I know the feeling - when I go to a folk festival and see people doing a dance that was specific to a particular day, and intertwined with other customs and done by a particular set of people - then I hear it being described as traditional - I have to grit my teeth and walk away.

In another part of my life I sometimes come across people making, and usually selling, costumes or individual garments which are simply wrong - wrong fibre, wrong method of producing the yarn, wrong style, wrong methods of production - big write up and huge claims for authenticity.

There is absolutely no point in protesting - they are the experts, not you - at least they are usually convinced of that, and in some cases they have taken out a patent and they are earning money or receiving applause and adulation, so they must be right and everyone else should shut up and not try to tell them they are wrong.

Anne the Pleater :ootd: