first image was this: "When outside."
Now the second image showed her in a dingy, dim bamboo dwelling (a bamboo kitchen?). She was dining on "sukha maas chutunty" ( a basic spice-paste made of dried fish and chili. It is consumed as a condiment by tribal communities in NE India). The punch-line on the image was this: "Sukha maas chutunty after coming home." In the corner of the image was the wildly popular symbol of sarcasm known as the "Bitch Please" face.
That is not to say a person cannot be fashionable, or have a taste for fashionable apparel, if his economic condition failed to qualify conventional standards of elitist narratives. Not at all. What the Meme meant, I believe, was this: We are placing superficial interests and shallow pursuits ahead of real issues and real demands of well-being.
Allow me, again: My mom returned from the church once, and narrated a conversation she had with a parishioner. "We're barely surviving on their father's meager salary, but they (her children) only want the latest expensive clothes. How can we survive?" the church member, a mother of five teenagers, seems to have told my mother.
That, my friend, is my point of reference; the difference between the Japanese / Koreans and most youths from NE India.
Personally, I do not judge what our youths wear. I'm fickle and wild when it comes to fashion too. However, the challenge, I would like to believe, is in trying to be a good person and a proactive citizen when it comes to the problems facing our society, or who I am to my family and friends. The latter is more important to me. I would like to believe that I try to live with that conviction whether I am expressing my opinions in the mass media, or interacting with readers and friends on Facebook. (Would you like to be a part of my small world on Facebook? You'll find me here)
I do not bother about what could be Japanese or Korean, Nigerian or Burmese, much less about what was American or Martian. My only concern is our youths giving preeminence to fashion sense, when we urgently require a sense of responsibility for the sad direction Nagaland has taken. We always dressed well, but we are also regressed, especially now that our land and people remain in tatters since 20-30 years ago.
The Koreans and the Japanese can afford to exploit the realms of fashion or philosophy. Why? The answer is simple: the demands of economics, good governance, social harmony, peace, cultural accountability, and the pursuit of social welfare are already in place. Us, we are still looking out our caves. That is not to say Japan or Korea are paradise - just that they do what needs to be done to make their societies a bit of a paradise.
As long as our youths do not learn to appreciate the finer values of civilization in mind and in initiative first, our society shall never find value and beauty in us. After all isn't fashion all about reflecting what is valuable and beautiful?
© 2014 Minding the Asian Hair Al Ngullie © 2012 Al Ngullie
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