globalinfluencesinfashion-blog

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Palace Skateboards is a British skateboard brand that is starting to become prominent in the US. Rappers such as Asap Rocky and Playboi Carti can be seen wearing it. 

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In Allure’s August issue back in 2015, it presumably instructed white women on how to achieve an afro, and used a white model for the feature image. Considering how significant the afro has been to black people’s identity and political history, it doesn’t seen like Allure put much thought into how offensive this could come off. My question is, are certain hairstyles only limited to Blacks? 

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In an article back in 2015, Elle U.K. wrote that baby hair was a “new trend” that was “inspired by Givenchy and Katy Perry. This caused a bit of controversy because gelling down baby hair began with the little black girls who, for decades, have had their moms slick down their edges with a brush and a jar of black gel. What do you think? Are Blacks the only ones allowed to gel down “baby hair” without it being considered appropriation? 

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This is fall 2017-2018 collection from an Italy designer Annagiulai Firenze named “Lovers In Japan”. It takes inspiration from Japan, in particular from the movie “Kill Bill Vol.1″  The brand presents two prints, one geometrical with energic colors and the other one soft and pure with a feminine palette. I thought it was interesting how even though she is an Italian designer, she still took inspiration from Japan. 

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This is a collection from Sweden designer Emelie Janson named “...Believing In Fusion of Worlds To Make Another One.” The selected parts in this fusion are costumes from 19th century America and garments from Russian streetwear. The focus of this work is a fusion of these two worlds with the aim to find a new way of dressing. Emelie believes that the fusion of different times, places and cultures take us further. 

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Rihanna’s new Vogue Arabia is creating quite some commotion. Some people thought the shoot was an example of cultural appropriation, considering Rihanna is from Barbados and not Arabian 

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Japanese streetwear has largely been an underground movement since its creation in the early 1990s. Only within the last few years has this style trend caught on with a larger and more global audience. Originating in Japan, japanese streetwear has now made its way in the US. You have brands such as A Bathing Ape and Billionaire Boys Club, originating from Japanese fashion designer Nigo, and then partnering up with Pharell, that are very prominent in the US. 

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CRACKXCOCAINE’s founder, a young guy by the name of Alan, is putting Mexico city on the streetwear map. It’s a a brand that pays homage to streetwear hype culture while simultaneously poking fun at it. Their T-shirts, hoodies and hats reimagine beloved brand logos like Thrasher and Champion with in-your-face drug references. he label has been causing considerable commotion on the streets of Mexico City thanks to its DIY direct-to-consumer business method, audacious branding and drug-fueled history 

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Throughout civilization, fashion has evolved and gone back to older times. Whether you use a pencil or liquid eyeliner, you never really think about the history of it. Originally, Egyptians wore it to fight off eye disease and evil spirits. The American Chemical Society reported in 2010 that the eyeliner did, in fact, help fight off infection. If it weren’t for archeologists stumbling upon the tombs in Egypt in the early 1900s, eyeliner wouldn’t have boomed for women in Europe and now be a social norm across the world.

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The Maasai people of East Africa live in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania along the Great Rift Valley on semi-arid and arid lands. They breed predominantly cattle, and mainly roam the Serengeti grasslands. As a result of moving from place to place in search of better grazing, the Maasai travel light, but fashionably. They dress themselves daily with elaborate beadwork, with a more-is-more approach: necklaces stacked high and wide, earrings that drip like waterfalls, bracelets inching up arms. The design and size of each indicates age, identity, and status within the community. 

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Kylie Jenner sporting a denim suit and a du-rag over her hair. For those unfamiliar, a du-rag is a hair accessory used mostly by Black men, but also by women, to help mold or shape our hair. Black folks use du-rags to keep our braids and locs fresh, and also to keep our fades, waves, and low-cuts in place. Du-rags are like satin bonnets, or doobies, or stocking caps — items and techniques used to preserve certain hairstyles that have become a part of Black cultural fashion and style. Many African Americans took offense to this, feeling this was yet another instance Jenner wears fashion shaped by Black experiences and Black culture, without acknowledging where that fashion comes from. 

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The Japanese Harajuko girls, who are teenagers, originally from Tokyo’s Harajuko district, who dress in a particular way. American singer Gwen Stefani named her 2005 world tour as well as her clothing line after these girls. Four dancers named Maya Chino, Jennifer Kita, Rino Nakasone Razalan and Mayuko Kitayama. She renamed them Love, Angel, Music and Baby, a gesture that effectively stripped them of their individual identities. Now, they were simply the “Harajuku Girls.” And they were used as props basically to help promote her album. This upset some, Gwen not seeming to know anything about the difference between appreciating a culture and appropriating it. Instead of promoting the authentic Japanese brands she claimed to love so much, Gwen was making good bank off of her own Japanese fantasy. 

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Navaratri (nine nights) is one of the greatest Hindu festivals. It symbolises the triumph of good over evil. Navaratri is celebrated by communities getting together for dances and nightly feasts. In India, the most colourful and elaborate celebrations take part in Bengal, where huge idols of the goddess are worshipped. Here are some ethnic pieces called “ lehengas” Vogue India considered best for wear during the festival. 

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There can be a thin line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation. While these actions may not have intentional disrespect, but actual appreciation towards the culture and wanting to celebrate it, members of these groups might not take it that way. Hollywood is another such culprit of being criticized for their role in these practices with the replacement of roles that could or should be given to people of color, but are filled by the white population instead, often called “whitewashing”. It's a kind of casting where film studios have placed white actors in lead roles under the assumption that the majority of Americans would rather see a white face than a non-white one—despite what the role calls for. An example of this can be seen in 1963s “Cleopatra”, in which Elizabeth Taylor, a white actress, plays the role of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra.

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Recently, actress Amandla Stenberg called out Kylie Jenner for appropiating Black culture without expressing any true interest in Black issues. Stenberg’s message wasn’t about excluding non-Black girls from braids, but about acknowledging the existence of the people behind the culture. To understand the issue with cultural appropriation is to understand our reality. The moment mainstream media respectfully recognizes, acknowledges, and represents the source, purpose, and most importantly the people behind different cultures, rather than reduce it to just costumes or hot trends, is the moment we can begin to define “cultural exchange.”