This is something I’ve always warmly noticed about Mexicans in general - a love of seeing their culture exported and embraced around the world.

“Cultural appropriation” often seems to emit from the mouths of those not from the culture they are claiming is being appropriated.

It’s beautiful to see how piñatas are a childrens’ birthday party staple in all corners of the globe, how fresh tacos are eaten at British tables on a normal weeknight. It’s a celebration of a culture, not a theft. If I hadn’t encountered a burrito one night in Germany many many years ago, I perhaps would never have made the journey to witness the architectural beauty of Zócalo plaza, the wonderful paintings of Siqueiros, or learned of the rich culture of Mesoamerica at Teotihuacan.

Every year, on my birthday, I celebrate by cooking carnitas (as taught to me in Mexico City) and elote to share with all my friends and family. Sufficed to say, everyone who has eaten it is now fully aware of the culinary brilliance of Mexico (and we’ve a few friends signed up to join us on our next trip to Mexico)!

Food is a language of international understanding and a powerful tool for breaking down the barriers between cultures. “Australian” sushi isn’t a slight against the Japanese but a sign of deep love for Japan and how that love is an integral part of modern Australian identity.

That's reasonable. I suppose there's something distinct in the "costume" based on how significant the cultural garb is. I don't know much about mexican culture so correct me if I'm wrong, but is the stereotypical sombrero/poncho combination more a product of convenience and weather than culture? Contrasting with the Native American headdress or Hindu bindi which are culturally significant in (I believe) a different way.

It's a complex and multi-layered topic, as I alluded to in my previous comment, but I'll do my best to answer this. I'm by no means an expert on this, and I'm a white English dude so far from qualified really... But I have read a lot on the topic in addition to my own gut reactions to these things.

So... First let me clarify that by "wearing someone else's culture as a costume" I am really talking specifically about people in wealthy Western countries wearing the cultural clothing of (almost always) historically colonised peoples from elsewhere. With that being said the first point to call attention to is a kind of dry economic one - the outfits you see being worn as a Halloween costumer are broadly mass produced by companies with no affiliation to the cultures they are imitating. They make huge amounts of money selling these costumes to Westerners like me, while giving nothing back to the people they've taken them from. This follows a long and difficult history especially in the context of colonies - historically (not at all that this doesn't continue today) the West has plundered the world for all its worth, and this is just a relatively subtle modern example. So even before anyone puts the costume on I'm uneasy about it, personally.

The second point is specific to certain cultural garbs which are 'closed' within the cultures they come from. While the other reply points out that they, as a Mexican, don't mind seeing people dressed up in Mexican costume, you would be very hard pressed to find anyone Native American who is happy seeing anyone in a mass produced war bonnet. I won't pretend to understand the full significance of the headdress, but its well known that it is not something you just 'put on' if you are a Native American, and divorcing it from that cultural context both cheapens it and shows a general lack of respect towards the people whose clothing you're wearing.

I think that lack of respect is really the main part of my problem with costume-ising culturally significant clothing. Obviously there are clothes from all over the world which are just clothes, and quite likely the people who make those clothes would be delighted to see them being worn all over the world! But if you don't give enough of a shit to a) learn about the culture they come from and what the significance is and b) buy them from the actual people who created them, then you lose that connection and it ceases to be cultural exchange and becomes instead appropriation.

Because without living the culture, you will not get the nuance no matter how much you try.

Cultures are complex.