With Racial Harmony Day coming up, I’m reminded of a Singaporean pastime – wearing the traditional outfit of another race to celebrate our country’s multiculturalism. But in today’s age, is it still appreciation, or appropriation?

As a child, I remember these matching green and blue Indian outfits that my sister and I wore for almost every special occasion – weddings, Hari Raya celebrations, birthdays, and of course, Racial Harmony Day – despite not having any ties to the Indian culture in our family. We always called it the ‘Punjabi suit’ but only recently did it occur to me to check if it is indeed an outfit of the Punjabi people (a friend confirmed that it is, and is more commonly known as a salwar kameez). Looking back, my choice to wear this outfit for my birthday party at home (where the above photo was taken) probably wouldn’t fly today because I may have unintentionally offended someone by wearing it for no real reason other than it was pretty to me. I’ll be honest, I’d probably raise an eyebrow too if I saw a non-Malay person wearing a baju kurung for their birthday party ‘just because’.