I'm not claiming this to be right but the following is my lived experience (sorry if it's a bit long-winded & heavier than expected, but it gets to the point eventually):
For me, the connotations of 'boho' start to blur the lines between my ethnicity & what I've grown up to know as 'western' clothing, as a first generation immigrant the UK. It also brings up some difficult questions about cultural appropriation.
I remember how upset I used to get as a child when people would make fun of my mother or me for wearing shalwar kameez in the streets, calling it pyjamas or whatever else. Everything that made me different, from the way I dressed to the food I ate, was vilified. Of course not everyone was like this, but it was enough to make me deeply self-conscious of dressing in a way that acknowledged my cultural heritage. Dressing 'well' for more everyday events meant a Western suit (not a Nehru jacket lol), pearls or a knee-length dress (funny looks if I tried to wear a long dress in the summer for nonformal events).
Now I don't think I would have minded this so much if this was 'just the way things are done' at all times. The real kick to the stomach, though, was when my culture became a trend again in the 2000s, & those *same* people would later be the ones to talk about getting a curry down at the pub or go on soul-searching trips to 'find themselves' in India. Now I know the knee jerk reaction is to defend these people as simply showing appreciation for other cultures, but what I witnessed firsthand was those people outright rejecting the culture if it was coming from someone *of* that culture, but embracing it once it had been commercialised through their own culture. They would gladly pay through the nose for an 'artisanal' mass-produced kaftan or 'boho' swimsuit coverup, but they would roll their eyes at me telling them that I could get them that same item, custom-made to their exact measurements, for a 10th of the price, the next time I visited Pakistan. And that their money would be going directly to the artisans!
I think you can imagine how confusing this was to me because, according to Angie's description of Boho, my linen & cotton, tasselled, wooden & beaded pieces should have been right at home for this sort of look (even my naturally long, wavy curly hair!). It led me to wonder whether the 'Bohemian' items that come from other cultures also had people behind them similar to me, left feeling the same disconnect between their actual culture & western perceptions or profits from them. (Side note: Even items typical of 'Western' Boho looks, like milkmaid dresses & cowboy boots, didn't seem as popular in the UK Bohemian scene as Asian & African clothing - I wonder why that is?)
I remember being enamoured with the idea of achieving a 'polished' look without at first realising how heavily westernised my idea of polish had become. Everything about who I am fought against being able to realistically achieve that level of polish- I wasn't tall or skinny enough, my hair was wavy but in a dry rather than 'just been mechanically curled' way, my skin was tanned but not in an orange way (remember we're talking about the 2000s lol), & I look like the walking dead in pastels. So I tried adhering for a bit before rebelling outright.
I would then happily wear my Pakistani scarves, jewellery & bright colours without caring what anyone else thinks. But the irony is that I have the sort of body type that doesn't look as great with very busy patterns & prints all over (reminiscent of a Boho look). So I've ironically gravitated back to 'boho' but only in small doses, to better work with me as a person (so it's technically Boho Lite, but not because I don't like full-on boho lol).
The current difficulty I'm facing is that moving to HK has made me more cautious about what I wear & how it comes across - I think I've mentioned before how colours are even more subdued in the workplace than they were in the UK &, whilst young people wear trendy outfits, many of them are still some iteration of the 'accepted' 3 categories of preppy hipster, cutesy schoolgirl or black streetwear. They seemed to have absorbed Western trends but with their own spin on it (like the athleisure look but without the leggings, if that makes sense?) I very rarely see people wear their traditional Chinese clothing anymore (except for kids at Chinese New Year and some old folk here & there).
For example, when I go charity shopping now, it's mostly westerners that I see picking up the cheongsams or qipao rather than locals. I don't think their attitudes (the thrifty westerners') are the same as the ones I experienced growing up in the UK, since they're obviously more than OK with buying these items straight from the 'ethnic' source (I really hate that word, on par with 'exotic', but that's a discussion for another day lol). So I wonder if things have moved on enough now for a 'boho' look to be truly inclusive? Either way, I feel like I've grown up enough in the meanwhile to not care so much about whether people approve of me looking 'polished' or 'bohemian'.
That said, I've bought a bright yellow cotton maxi dress that probably could not be classified as anything but Boho - I'm excited to show it off in the forum
