The Gcit fashion show is an event many students love. I myself have competed in both in 2018 and 2019. This is the one event we get to show off our craft and express our creativity and knowledge. However with this years theme, many students have concerns. The theme is “It’s a Small World After All” and the idea was that there would be 40 countries divided to 5 per class. Each class would form a group and pick a country to show off that country culture. Unfortunately, this is not being executed properly. Someone’s culture should not be used for “fashion” and “entertainment”. Students expressed many concerns. In different classes we mentioned the fear of appropriation, backlash, and thought it would better to pick a different topic that wouldn’t make anyone feel uncomfortable. We were met with “Stay positive!” “Stop being negative nancy’s!” and all concerns fell on deaf ears. The teachers, will be the judges of what is “appropriate”. When one teacher was asked “if I have italy, can I dress up as a bowl of spaghetti?” the teacher responded with approval. This is extremely ignorant and offensive as for one spaghettini isn’t even italian, it originated in China and was brought to italy by Marco Polo. Another example of this ignorance is the list of countries. The list included, “hawaii” and “africa”. In elementary school we learned the different between states, countries, and continents. A child would be able to see that those are not countries. The teachers uneducated on these topics of culture and the difference between appreciation and appropriation. As a proud member of the cosmetology program, i’m asking for the theme to be changed because this will ignorance is simply embarrassing to the department as a whole.