The controversy surrounding Cultural Appropriation began in 2015, and continues to exist to this day. For those of you who don't know what cultural appropriation is, it is "the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of a different culture." Many people from diverse backgrounds have felt vulnerable with the amount of celebrities that are so quick to pull defining characteristics from a minority culture and claim them as their own. The debate is whether one's cultural heritage is actually being degraded for the sake of fashion. However, that isn't exactly the case because people of different cultures admire designers who have drawn influence from cultures outside of their own. Are these these people thinking too deeply about something that should be seen as art?
Take for example this past fall, Dolce & Gabbana launched a line of hijabs for Muslim women. This is the first time a designer has created a line geared towards a particular ethnic background. Just recently, Justin Bieber stepped out in dreadlocks at The IHeartRadio Awards. This hairstyle was not well respected by his fans, therefore causing immediate backlash. Justin responded by posting a video saying, "[People say] you wanna be black and all that stuff, I'm like 'it's just my hair'."
Many celebrities have been targeted by the media and several other celebrities have made statements regarding cultural appropriation. In August of 2015, Kylie Jenner, posted a photo of herself in cornrows. As you can imagine this created a great amount backlash on social media. Hunger Games co-star Amandla Stenberg was not pleased. She commented, "When you appropriate black features and culture but fail to use your position of power to help black Americans by directing attention to your wigs instead of police brutality and racism."
During this past Fall Fashion Week, two collections were highly scrutinized as it relates to cultural appropriation–Tommy Hilfiger and Valentino. Tommy Hilfiger created a Caribbean-inspired collection that lacked cultural diversity while Valentino's Spring 2016 collection showed clear derivation from African culture.
Though there has been a lot of backlash and controversy surrounding this subject, Angelina Jolie is a great example of how cultural appropriation can be viewed in a different light. In 2010, she visited Pakistan to meet victims of the devastating flood that desecrated the region. Angelina wore a hijab out of respect for the country. In a later statement Jolie declared, "The sun doesn't lose it's beauty when covered by the clouds. The same way your beauty doesn't fade when being covered by a hijab." Jolie is a great example of how one can reference a cultural practice without it being taken out of context.
Although, cultural appropriation continues to be a heated argument in the media, it is ultimately in one's own power to form an opinion on the matter.
References
- ^ African (thelafashion.com)
- ^ cultural appropriation (thelafashion.com)
- ^ Culture (thelafashion.com)
- ^ Dolce & Gabbana (thelafashion.com)
- ^ Fashion (thelafashion.com)
- ^ Hijab (thelafashion.com)
- ^ justin beiber (thelafashion.com)
- ^ Kylie Jenner (thelafashion.com)
- ^ Tommy Hilfiger (thelafashion.com)
- ^ Valentino (thelafashion.com)
