What to wear to school “culture day” if you are white British?

[Whatcanshe]

My 14 year old DD attends a large state school in North London. It has a high proportion of pupils who are Asian and black. Last year for the cultural day the Asian girls wore saris and a lot of the black girls wore traditional Nigerian dress.

My DD is white and last year just went in jeans but is worrying about what to wear to this event on the last day of term. I have no idea what to suggest. We are not Irish or Scottish so can’t for eg wear a kilt.

I wish schools wouldn’t do this as it’s just a nightmare for some kids who don’t know what to wear. I know she is going to beg me to have the day off rather than have the worry of it all.

Any ideas as to what she could wear?

OP said that her daughter was into Billie hence suggesting a t shirt that reflects her interests (and might therefore be reworn) rather than a random one. Most of the T shirts are from H&M so technically they're Scandinavian.............

Watch the highlights of the opening ceremony from the 2012 Olympics for inspiration?

But I agree that this all sounds very difficult. Couldn't they celebrate different heritages using music, food or art?

Old victorian ensemble or something?

🤐

Why are people going in on this thread?!

If I were English I'd have loved my DC to do either Morris dancer or pearly king/queen

She can definitely wear something like this to represent Britain. It's modern too seeing as it just happened last month.

Jeans and a favourite band t.shirt

I'd like to know this too

The problem isn't the school making her do this, or the other children being mean to her (30 girls in her class and they all laughed at her wearing jeans last year? really?). The problem is your DD needs to learn to stand up for herself: she needs to learn to say "this is what I've chosen, what's your problem with it?". It's a skill she needs for later in life, and you're doing her no favours by trying to find creative ways around her discomfort.

Just seen your DD is half Irish and half Indian. FGS. She needs you to set an example for her - sort yourself out and she'll follow you. So disappointing when parents point the finger absolutely everywhere - including at other children! - rather than themselves.

My Yr 7 son wore a tartan tie to similar culture day as there's some distant scottish relatives somewhere up the family tree!

I was thinking something like this that's funny and still relaxed and within her comfort zone?

It's not the OP whose daughter is part Indian and part Irish - it's my daughter.
And I'm sure she wouldn't want to wear anything from either nationality. Particularly Indian, because being Indian is cool at her school, and there are many Indian girls, and she'd feel like she was trying to get in on the gang. And not Irish because we don't do or have anything that relates to being Irish (bar singing a lot of old Irish songs with my mum!).

England sports kit/cricket whites/tennis dress for wimbolden
Club uniform (guides, scouts, etc)
Military uniform
Vintage clothing (tea dresses, swing dresses, there is a lot to play with here from 40s/50s/60s etc so doesn't have to be 'costume')
Nurse or doctor (representing the NHS)
English policeman
Knight (or a dragon!)
Viking/Roman/anyone else who invaded us
Wear red and white (or red, white and blue) for the flag colours
Barbour style jacket, flat cap, borrow a whippet!
Farmer/Fisherman/miner or other traditionally English professions
Some English celeb (Don't ask me, I'd pick Dani Filth, he was voted Suffolk's greatest icon)

I guess it's me your telling to sort myself out? Not really sure why!
I don't personally think much about what to wear - certainly not now and not really then either - I was a very untrendy girl with few friends who wore what I had.
Dd is a teenager who cares about what people think about her, and is doing a reasonable job (much better than me!) of negotiating school social life.
Are you saying that she or I need to change?

My daughter is not part Indian or part Irish, that was a previous posters DD not mine. If she was either of those things it might help!

“Sheworeyellowmellow” you ok? You sound very angry and quite unpleasant.

But does it have to be her own culture? Could she wear something from a different culture she admires instead?

Ginger Spice in her union Jack dress

Punk. T-shirt inside out, a few chains, DMs etc

A pinned on rose? the national flower

Just tell her to wear her own usual clothes and own it. The whole thing is so cringe for secondary aged kids.

We did this at my secondary recently, worked very well, was lovely to see the range of cultural dress and the students confident in it too. It is a fairly mixed school but majority white British, who turned up in jeans, old school trainers from the 90s and either punk/rock band t shirts, tartan print somewhere and lots of England shirts and 90s style tracksuits it was great. We didn’t put any pressure on the students so some came in usual non-uniform. It was an opportunity to show off and embrace your culture/identity if you wanted to. Everyone looked great and was nice to see the students come together actually so can be a nice event if there’s not too much overthinking. Come in cultural dress if you want, no worries if not.

@RedRum27 that does sound lovely and also great for a minority of pupils to share their culture. It is harder when you are the only one from a culture that doesn’t really have a recognisable cultural dress. My daughter is one of few white British children in her school and struggles with these days. Everyone around her is wearing beautiful national costumes and sharing different dances. It makes her feel very self conscious that she doesn’t have one. She already faces a lot of scrutiny about why she’s not religious from friends at school. I am not a fan of these days.

@Vintageteatowel that’s understandable. It’s interesting when different cultures feel like the minority at different points. This cultural day is where your child feels that way and there may be other days where those students feel that way, I don’t know. Maybe some conversations with her about British culture still being valuable and rich even if it’s not shown through attire/clothing - British culture is excellent and has a lot to rave about. It’s a shame she faces such questioning about her religious status, secularism is fine and maybe the school can do work on it through CPSHEE or assemblies. It’s all about recognising cultural difference not as wrong but just being different isn’t it. An England top would be my advice based on what I saw or the red/white/blue combo was a good idea from a PP. Some students came in their dance gear or Irish dancing outfits. __