Discussing Cultural Appropriation in Fashion: Marc Jacobs Spring 2017 Show

Introduction

The debates and controversies were sparked on social media in 2016 after the Marc Jacobs runway show for his Spring 2017 collection where the predominantly white models had hand-dyed wool dreadlocks as the styled hairstyles (Kong, 2019). According to the show hairstylist, this was a homage to club kids, Boy George, and Lana Wachowski, as the main inspiration references (Wagoner, 2016). Yet, the social media communities saw a stereotyping, racism, and cultural appropriation in such choice. The criticism heated up after Marc Jacobs had posted a now-deleted statement on his Instagram account saying that he respected people and their looks and that he did not see color or race but he only saw people (Wagoner, 2016). The photo of the white models with this hairstyle (Fig. 1) will be discussed by referring to three academic texts of cultural appropriation in fashion and its relation to racism.

Source: Wagoner, 2016

Article 1: Park, J. and Chun, J. (2020). What does cultural appropriation mean to fashion design? Fashion, Style & Popular Culture, 0(00), pp. 1-16.

Park and Chun (2020) discuss the issue and phenomenon of cultural appropriation in fashion and why it is problematic and important to acknowledge. The authors explain that appropriation stands for the special technique that reinterprets the original cultural object in the entirely new context of art mostly for the commercial purpose and in an insensitive way for the source culture and people who affiliate with it. There are several important arguments raised b the authors that would help better understand and analyse the discussed image form the Marc Jacobs show. First of all, the characteristics of cultural appropriation in fashion, as listed by Park and Chun (2020) might be applied to the selected image to prove it represents the case of cultural appropriation. In particular, Park and Chun (2020) provide that appropriated items are recognized by consumers as the products/symbols that are clearly associated with a distinct culture/ethnicity, such items have significant influence on media, consumers, and fashion marketing, and they are subject to what the authors call a semantic change as consumers may interpret them differently to what was intended by the designers. This is exactly what happened to the hairstyles at the Marc Jacobs show marking the use of dreadlocks as cultural appropriation.

Besides, Park and Chun (2020) clearly explain what makes the instance of cultural appropriation in fashion controversial and why such practice does not equal to a simple inspiration or expression technique. The authors refer to three main arguments. In the first place, by appropriating the product or fashion style, designers extract it from its original cultural context and thus could turn it into a completely new item depriving the source culture of its valuable asset. Besides, the fact that appropriation is mostly related to the commercial purposes raises questions on the culture exploitation. This is especially critical and painful for the appropriated cultures of peoples, ethnicities, or social groups that have experienced the negative effects of colonial rule, like the African Americans associated with the dreadlocks, in the case of the image discussed.

Article 2: Cherid, M. I. (2021). “Ain’t Got Enough Money to Pay Me Respect”: Blackfishing, Cultural Appropriation, and the Commodification of Blackness. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 21(5), pp. 359–364.

The articles by Cherid (2021) is another important study that allows better interpreting the image discussed and understand why it triggered such a harsh online criticism and accusations of cultural appropriation. The author discusses the issue of cultural appropriation with specific reference to the concept of blackfishing. Blackfishing, as explained by Cherid (2021), is the practice by the White women to pretend or imitate the Black people by wearing the clothes, makeup or hairstyles, which are typical for the Black women. In the context of the Marc Jacobs show, this was exactly what happened. The author directly relates blackfishing to cultural appropriation and similar to Park and Chun (2020) provides the main characteristics of the latter proving the wearing the relevant hairstyles and clothes is the case of cultural appropriation.

What is particularly important in this publication is that Cherid (2021) argues that blackfishing is an instrument of commodification of the Black culture what becomes an instrument of enacting white supremacy and oppression in modern society as a continuation of post-colonial practices. The author refers to the example of the video by Christina Aguilera that presents a white signer in the black neighbourhood wearing the clothes typical to the Black communities. As explained by Cherid (2021) this is the case when the white artist monetize Black culture as addressing the audience desire to consume it while such artist retains all the privileges that come with the White race and thus simply exploits the appropriated cultural objects. This specially explains why the white models wearing the typical Black hairstyles during the Marc Jacobs show triggered such a media response.

Article 3: Pozzo, B. (2020). Fashion between Inspiration and Appropriation. Laws, 9(1), pp. 5-33.

The article by Pozzo (2020) addresses the issue of cultural appropriation from a slightly different, legal, perspective and thus contributes to the more versatile analysis of the image selected for discussion. The author analyses where the boundary between inspiration and cultural appropriation in fashion goes and how the cultural objects and products might be protected not only by the means of Intellectual Property protection instruments but also within the broader framework of Corporate Social Responsibility and Private Governance.

Pozzo (2020) starts from explaining why such elements as clothes, shoes, hairstyles, and accessories are considered sensitive objects in terms of cultural appropriation by noting that they constitute the markers of national identities. Hence, when such objects are adopted and used by the representatives of other cultures, their symbolism is destroyed and this is generally the main ethical implication of such practice. In light of such discussion, Pozzo (2020) analyses the cases of cultural appropriation in fashion claiming that such examples constitute the cases of appropriation because they refer not just to the search of inspiration but mostly to the use of the cultural objects outside of their initial cultural context and for a different purpose without any permission. This might better explain why the comments by Marc Jacobs were met with even harsher reaction as it was not perceived as inspiration reference by the media publics. Finally, Pozzo (2020) argues that not all cultural objects might be protected from cultural appropriation by the means of law and that the CSR and public pressure might be the more effective tools in addressing such challenge in many cases. The image discussed proves such argument.

References

Cherid, M. I. (2021). “Ain’t Got Enough Money to Pay Me Respect”: Blackfishing, Cultural Appropriation, and the Commodification of Blackness. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 21(5), pp. 359–364.

Kong, J. (2019). 7 Fashion brands that have been accused of cultural appropriation, and how they responded. Buro247 [online]. Retrieved from: https://www.buro247.my/fashion/buro-loves/fashion-brands-cultural-appropriation-response.html [accessed: 10 November 2021].

Park, J. and Chun, J. (2020). What does cultural appropriation mean to fashion design? Fashion, Style & Popular Culture, 0(00), pp. 1-16.

Pozzo, B. (2020). Fashion between Inspiration and Appropriation. Laws, 9(1), pp. 5-33.

Wagoner, M. (2016). The Dreadlocks Debate: How Hair Is Sparking the Conversation of the Moment. Vogue [online]. Retrieved from: https://www.vogue.com/article/dreadlocks-hair-debate-moment [accessed: 10 November 2021].