Sydney Loew
Professor Peterson
Int. Seminar 2: Fashion
10 April 2015
From a modern viewpoint, cultural appropriation is positive. It brings together the many aspects of the different cultures and culminates them, allowing for certain cultures to build awareness. Furthermore, people learn from cultural appropriation because they are exposed to new ideas and unseen imagery. Through fashion, we are able to view new ideas from external countries or cultures through cultural appropriation because foreign ideas are brought together into our culture. In this day and age, cultural appropriation is easily accessible due to the Internet and means of communicating via social media that bond us despite physical distances. Cultures are coming together in several aspects that globalize us, and fashion is doing so as well. Cultural appropriation is extremely powerful in the fashion design industry because it is a mode of translating ideas that is very visible and always changing. Despite the poplar opinion that cultural appropriation has negative effects on the fashion industry, cultural appropriation actually benefits the industry by globalizing cultures, creating change for cultures, and creating the opportunity to educate.
Erin Kaplan, author of “Spring Fashion Issue; Suddenly, Africa; are the Prints and Beadwork and Bangles of the Spring Collections a Revelation, Or Cultural Appropriation?” explains the African trends in the fashion industry from the viewpoint of an African American woman living in America. She attests that that African fashion is appropriated, making it possible to focus on Africa and change through fashion where she writes, “If clothes don’t have the power to instigate change, they can at least herald it–not simply in hem lengths and silhouettes but in political movements and social attitudes.”[1] Through this manner of appropriating, change occurs because it creates a spotlight on a culture, an issue, a neighborhood, a city, a country, or a continent. In Kaplan’s article, she demonstrates the positivity of cultural appropriation where she writes, Nowhere is this truer than in black American fashion, itself a direct spiritual descendant of African fashion and, beginning with the Jazz Age and running through to hip-hop, the most consistent influence in fashion around the globe today.”[2] Kaplan’s description of African influence on American fashion exhibits the influence that an exterior culture has had and the importance of appropriation in the fashion industry through history.
This further proves the idea that cultural appropriation is necessary and even beneficial because it was integral to large brand names like Diane Von Furstenberg. In Kaplan’s article, she quoted Diane Von Furstenberg describing her collection. Von Furstenberg said, “this collection really celebrates the woman traveler, the adventurer with curiosity and an open mind, and Africa is very much a part of that.” After traveling to Botswana and Rwanda, Von Furstenberg confirmed, “Africa is something you very much feel,” she says. “It’s the most beautiful place. You go there and realize that it’s very much the center of the Earth, that we all come from there. It has a certain grandeur and grandiosity that’s hard to describe.”[3] Von Furstenberg’s Spring/Summer 2005 ready-to-wear collection, highlighted zebra and leopard prints, natural prints based off of leaves found in Africa, and a stunning Serengeti landscape at dusk. These influences, although appropriated from Africa, serve to highlight the continent and bring about a fantastical approach to the country almost as if to say that Africa is the center of vivacity and life. This aspect of cultural appropriation seemingly builds up a positive picture of the continent and therefore promotes it rather than taking an influence and neglecting its roots. Kaplan supports the cultural appropriation of African images benefiting the continent and culture, and while Von Furstenberg’s collection did so by spiking a curiosity and painting Africa as an enchanting scene, Kaplan concludes her article by warning that “before you put on those ankh earrings or adorn your rib cage with a Masai-inspired beaded corset… stop a moment to think about what makes them fabulous.”[4] Even as a supporter of appropriation, Kaplan concedes that it is still necessary to think about the roots of a product or image in order to connect and appreciate that culture.
The right mindset of appreciating a culture is integral to immersing oneself into cultural appropriation. Further than just appreciating the images, symbols, fabrics, textiles silhouettes, and other cultural aspects that float from culture to culture, we can actually benefit from cultural appropriation in fashion by becoming informed and educated about external cultures. In the article, “Continental SHIFT; Fashion: African Motifs are Haute, Even with the Caucasian Ladies Who Lunch. it’s Not Mere Appropriation, but a Cultural Salute” Robert Vida demonstrates that cultural appropriation is a used to engage in trends and create them, thus embracing and teaching about other cultures where he says, “We’ll have to get rid of the clichés and start embracing other cultures or we run the risk of looking old and boring.”[5] Vida focuses on Ralph Lauren, demonstrating the influence that designers pulling from other cultures tend to have on the industry.
