BackArts & Culture » Music & Art » Singer Kacey Musgraves Draws Ire of Netizens for Sexualizing Áo Dài

Singer Kacey Musgraves Draws Ire of Netizens for Sexualizing Áo Dài

The popular American singer may want to use her tour earnings to buy some pants.

During a concert in Dallas, Texas last Thursday, Kacey Musgraves wore a Vietnamese áo dài, with one crucial part missing: the pants. According to The Daily Dot, Musgraves quickly attracted criticism after she posted photos of herself in the outfit on Instagram. 

The highly risque outfit, which left little to the imagination, drew allegations of cultural appropriation and sexualizing an important part of traditional Vietnamese culture.

Poet Mai Nguyen Do wrote on Twitter: "Hey @KaceyMusgraves, I assume you're not protesting the imposition of pants on Vietnamese women by the Nguyen dynasty as a mode of Sinicization, so please don't further degrade this key part of Vietnamese culture and put on some pants like everyone else that wears áo dài."  

Other users were more blunt, but the condemnation was largely universal.

According to Tuoi Tre, Ngo Thanh Van, the star of Furie, wrote on Facebook: "Before you put on the traditional attire of any country, the least you can do is look up information on how local people wear it in their country. This is disrespectful behavior and shows an artist's ignorance."

The six-time Grammy winner has since taken down her Instagram posts depicting the outfit, and as of the time of writing she has not made a public statement on the matter.

It is somewhat ironic that Musgraves committed such a serious a sartorial faux pas related to Vietnam. In late August, she visited a Vietnamese-owned photo processing shop in Los Angeles, giving the business a huge boost.

[Photo via 24h]

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