Wearing Someone's Culture     

Figure 1: Native American costume.

        It's Halloween night! You are so excited to show off your new costume and go trick-or-treating with all your friends. You meet up at your friend's house and look around at the cool costumes: a witch, a superhero, a princess, and a Native American costume, like the one in Figure 1. All the costumes look amazing, but you notice that the person wearing the Native American costume isn't Native American. You might think to yourself, "This is a little weird, but they're not hurting anyone". But the truth is, they are being insensitive to someone's culture, which is a set of customs, beliefs, and practices that belong to a certain group of people. For example, specific languages, food, types of music, and certain clothing items could all be considered a part of someone's culture. When someone who isn't a part of that culture claims something like music or fashion as their own, it is called cultural appropriation, which "occurs when a member of a dominant culture adopts cultural expressions representative of a marginalized or minority culture" (1). Basically, it is when someone uses someone else's culture in a way it is not supposed to be used, and is not given the proper credit, kind of like plagiarizing a paper. Cultural appropriation happens all around the world, especially in the fashion world.

Native American Culture

Figure 2: Native American headdress at Coachella.

        Halloween isn't the only time Native American culture is appropriated. You might've heard of Coachella, which is a popular music festival. Seeing everyone with their friends listening to their favorite artists perform seems like a really fun time, but one of the things that gets people in trouble are their outfits. I'm sure if you look under the hashtag "Coachella" on any social media site, there will be some sort of outfit featuring a Native American headdress, like the one in Figure 2, which is a popular clothing item worn at a lot of music festivals, not just Coachella. And when influencers, or just normal people, wear them and then post pictures on social media, they are bound to get some backlash for appropriating the Native American culture.
        A popular brand that has been called out for cultural appropriation of Native Americans is Urban Outfitters. If you go into almost any mall, an Urban Outfitters is sure to be in there. The Navajo Nation is a Native American Indian tribe, and in 2011, Urban Outfitters released a clothing line featuring "Navajo-themed" patterns (2). This really hurt the tribe, and they eventually filed a lawsuit to get Urban Outfitters to remove the Navajo clothing from their store. This is considered cultural appropriation because Urban Outfitters was making a profit, or extra money, off the Navajo Nation culture while the products were still in stores.


African American Culture

Figure 3: Marc Jacobs models in dreadlocks.

         Another culture that is appropriated a lot is African American culture. A lot of the time you will see African American fashion on TV or social media on people that are not African American. For example, in 2016 Marc Jacobs, a very expensive fashion brand, got into some trouble when they featured white models wearing dreadlocks on the New York Fashion Week runway, as shown in Figure 3 (3). Dreadlocks are a type of hairstyle that is meant to be worn by people of color, as this is where the hairstyle came from. As you can imagine, this made people of color feel as though a part of their culture was being taken from them. If you came up with an idea just to have someone take it from you, it would feel pretty lousy, right? Well, that is the whole idea behind cultural appropriation.
        

Figure 4: Zendaya in dreadlocks.

        A lot of celebrities have also been called out for appropriating certain cultures, especially African American culture. For example, famous black actress Zendaya, who has been in shows like Shake It Up and movies like Spiderman: Homecoming, called out fellow celebrity Kylie Jenner for cultural appropriation. This incident came to light when Giuliana Rancic, a talk show host, said she didn't like Zendaya’s hair during an Oscars red carpet, which was styled in dreadlocks, a hairstyle typically worn by people of color (Figure 5). However, she previously had called Kylie Jenner "edgy" for wearing dreadlocks in a Teen Vogue photo shoot (4). Zendaya responded by saying, "There is already a harsh criticism of African-American hair in society without the help of ignorant people who choose to judge others based on the curl of their hair. My wearing my hair in lots on an Oscars red carpet was to showcase them in a positive light, to remind people of color that our hair is good enough" (4). Kylie Jenner was appropriating culture because she was wearing the dreadlocks as a fashion statement, not because she was a part of that culture or showing respect for it. She was also praised for wearing it, but when people of color wear their own hairstyle they are usually made fun of. Celebrities can appropriate culture, like Kylie, as well as be on the other side and experience it, like Zendaya.

Don't Appropriate, Appreciate!

Figure 5: Angelina Jolie in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Don't let all this talk about offending someone scare you! There is a way to wear something that is a part of someone's culture without being insensitive. This is called cultural appreciation. Cultural appreciation is when someone learns about someone's culture and participates in it as a sign of respect. Basically, don't just wear someone's culture as a fashion accessory. Angelina Jolie demonstrated this when she visited Kabul, Afghanistan. As you can see in Figure 6, she is wearing a hijab, which is a piece of cloth worn around the head, usually by Muslim women (5). Angelina Jolie was not appropriating Muslim culture by wearing the hijab because she wasn't just wearing it as a fashion accessory. She was wearing it out of respect while visiting a country where women are expected to wear hijabs. In this case, Angelina Jolie knew about the culture and was appreciating it.

So, now that you know about cultural appropriation, do you understand why your friend was appropriating Native American culture on Halloween? Do you know what it means to appreciate a culture, and not just wear it and claim it as fashion? Cultural appropriation in fashion is something that continues to happen all the time, but if we know the signs of appropriation and speak up when someone is doing something wrong, we might just be able to stop it!

References

(1) Issitt, M. (2018). Cultural appropriation: overview. Points of View: Cultural Appropriation. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=132310155&site=eds-live&scope=site 

(2) Vézina, B. (2019). Curbing cultural appropriation in the fashion industry. Retrieved from https://www.cigionline.org/sites/default/files/documents/paperno.213.pdf 

(3) Smith, C. (2016, September 21). Marc Jacobs dreadlocks: what is cultural appropriation? Retrieved from https://time.com/4501037/cultural-appropriation-marcjacobs-dreadlocks/ 

(4) What I hear when you say: cultural appropriation. (n.d.). What I hear when you say: cultural appropriation. Retrieved from https://bento.cdn.pbs.org/hostedbentoprod/filer_public/whatihear/9-Cultural_Approp-Viewing_Guide.pdf 

(5) Angelina Jolie visits Afghanistan refugees and issues Libya humanitarian appeal. (2011, March 3). Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1362432/Angelina-Jolie-visits-Afghanistan-refugees-issues-Libya-humanitarian-appeal.html 

Figure 1: Girls Native American Costume Childrens Brown Fringed Indian Dress Outfit. (n.d.). photograph. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Small-Childrens-Indian-Squaw-Costume/dp/B008F7VSA6

Figure 2: Smith, C. (2016, September 21). Marc Jacobs dreadlocks: what is cultural appropriation? Retrieved from https://time.com/4501037/cultural-appropriation-marc-jacobs-dreadlocks/ 

Figure 3: Hardy, A. (2017, May 26). This Coachella Attendee Was Called Out for Cultural Appropriation, and Her Response Is Going Viral. Retrieved from https://www.teenvogue.com/story/coachella-cultural-appropriation-native-american-headdress.

Figure 4: Lewis, H. (2015, February 25). Zendaya Responds to Giuliana Rancic's Apology. Retrieved from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/zendaya-responds-giuliana-rancics-apology-777728

Figure 5: Angelina Jolie visits Afghanistan refugees and issues Libya humanitarian appeal. (2011, March 3). Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1362432/Angelina-Jolie-visits-Afghanistan-refugees-issues-Libya-humanitarian-appeal.html.