Teen Slammed For Wearing Traditional Chinese Dress To Prom

A Utah teen is defending her choice to wear a traditional Chinese dress to her prom after critics called her out for cultural appropriation.

Keziah Daum isn’t apologizing for her fashion choice. She says the dress is beautiful and she’d wear it again.
The teen says she found the dress in a vintage clothing store and thought it was pretty.
The controversy came when she shared her prom pictures on Twitter last week.

A Twitter user named Jeremy Lam responded, writing: ‘My culture is NOT your goddamn prom dress.’
He went on to explain the dress’s history as a symbol for women who overcame oppression.

Another woman tweeted: ‘I wouldn’t wear a traditional Korean, Japanese or any other traditional dress, and I’m Asian.
I wouldn’t wear a traditional Irish or Swedish or Greek dress either.’

Daum says she meant no disrespect to the Chinese culture, tweeting: “I don’t see the big deal of me wearing a gorgeous dress I found for my last prom. If anything, I’m showing my appreciation to other cultures and I didn’t intend to make anyone think that I’m trying to be racist. It’s just a dress.’