Whenever a white woman wears any kind of Indian-specific outfit, I feel like I have to always say that… it’s not really appropriation to do that? I won’t speak for all Indian people, but my feeling as a half-Indian woman is that Indian clothing is just… clothing. It’s beautiful and well-made and can be worn by anyone. As long as someone isn’t wearing something in a mocking way, and as long as they’re respectful of the culture, why not? That being said, I do side-eye Katy Perry’s obsession with so many Asian cultures. It’s an obsession almost bordering on fetishization. Wooo… a conversation for another time. Anyway, Katy covers the latest issue of Vogue India. On one side, I’m sure these Indian designers love that an international pop star is wearing their designs. On the other side…yeah, a minor side-eye. As for the interview… it’s nice. She talks a lot about mental health and Orlando Bloom and how much work she’s done on herself in her 30s. Some highlights:
Her secret to surviving her crazy schedule: “Transcendental meditation. There are so many different forms of meditation I’ve done, but nothing supersedes TM. It changed my life.”
Her mental work over the years: “I’ve done a lot of mental, spiritual and emotional work in the past few years. The biggest lie we’ve ever been told as artistes is that we have to stay in pain to create. I don’t want to be in emotional pain my whole life in order to write songs… I like to write songs that really move or empower people. If you divided my songs, they would be 50 per cent [about] empowerment, 25 per cent party and 25 per cent romantic. They are heavy on hope and positivity, like going towards the light. I reject the darkness.”
On authenticity: “I think I’m young at heart and they see that. Authenticity is important to me, and young people—Gen-Z, more than anyone—can sniff out frauds.”
Finding the balance: “I’ve gone to therapy, been through the Hoffman Process, done plant medicine…. And I have a partner who is also all about finding a balance—Orlando, who is on a spiritual journey of his own. He’s an anchor who holds me down, and he’s very real. He’s not the number one fan of Katy Perry, but he’s the number one fan of Katheryn Hudson.”
Love in one’s 30s: “Love is different from dating. You date in your twenties. Love is partnership, friendship, truth and being an absolute mirror to someone. Orlando is like a sage. When we first met, he said we would pull the poison out of each other, and we really do. It’s exhausting, but we really hold each other accountable. I’ve never had a partner who was willing to go on an emotional and spiritual journey like Orlando. It’s challenging, because you’re facing all the things you don’t like about yourself. It’s like a never-ending cleanse.”
She was deeply depressed in 2017-18: “I became depressed and I did not want to get out of bed. In the past, I had been able to overcome it, but this time something happened that made me fall down too many flights of stairs. I had to really go on a mental health journey… We talk about all our different organs but never talk about out brain, which keeps us functioning the most.”
Her political and charitable work: “If you have a big spotlight and you’re sharing it for good, it’s going to be better for everyone. At 35, I’ve checked many boxes off my list and I’m now being challenged to dream new dreams. I want to be involved in environmental companies, I want to go back to school [psychology and philosophy will be her subjects of choice] and I want to influence good people to run for office.”
“I became depressed and I did not want to get out of bed…” That was in reference to 2017-18, so that wasn’t about the peak years of her beefing with Taylor Swift. That beef was more circa 2014-16, although they only formally buried the hatchet in 2019. Plus, it’s dumb of me to look for a “reason” why she was depressed. It was probably like she said, a snowball effect of bad thing after bad thing and she couldn’t find her balance for a few years. Yes, Katy is sort of goopy and it strikes me that she’s probably a target audience for Goop, actually, but with Katy, I buy that her journey is authentic, you know? She really is trying all of this stuff because she wants to be a genuinely better and healthier person. IDK, maybe I’m giving her too much of the benefit of the doubt.
Cover and IG courtesy of Vogue India.
“Artistes” always kills me. It comes off so pretentious. From the woman who gave us “Harleys in Hawaii.”
Idk if people here really love Katy, but I always found her personally not that glamorous or interesting.
