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?

Rosie the Riveter was an American character, not British.

<curtsies>

Now I need to know your entire thoughts on the historical and archaeological background to Arthurian legend!

😂

Why not dress as a pop singer? And combine it with fashion? That’s part of British culture that might be easier to show off.

Oh no! Well THAT’S pissed on my chips!

sorry OP ignore me 🫢

How about a Land Girl then?

Whatever she would go clubbing in if she was old enough to do so.

There is quite a bit of patriotic clothing and accessories in our Asda for the Women’s World Cup.

I think this means she has free reign to dress in pretty much anything she fancies.

I like the ideas of
-jeans plus professional sport team t shirt
-jeans plus band tshirt
-punk
-mary quant mini plus twiggy eyeliner

School dressing up days at age 14? Fuck that!

Go as a brownie

What are the surnames in your family? Are any of them trade names (Tailor/Fisher/Baker/Smith/Thatcher etc).
If you have a trade surname then at some point in your family history somebody probably was a baker or fisherman or whatever so she could somehow dress at that.
Or just get a white tshirt and red fabric pen and make a England flag and wear with jeans.

I'd leave her at home.

I think people don’t realise how brutal secondary school peer pressure is and hyper vigilant teenagers are of anything not self aware or off the mark. The Nigerian national dress and saris will be considered cool but anything a white British person wears has got to fit in but not look too naff. If it was my daughter I’d tell her to go for the glasto look - denim shorts t shirt, loads of jewellery and hunter wellies. Age appropriate, very British and fits at this time of year.

But surely she could ask her friends? What sort of thing do they think she should wear? My DC school do this and we aren't white or British but my DC are mixed cultures so I came up with a sort of fancy dress combo. They consulted with their friends and decided it was a bit much.

As an aside I know a few classmates went in their football kits (Arsenal, West Ham etc) so if your DD is sporty she can do this.

Fake tan and badly drawn on eyebrows?

When my dd's school did this, she wore jeans and a top. I'm black British Jamaican, DH is white British. My advice would be, don't overthink it. It's one day.

Bodacia!

Isn't it obvious?

Red hair dye or wig.

Paint face with blue stripes.

Multi-coloured check cape.

Make a Torc necklace and crown.

Carry a spear and shield.

Let her wear whatever she wants.
Some of these ideas would lead to major ridicule.

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 outfitshe wears something red with a nod to being Welsh.

We had similar but they didn't like sport - so found some printable transfer paper - and found some fierce dragon art and played around to change it fair bit and printed that transferred to a white t-shirt with ironing and wore that with jeans.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/PPD-Inkjet-Transfer-Sheets-PPD-1-10/dp/B004BF6BZI/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=inkjet+transfer+paper&qid=1686582705&sr=8-7

There a few images associated with England/UK - 3 lions red roses, oak trees - otehr images black cabs etc - could be fun to play around and design something.

How about king/queen costumes? Knight costumes even?

I like the idea of the Glasto look if that's her cup of tea. Or one of the lionesses if she's into football. Or a nice flowery bias cut dress which are fashionable at the moment. My DD is 14 and I think that would be what she would go for.

I remember these from when my sister was young. Beefeater outfit? Victorian dress? Medieval dress?

Completely agree. For similar reasons I would definitely shy away from union jacks/the england flag on this day... would be very not-cool at dd's school. And obviously proper dressing up at secondary is for the very brave only!
I think that for my dd I'll be suggesting a band t-shirt or something like that and she could wear it with entirely normal jeans/shorts. Thank you for the ideas.
(Sorry OP we both have dds in a similar boat - I am not meaning to derail your thread)

Agreed.