exoticism

thumbnail|right|upright=1.3|Exotic figures in Jules Migonney's Venus mauresque

Exoticism (from exotic) is the style or traits considered characteristic of a distant foreign country. In art and design it is a trend where creators become fascinated with ideas and styles from distant regions and draw inspiration from them. This often involves surrounding foreign cultures with mystique and fantasy which owe more to the culture of the people doing the exoticism than to the exotic cultures themselves: this process of glamorisation and stereotyping is called "exoticisation".