Courtesy Anais Herrera
Sophomores Zoe Aune (left) and Presley Haney and pose for a picture at Ascension Catholic Church’s Tét event, a major holiday in Vietnam celebrating the Lunar New Year.
While many students dress more casually at school, fashion is still a large component of culture that many enjoy outside of school.
“A couple of weeks ago, I attended a Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebration at my church,” junior Annie Nguyen said. “In terms of cultural fashion, it’s definitely my favorite event because of the clothing. I got to wear a new áo dài, which is a long dress with pants worn under. The áo dài will always be my favorite piece of cultural attire, especially the embroidered and custom-made ones.”
Another cultural event in Brevard County is IndiaFest, an annual two-day festival celebrating Indian culture, dance and cuisine. Sophomore Shriya Varada performs a dance in the event every year.
“My favorite cultural garment is definitely the outfits that I get to wear for Garba, which is an Indian dance I perform everywhere,” Varada said. “The skirts and tops we wear are gorgeous. They’re super well-made and colorful. Also, when we spin during the dances, the skirts open up in a really beautiful way. I wish there was a more casual version of it to wear because I totally would wear it out.”
Outside of events hosted in Brevard County, numerous students, including senior Sydney Cooper, enjoy traditional clothing even if they may not wear it regularly.
Although senior Sydney Cooper does not have the opportunity to regularly wear cultural clothing, she said she still appreciates the dressing traditions from afar.
“I’m Trinidadian, and back in Trinidad during festival season, they wear different folk dresses,” Cooper said. “I’ve never gotten a chance to wear one, but they’re gorgeous. My favorite part is how airy and lively they are. They’re also pretty big dresses, so they look really nice for dancing.”
Culture and fashion go hand-in-hand in these students’ outfits.
“I wish it was more normalized to smaller aspects or modified versions of cultural attire casually, it’s unique and super pretty,” Nguyen said. “It would be amazing to have my everyday clothing represent me.”
By Anais Herrera