Why not also call the LBD ethnic wear?

Ethnic, if you're into dictionary meanings, means 'of or belonging to a population group or subgroup made up of people who share a common cultural background or descent'. There's a more archaic, offensive meaning - 'of or belonging to neither Christianity nor Judaism'. The latter meaning has transmogrified into the modern usage of 'ethnic' as 'characteristic of or belonging to a non-Western tradition'. It's one thing to be a 19th-century Victorian British imperialist who could be forgiven for his lumping of everything non-Western in one old curiosity shop. But it's quite different - and, indeed, strange - when 'ethnic' is used by non-Western cultures, societies and economies to describe non-Western items. In other words, themselves.

And, yet, you have shops in India selling 'ethnic wear' (read: saris, salwars, kurtas, galabandhs...). Suddenly, despite decolonisation being the rage, we turn into desi Orientalists all over again. 'Of or belonging to a population group or subgroup' should, by logic, apply equally to Western-style shirts, jackets, skirts, dresses, etc. Or the shop floor be divided into 'Western wear' and 'Indian wear' sections. But to still have 'ethnic wear' to describe what is ours is befuddling, even craven. So, unless you find the tie to be a lovely ethnic accessory, it's time to junk the term in the apparel retail business.