She underwhelms me in every possible way.
Entirely accurate assessment.
I saw that too and wondered if it was done in sarcasm or jokingly. I read the interview and it’s inconclusive.
I’m meh on her but will never forget how she was the target of a mean song by the biggest pop star at the time. Anyone in the “Bad Blood” video should be ashamed of themselves.
She does veer into fetishisation sometimes; but I think if you’re on the cover of VOGUE India and their stylists want to dress and style you in Indian fashion and styling, then the respectful choice is to embrace that. It is beautiful fashion and it helps promote that fashion to the world at large.
Yeah, this feels entirely appropriate for Vogue India. I actually find it preferable to just putting her in a Gucci dress or something, as though everyone in the world should aspire to Western culture.
That was my thought, too. They didn’t ask Katy to bring in her own clothes for the shoot, they brought the clothes, the stylist, etc. It’s what Vogue India wanted to see on their cover. And fashion magazines are all about promoting the designers, makeup, etc.
And those photos are gorgeous.
I agree. Context is important. When a celeb walks around in fashion that they’re appropriating from another culture that’s one thing. When a celeb is dressed in fashion by Indian designers for a photoshoot in Vogue India, that’s completely different.
This
I feel it’s important to understand WHY cultural appropriation is problematic in order to make better choices on if it’s something you wan to contribute to…
The biggest question to ask yourself is, “can a person native to this culture get away with wearing this in public, without bias, negativity or repercussion?”
Oftentimes, when a white person wears something or uses certain language or an accent, it is deemed as arty, exotic and edgy. When a native to that culture does it, it is often deemed ethnic, unsophisticated and a refusal to integrate. They often encounter difficulty when applying for jobs. They might also have difficulty simply walking on the sidewalk, going to school, or doing regular day to day things.
This is the problem with cultural appropriation, that a white person can get away with it and even applauded for it, but the intended wearer/speaker still encounters racism and prejudice for it. It’s also creeping closely to white saviour territory.
It is a different matter entirely if you are invited to partake in the custom by a native. Otherwise, it’s best to stay clear of it and instead use that creative energy you have to indulge in other cultures to fight against racism and discrimination so that everyone can truly wear what they like, and be of any skin colour, and not have to encounter adversity for it.
That was so well said Thanks
I think these are beautiful pictures.
Absolutely. A magazine cover that looks like a magazine cover. Haven’t seen one in white a while lol.
That cover picture is gorgeous!
Katy Perry is too gimmicky for me. There is just too much going on in her videos and performances. It’s almost like she needs to do all of that to distract you from the fact that she’s not that great of a performer to begin with. I feel like if she tamed things down a little though she wouldn’t be that bad.
As far as young people being good judges of character or authenticity, that’s not true. I work in a bank, in a college town and I can tell you they are the worst. We get at least five or six kids everyday that have given out their information or accepted checks from someone they have never met. We had one on Friday who took a 12k check to walk a dog for a week. He told her that he sent too much money and to send back 4K in gift cards and she was going to do it.
OMG the dog walker! Wow. In my limited experience with people that age, it’s been jarring to see some young adults who can’t do some very basic things.
I’m not a fan of Katy’s work, she’s too manufactured for me.
Yeah, unless you’re beating most of them over the head while dancing in their face, there’s no interest or care lol.
Someone actually thought walking a dog for a week???-would pay 12 grand,and this is a college student,lol.Actually it’s not so funny as disturbing,plus if dog walking pays that who needs a university degree?
If you had asked me to guess who was on that cover, I wouldn’t have thought Katy Perry.
I don’t care what you say, the below picture is Miley Cyrus. The caption may say Katy Perry, but it’s Miley Cyrus.
People who are authentic usually don’t have to talk about how authentic they are.
Oh, Katy.
Lol.