This successful use of crossing cultures, Vida states, is affecting not only the high-end market, but the moderate market as well. He states that Ralph Lauren’s use of African inspiration and culture in his ads and 1997 collection did the right thing and that it opened up the flow for African inspiration. Vidas continues by stating that “The moderate market, took, is benefitting from the high end and African inspiration is being seen in a wider market.” The moderate market, too, is benefiting from the high-end interest in African design. Alvin Bell, who has been commissioned by Sears to design a seasonal collection geared to the tastes of women of color, says we can’t go global soon enough. His mosaic line was unveiled this spring.”[6] This trickle down effect within the fashion industry allowed for African inspiration to be on view in a grand display. Through major retailers like Sears and high end designers like Diane Von Furstenberg and Ralph Lauren, viewers and customers alike were able to take an interest to motifs, fabrics, and ideas that were previously foreign to them due prior to using fashion as a mode of translating ideas cross-culturally.
Furthermore in fashion, cultural appropriation creates the opportunity to educate through expression. Designers choose cultural motifs to use in their collections, which create trends and interest. In the Peter Pilotto Resort 2013 collection, Nicole Phelps of style.com wrote in a review of the show, “The second motif was inspired by research [they designers] did on centuries-old illuminated manuscripts in London’s Royal Library these were more evocative of stained glass.”[7] Through this intensive research that designers and brands like Peter Pilotto conduct to create a line, viewers have the exposure to motifs that otherwise may be isolated in the culture that they come from. Here, fashion creates the opportunity for education because viewers can become exposed to the illuminated manuscript motif and develop an interest in the culture that it belongs to. This chain of events that occurs between designers and viewers or customers translates culture and creates the opportunity to learn about other cultures. Much in the same way that a cultural motif may be apparent in an art piece that educates viewers about that culture, fashion is a mode of learning.
Now even more than ever, cultural appropriation is a result in and is created because of globalization of cultures. Those ridiculing cultural appropriation must notice that with the Internet, television, and social media especially, we no longer need to travel to build cultural awareness. Yost Clementine supports the idea that cultural appropriation is a positive because it globalizes where she writes:
“To me it seems incredibly clear that all fashion is just a rebirth of older styles, patterns, and shapes. It is a revamping of other people’s ideas and indeed cultures. If we were all to stick only to our own cultures we would all just be dressed as cultural stereotypes. I believe that anything worn in the spirit of beauty, culture and appreciation cannot be considered offensive.”[8]
As Clementine states, appreciating cultural appropriation in the fashion industry is necessary because its benefits are highly effective in bringing cultures together and benefiting the economy through the invention or reinvention of new patterns, styles, and trends. Furthermore, Clementine attests that cultural appropriation is symbiotic with the globalization of cultures by writing, “These days, people don’t even realize what culture is borrowed and what is just part of the eclectic mix that makes up a modern bohemian society.”[9] Modern times are different because of the means of quick and easy communication that we use. The media transmits ideas cross-culturally, showing that we are growing, learning, and building our ideas in a shared world.
Visibly, fashion has been using cultural appropriation as a means of inspiration. This idea of taking from a certain culture creates controversy because people believe designers are stealing ideas that do not belong to them. Contrary to this belief, cultural appropriation is not stealing, but is rather delving in to research and inspiration form exterior cultures and places that creates many benefits. Through cultural appropriation in the fashion industry, people are able to learn and interact with other cultures. Additionally, this appropriation in fashion can create a spotlight on a change that needs to occur within a culture or simply help build tourism and grow the economy for that country. Fashion is globalizing the world through cultural appropriation and bringing us together, allowing for a sense of belongingness on a global scale and bringing together cultural awareness and education. While many believe this idea to be negative, it is in fact a beneficial process that merits appreciation.
Works Cited
Erin, Aubry Kaplan. “Spring Fashion Issue; Suddenly, Africa; are the Prints and Beadwork and Bangles of the Spring Collections a Revelation, Or Cultural Appropriation?” Los Angeles Times, Feb 20, 2005.
Phelps, Nicole. “Peter Pilotto Resort 2013 Fashion Show: Runway Review – Style.com.” Style.com. Accessed March 19, 2015. http://www.style.com/fashion-shows/resort-2013/peter-pilotto.
Roberts, Vida. “Continental SHIFT; Fashion: African Motifs are Haute, Even with the Caucasian Ladies Who Lunch. it’s Not Mere Appropriation, but a Cultural Salute.” The Sun Jun 26 1997 ProQuest. 19 Mar. 2015.
Yost, Clementine. “Is Cultural Appropriation in Fashion Offensive? Part – II Kat Clinch Doesn’t Think so.” University Wire, Nov 02, 2013. http://search.proquest.com/docview/1447938488?accountid=12261.
[1] Erin, Aubry Kaplan. “Spring Fashion Issue?” Los Angeles Times.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Roberts, Vida. “Continental SHIFT.” The Sun.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Phelps, Nicole. “Peter Pilotto Resort 2013 Fashion Show”. Style.com.”
[8] Yost, Clementine. “Is Cultural Appropriation in Fashion Offensive? University Wire.
[9] Ibid.
