Homage or Faux Pas: Cultural Appropriation in Fashion Apparel

By Amber Lee.

The history of fashion brands appropriating the culture of minorities resurfaces at each Fashion Week. Just to name a few: in 2011, American retail company Urban Outfitters came under fire after it launched its Navajo-themed clothing and accessories line, which some members of the indigenous community found to be “culturally offensive.”^[1] Three years later, French designer Isabel Marant was accused of plagiarizing the traditional Tlahuitoltepec blouse of the indigenous Mixe community in Mexico.^[2] In 2017, the public similarly gave Canadian fashion brand Ports 1961 a difficult time when it featured models with shirts bearing “ONLY LOVE MATTERS” and “EVERY COLOR MATTERS,” slogans that social media users felt belittle the message of the Black Lives Matter movement and improperly appropriate the cultural expressions of a minority group.^[3] And more recently—in January of 2020—Comme des Garçons became the latest fashion brand placed under international scrutiny for putting cornrow wigs on white models as part of its Paris Fashion Week show.^[4] Responding to online criticisms of his fashion choice, hairstylist Julien d’Ys apologized, but not before clarifying that he never intended to “hurt or offend anyone, ever.”^[5] He defended the use of the cornrow wigs on these models, stating that it was an inspiration and an homage to an Egyptian prince.^[6] Perhaps Julien d’Ys really was inspired, but it is hardly surprising that the public reacted negatively to the hairstylist’s lack of sensitivity in appropriating the culture of another.

Ahead of the 2019 New York Fashion Week, the Council of Fashion Designers of America asked its designers to “remember to promote diversity and inclusion, on and off the runway.”^[7] Still, the line between celebrating a minority's culture and appropriating it is easily crossed.