I like Katy. She seems like a nice person. But dear gawd, who wants to be in a relationship that exhausting? It sounds like a nightmare! My husband and I like to cook, take walks and watch tv. We feel pretty authentic. But it is relaxing! Not exhausting. Thank goodness he doesn’t hold me accountable for every flaw.
I think she sounds like a nice person too. I don’t get that mirror comment though. Is that a common therapy saying? Because the Justin Timberlake Mirror song always cracks me up.
If the zoomers can spot a fraud, Katy’s in trouble. She is as fully a HW assembly line product as is possible.
There is just no there there
Yuh. Even her comment about fraudulence was fraudulent. Emily Rata said the exact same thing in an interview, which I just happened across yesterday.
Katy’s song Firework is used successfully as an intro example of poetry in 5th grade Language Arts in white bread suburbia. Partly because parents won’t complain. Then the kids pick their own pieces to present in class, their more in your face choices, which is great. I’m not dissing anything to get kids interested in poetry lol. I put Katy in a category of California pop, not necessarily a bad thing.
Katy lives in a former convent. The IHM sisters owned that building/land and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles sold it out from under them to make the deal with Katy Perry.
To quote the fabulous Julia Sugarbaker, “Anyway you package it, it’s still manure.”
So nuns were living there until the Archdiocese sold it?
They went to court to prevent the sale, and I think Katy won because the nun who was opposing her died. She was 89 and dropped dead in court. It’s a long story but when the nuns themselves tried to sell the property, the Archdiocese blocked their sale, then arranged to sell it to Katy Perry. The whole thing was a mess. Nuns always get the short end of the stick from the church.
Correction: I guess she didn’t buy it after all. But it was a legal tangle between the Archdiocese and the nuns, and the sister really died in court.
I don‘t know, seeing some (or rather many) young girls’ adoration for (yoga) influencer who pretend to be authentic (but anyone with half a brain cell can see they are anything but) makes me really disagree with the notion that they can sniff out frauds 🤷🏻♀️
Indian clothing is absolutely gorgeous. I was in India for a friend’s wedding, and I thought it was an honor to wear some of the gorgeous clothes I bought there, and I know the groom’s family and friends (all native Indians) I met and danced with loved to see us American women in Indian clothing. I’m not saying cultural appropriation isn’t a thing, but I think cultural appreciation can exist as well.
There’s always a thin line. In my experience it’s encouraged to be worn to a wedding ceremony but for a photoshoot after photoshoot for her it feels different.
Katie P was in relationships with 3 of the most horrendous sociopathic/narcissistic men put there: Russell Brand, Jared Leto and John Mayer. She seems to be finally happy and at peace with Orlando. What a huge step up from those other three!
Katy’s option to purchase the convent expired according to Variety 10/8/19. No updates to be found after that article.
As I recall Orli’s former wife is fairly crystal new age healing as well. Much happiness to Katy and Orli, they do their thing fairly quietly and off the radar between projects, I respect that.
She is unrecognizable in these photos, and these quotes are so in your face hypocritical. I know that all of her “makeovers” are completely manufactured by her handlers, but this girl has no idea of who she is.
I’m not sure what to say about Katy Perry. Friends of mine just do not like her for some reason. I’ve seen her a lot on Idol where she acts a bit over the top, a bit attention-whore, and it gets tiring. I’m definitely not a fan of her music, but other than that, I don’t know what she’s really like as a person. She says she was depressed in 2017-2018. I’m thinking that may be due to her on/off again relationship with douchey John Mayer? He would drive anyone mad since he such a commitment phobe and it probably has to be all about him. I’m thinking he couldn’t handle her level of success. Hoping she and Orlando can make it work. About the hair, she needs to go back to dark. The blonde is just fug on her.
When gen Z got to fyre festival and smelt those sandwiches, they smelt fraud
can’t put my finger on it, but I get very bad vibes from her since day one. Something feels fake and pretentious about her.
“You date in your 20s.” No, SHE dated in her 20s. Speak for yourself, Katy, it’s not a rule for everyone.