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TWITTER @triciajane
Tricia Jane Asuncion, right, wore a traditional Filipiniana dress to her prom while her friend wore a cheong sam. |
A FILIPINO/AMERICAN teenager gained internet fame for rocking a traditional Filipiniana gown, less than a month after a white student in Utah was accused of cultural appropriation for wearing a traditional Chinese dress to prom.
Tricia Jane Asuncion, a high school senior from Houston, wore a beige Filipiniana gown comeplete accessorized with a traditional fan, or pamaypay.
She and her friends decided together to wear traditional dresses that represented their diverse cultures — including Cameroon, Nigeria, India and China.
“My classmates really loved the idea. When all my friends showed up at prom we got a lot of compliments saying how beautiful we looked,” Asuncion said to TFCBalitangAmerica.
She posted a tweet of her and her friends wearing their traditional outfits. It exploded with thousands of likes and retweets — possibly because it seemed an exact foil of the recent controversy in Utah involving a white student wearing a qipao.
According to NextShark, Asuncion was not aware of the online debate over the Utah teen wearing a cheong sam when she decided to attend prom wearing her culture’s traditional dress. Though initially overwhelmed by the internet’s viral response, Asuncion said, “I felt really happy representing my own culture … It means more than just a dress. It represents what we stand for as a culture as a community and as a country.”
Asuncion seems to have started a trend among Filipino/Americans, inspiring others to celebrate their heritage during this iconic U.S. high school tradition.
“I received a lot of messages from other Filipinos telling me they are going to do that again next year, too. So, I’m really happy I had that positive impact representing my culture,” she said.
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