Here everything ends, and begins

weakatyourknees:

torayot:

nextian:

shoomlah:

Multiculturalism for Steampunk is starting up a weekly art challenge, and it looks promising. SO EXCITED. I’ve had a bunch of ideas for non-Western steampunk outfits floating around in my head, and it’s nice actually having a weekly deadline to motivate me to finish some of them.

This is pretty subtle in its steampunkery (read: no extranneous metal bits), but I was just trying to bring in a few western/Victorian elements to traditional Indian clothing- legomuttoned sleeves, the double breasted, collared choli, and adapting the churidar into buttoned spats.

…Also a sweet hat.

-C

I think there are some colonialist questions that get raised when you incorporate specifically British Victorian elements of couture into Indian fashion? A few?

Buuuuuuut I would fight a man on a grizzly bear for this lady’s comic.

I am so glad you said this. I thought I was alone in this. British Empire, anyone? Company Rule? British Raj?

Dear internet, I shan’t assume that you all know about the British Empire. I know not everyone has the same education and it’s problematic to assume this.

But know that British rule in India lasted from around 1757 to about 1948, and that the relationship between the coloniser and colonised is extremely complicated, and still very much has real lived effects today. Sure, the outfit and character look beautiful, but I just don’t think you can go around mashing up Victorian fashion with Indian clothing just for surface steampunk elegance without encountering some problems. I can appreciate the visual qualities, but the history and meaning causes some concern.

/inb4 people start screeching that I am ~*oversensitive*~ and can’t enjoy anything :-{D

As someone who is Indian, has lived in India, and has been immersed in the modern culture, I will say the notion you have of Indians being offended by British rule  is more than completely untrue for the majority of the Indian population presently. Perhaps there are Indians who would find the image unsettling, but ultimately the percentage is very sparse. The generations affected by British imperialism are gone. My grandparents, now in their late 70s and early 80s, were 10 years old at the time India was liberated. If you believe India would continue to take this to heart in current times, you are doing us a severe disservice. To think, our people, offended by a drawing? Are we so petty to you? The British rule that once happened is not a concern that persists among Indians now, and in trying to feign an understanding of our culture, you are committing a far, far worse cultural appropriation than a simple depiction of clothing ever could.

I understand you spoke with good intent, and I thank you for that, but the frivolity of your accusation is much more offensive to me. As well as the fact that you claim to know what I, as an Indian, would or would not be upset with when in reality you don’t understand whatsoever. Please be mindful of this before you decide to play White Knight. Not everything needs saving.

^^^ Preach.

Indian here. Still living here. It’ll be 65 years this year since Independence. We got over it a long time ago. Really.

Yes there are a few who would be offended, but they are the same people who look for things to be offended at, and most of the time are not the kind of people you’d want to engage with in the first place. The rest of us? We don’t care. No really, we don’t. Please stop thinking that we’ll be offended by default, or it’ll hurt our sentiments; or speaking on behalf of us.

Also, unrelated, but I want this woman’s outfit. Like really want it. It’s the most awesome mixture of a salwar and saree I’ve ever seen.

(Source: shoomlah.deviantart.com)