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?

I think the point is that as a teenager she doesn’t want to be dressing up as something.

What does she like? Sport? Music?

Mmmm I’d do something like a 90s britpop outfit. I’m from Manchester so it’d be a bucket hat and oasis t-shirt for me.
Or a white tennis skirt and cute white T-shirt for Wimbledon with white trainers.
A Team GB shirt that the Olympic team wear with jeans.
You know, something that’s within the comfort level of modern day fashion but make it specifically British.

Does she have a T-shirt of her favourite UK band or singer ?

Would she wear a top with the Union flag or English flag ?

Does she have any tops with a "British" image like Harry Potter, a cup of tea or a bulldog?

Another recommendation for school uniform - something that dates back to the 16th Century in the UK

Does someone in your house have an England shirt ?

Wales does have national dress. Not sure a teenager would want to wear it though!

What about something with a rose on OP? English rose or doubly relevant if you are from Yorkshire or Lancashire.

My dd went in for full on goth look when her school pulled this trick for commonwealth day. She already had most of it anyway (or her sister did) and she'd been asking for dm's for months. Went down really well with the teachers.

Another vote for a punk.

What are her friends wearing?

There were some scary looking Morris dancers in Exeter for a Morris event a couple of months ago, they looked like they were going to sacrifice something to a green man. It definitely wasn't all white suits, flowers and bells.

Maybe go as one of them? I think there was a Beltane group and one called Ravens?

Obviously don't go as the ones who paint their faces unless it is the blue painted ones.

Depends on what she normally wears ? Jeans, Oasis t shirt, doc martens would be ideal.

Basically find an outfit she already likes and then put the effort into explaining why it’s British.

rather than trying to convince a 14yo to wear a morris outfit!!

@DemonicCaveMaggot the Beltane border morris dancers? They dance at boscastle during Halloween! They are amazing!

We had a whole week of non-uniform earlier in the year to raise money for charity (having spent £££ on the uniform we then had to pay money not to wear it). My son just wore his normal casual clothes on culture day. I asked him if he wanted to wear a skullcap as his grandad is Jewish (though not at all religious) but he didn't want to.

Thanks @Kaaardiffgalnow and @JanesBlond

Do you know anyone who bought any British flag or coronation themed clothes around the time of the platinum jubilee or the Kings coronation? One of those T-shirts would be fine wouldn't it

I want to say a nice tea dress, red lipstick, low heels and wear her hair in a victory roll. To me that's quite a wearable nod to post war era and looks great on pretty much everyone.

But I can totally see that depending on her confidence levels she might not want to do that.
Maybe even just tea dress and the lipstick but wear her hair however she prefers?

It's not specific to England as it was the fashion all over at the time but could be a kinda all encompassing British culture thing, since England doesn't have traditional dress of its own.

Go dressed for a super British summer tradition:

Glastonbury. The summer rock festival is huge in the UK.
Wellies, hippy skirt, pretty top, flowers

Wimbledon
Short white dress/skirt/shorts and trainers.

Chelsea Flower Show
Flowery dress and white trainers

May pole dancer
Long white dress, flowers in hair, ribbons to represent the maypole, horse's skull

Although I like the thought of just wearing a British band T-shirt

Led Zeppelin to spice Girls there's lots to choose from and British music influences the world

Jeans and a Rolling Stones t-shirt? They have some Rolling Stones t-shirts in the boys section of Zara

https://www.zara.com/uk/en/the-rolling-stones---t-shirt-p01277670.html?v1=265490151&v2=2190360

It's ONE day! Really not something to be angry about and certainly not something that should be avoided just because Brits don't have a traditional dress/outfit!

Amazon has Royal Guard fancy dress, Tudor & Medieval dresses, Royal capes with sceptres and crowns, Victorian maid costumes, Union Jack dresses etc. How about a white ball gown type dress, as it was Queen Victoria who started the tradition of brides wearing white?

Kids always rip each other's outfits on dress up days. It could be a fun day if she threw herself into it and hopefully they'll have some good foods too - samosas and jerk chicken sounds perfect!

Maybe get her to make some Victoria Sponges with you for her class? Or some Eccles cakes or Chelsea Buns?

I think it's one of them that you're just going to roll with as no effort at all will make her stand out even more.

We've just had this. Ridiculous notion. Mine went in in the local non league football strip as did many others. They're werent about to start dressing up as Morris dancers.

I have two in secondary so I feel your pain re any dress up days. Luckily our school don't have many but they did have something similar. My two went In ordinary clothes 'culture day' and for the coronation theme one wore whatever she would normally and the younger wore jeans, white t shirt and red socks. So I'd suggest something similar or even a t shirt with a Union Jack on.

Those suggesting fancy dress ie Tudor clothes or some such clearly don't have fussy teens. Mine wouldn't be seen dead in dress up.

We have had quite a strong music culture at different times in Britain so I agree with the PP who have said a British band t-shirt with jeans (or any bottoms she fancies). The Beatles would be cool as they were a very important part of British culture? I feel for her poor thing, it is a short-sighted thing for her school to do.

Liking the Union Jack ideas!

Slightly different because in Wales we do have a national outfit that can be worn to express your culture...however my youngest daughter hates it. So on St David's day when Welsh children wear the national outfit she wears something red with a nod to being Welsh.

This year's choice was a red top with a stylised daffodil print and just ordinary jeans. It works fine for her because she hates dressing up but is clearly participating in the spirit of the day. Maybe you could find something similar for your daughter - a top with the London skyline or even something with a red rose print could work. Not OTT and something she might wear again.

My little girl went in red white and blue colours. Luckily she had a top with union Jack on so just wore that and a blue school cardigan. Some of the other children were in their traditional dress and others just used it as a non uniform day.