Last week TheVine.com published a guide to cultural appropriation for both #fashion creators and consumers. I promise you’ll laugh out loud and shake your head in shame while reading it. If you’re a fashion head you know that you’ve seen, heard or even displayed at least one example on this list. Most of you are well-aware (and possibly tired of) the ‘tribal’ #style #trend this season, which makes this list especially timely. Before the satire begins, TheVine.com made sure to acknowledge how fashion has used global references since the beginning of time - not breaking news. But how it is done is something they chose to address.
My favorite: DON’T ever refer to a print as “ethnic”, not only is it offensive, it’s also meaningless.
This point reminds me of a comment Helen Jennings, editor of @ARISEmagazine, made about the words ‘tribal’ and ‘urban’ when I interviewed her for my “Africa’s New Fashion Influence” article last year.
Other gems from this list:
DO set an editorial story in Brazil or Ghana or Thailand showing #models dressed to their eyeballs in #couture surrounded by street buskers or food hawkers or children playing soccer with a Coca Cola bottle.
DON’T think for one second that you’re not being condescending and neo-imperialist.
DO dress like a Harlem street dancer from the mid-nineties.
DON’T talk like one; it’s obnoxious and hipster-racist.
See the full list, then marinate on it.
My friend word these #vintage #earrings to a wedding today. #accessories (Taken with instagram)
Biggest remote I’ve ever seen. I feel like there should be an iPad screen on the back. Lol (Taken with instagram)
And in my younger days…
Glad my style has evolved over the last 10 years. Remember Von Dutch? Remember trucker hats? Thanks a lot Ashton Kutcher. And why did I have the matching Von Dutch wrist band to match the hat and sneakers? Oy. #fashion
