Formal Attires in a Multicultural Nation

chillibreeze writer — Sukanya Kanarally

The other day in Wellington, NZ, a student of Indian origin wore a Sherwani for an evening party. The organizers of the party had specified that the invitees be dressed in formal attire. When our Sherwani-clad student tried to walk in, he was not allowed to. Then ensued a heated debate about what exactly ‘formal’ was. The organizers tried to clarify that they had distinctly mentioned that it was ‘formal attire’ and not ‘attires’, and hence the ‘formal’ in a different cultural context did not qualify in NZ. ‘Does this mean that NZ is a monocultural society?’-someone retorted. Quite understandably, what followed was more chaos and confusion than a merry party!

This was just a party, but what about more serious occasions? For example, at the age of 26, Josef Penninger completed a remarkable thesis on T cells in the human thymus. Penninger was soon delighted to learn that his work had been named the year's best thesis. He was less delighted to learn, as he arrived at an awards reception in his honor, that he would not be admitted because he had failed to wear a tie. Was Penninger being punished for being too casual? These incidents raise critical questions about culture in an increasingly multicultural world. That a multicultural nation is like a melting pot is now a cliché. The question asked there is, “what is the dominant flavor?” The more pertinent definition of multiculturalism is that it is like a vibrant mosaic, or a salad bowl where different ingredients don’t have to run the risk of losing their unique self. Instead, they gel with each other in dynamic equilibrium so that the whole will be much more than the sum of its parts. And to gel, they have to know each other.

Labeling someone’s clothes or culture as ‘exotic’ is at best ‘ignorance’ and at worst, snobbishness’. Does every variation of cultural clothing become ‘formal’ in a multicultural society? Who should decide what is and what is not? Perhaps the following anecdote illustrates these questions more poignantly. Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion was once upbraided by President Chaim Weizmann for appearing at a formal dinner in typical Israeli fashion, with an unbuttoned collar and no jacket or tie. "How can you show up dressed like this at a state dinner?" Weizmann asked. "Think of all the foreign guests who are here." "But Winston Churchill," Ben-Gurion claimed, "gave me his permission." "What do you mean Winston Churchill gave you permission?" Weizmann asked. "He's not even here!" "Well," Ben-Gurion explained with a smile, "When I last visited London, Churchill said to me, 'Mr. Prime Minister, in Israel you may dress that way, but not in London'!" When Churchill and ‘formal dinner’ become a metaphor for dictating what the Israeli PM should wear not just in London, but also in Israel, we realize the complex dimensions of this issue called ‘formal attire’.

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Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in January, 2011. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

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—About our writer:

Sukanya Kanarally has MA, M.Phil in English, teaches at the college level. She has edited and published work in English and Kannada and translated extensively from Kannada to English. She is deeply interested in research and writing.She can handle tasks like report writing, article writing, business writing, web content writing, and web editing.

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