Living in a world filled with hundreds of different cultures and traditions, it is inevitable that they are both shared and enjoyed by many. However, in the fashion industry, cultural patterns, items, and designs have often been utilized and profited off without understanding the sometimes offensive and inappropriate nature of doing so. Recently, the online fast-fashion store Shein has faced immense backlash for selling clothing and jewelry items that were extremely culturally and religiously insensitive.
History
The fashion industry is no stranger to cultural appropriation and the marketing of the products as their own. Traditional cultural patterns, designs, cuts and items have been used for many years and sold as high fashion statement pieces. While it is natural for designers and stylists to take inspiration from particular cultures and incorporate that into their clothes as a means of appreciating it, more often than not, traditional cultural expressions are reused out of context disregarding and misinterpreting their original cultural significance while also showcasing the clothing on models where there's a complete lack of diversity. For instance, in 2013, Nike printed patterns of the traditional Samoan male tattoo called pe’a on women’s workout leggings.
Similarly, high fashion and luxury brands are also guilty of appropriating cultures for their runway shows. In a Gucci show, white models were dressed in Sikh turbans (which are of major cultural and religious significance), Victoria Secret angels were dressed in Native American headgear for the annual runway, and in 2017, Vogue was heavily criticised for dressing model Karlie Kloss as a geisha (who are traditional japanese artists) and in 2018, Dolce & Gabbana trivialized the Chinese culture for their Shanghai Campaign where they portrayed a chinese model eating pizza and pasta with chopsticks to appeal to the Asian audience.
Most recently, Shein came under fire for selling multiple inappropriate items which include the Muslim Prayer Mats with photos of Mecca on it marketed as a “Greek Fringe Rug”, selling Indian Anarkali attire as “Tribal Pattern Long Cut Dresses” and selling a Swastika pendant necklace.
The Opinions
While individuals appropriate cultures due to their lack of awareness, multi-billion dollar fashion brands don’t really have an excuse for doing so accounting for all the hours of research and strategizing they would have conducted before presenting their items. Considering the globalized and diverse world we live in, many find Shein’s ignorance and lack of awareness extremely insulting as they sold items of extreme religious sanctity as mere rugs. Similarly, the Swastika necklace which was sold is a major aggression toward Jews and is extremely anti-semitic, however, when Shein apologized for their unintentional offense, they commented that the necklace was infact a Buddhist Swastika that signified love and peace. Shein has apologized on their Instagram admitting to making a grave mistake that was a “highly offensive oversight”. They also stated that they created a product review committee with culturally and religiously diverse staff to ensure a similar mistake doesn’t occur.
Consumers’ anger have only increased and they aren’t accepting the apology because firstly, as a global brand targeting a globally diverse audience, a review committee that is culturally diverse should have already existed, and second, their lack of awareness is inexcusable as such an item shouldn’t have even passed the stages of product discussion and design.
While critiques and members of the fashion industry believe that cultural appropriation may never truly end, it is important that those who do so are called out and educated immediately. People need to be taught how to appreciate and credit cultures that they are inspired by rather than just appropriating them.
The Conclusion
We need to take the responsibility to ensure we educate ourselves on how to appreciate a culture and crest it as our source of inspiration rather than appropriate it and invalidate its true significance. This applies to the fashion world, music industry and our everyday lives. As educated youths, we should also ensure that we call out and correct those who are ignorant and unaware of the difference. So the next time you see aspects of a culture, ensure that your inspiration is appreciation and not appropriation.
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