Cultural Appropriation | Marc Jacobs S/S 17 NYFW

Cultural appropriation is very common within the fashion industry and many consumers are unaware of this. Especially nowadays, lots of designers and celebrities are taking cultural elements from a minority and claiming that this is an idea created by themselves, without acknowledgement of where the inspiration came from as well as the history behind it. 

Marc Jacobs SS 17

White models at the Marc Jacobs S/S 17 show.

A recent incident of this that made major headlines was Marc Jacobs show at New York fashion week for his Spring/Summer 2017 collection. Since Marc Jacobs was closing NYFW, all eyes were on his collection therefore it was hard for anything to go un-missed. Overall, the show was outstanding. A clan of models stomping down the runway in formation whilst sporting velvet hot pants, pastel coloured fur and dangerously high glittery platforms - what more could you ask for. 

Video taken straight from the catwalk: Marc Jacobs SS 17

Yet all the focus shifted from the brilliance of the collection once viewers noticed what hair style the models were wearing. Many were shocked when they saw a predominantly white cast of models with a pile of multicoloured wool locks balancing on their heads. Obviously, this did not translate well on social media and Jacobs was accused of cultural appropriation and in my opinion, rightly so.

Screen shot from Jacobs comment to 'haters' on social media. 

When Jacobs posted an image taken from his show, many people were commenting who were furious with the way that Jacobs had culturally appropriated dreads. After all of these comments, Jacobs retaliated by stating that the claims of cultural appropriation are "nonsense". In addition to that, he also went the extra mile and contradicted himself by stating that "he doesn't see colour or race" but said that its funny that people don't "criticise women of colour for straightening their hair". The reason why no one says anything negative about women of colour straightening their hair and wearing weave or extensions is because they have never claimed that it was their idea nor never have they not acknowledged the culture that the style/hair was taken from. 

So instead of Jacobs trying apologising for what he has done wrong and attempting to use this as an opportunity to learn, instead he became defensive and began attacking other cultures which obviously didn't work in his favour. In addition to this, the next few posts on Marc Jacobs official Instagram, he made sure that he included the 3 black models that were present in his show. These 'token black models' were just what Jacobs needed to try and escape racist claims and use as a defence if he ever gets accused of stealing elements from a cultural minority again. 

Different coloured hand dyed 'dreads'.

To make matters worse, when reporters and editors went backstage to get some behind the scenes footage the comments made didn't work in Jacobs favour. Jacobs artistic hairstylist Guido and the white woman who hand-dyed all of the pieces of wool stated that "Marc was really inspired by Lana Wachowski," said Guido. "That was the starting point, then we looked at movements like rave culture, acid house and club culture, travellers, Boy George and Marilyn." A couple of minutes after that statements, Guido realised that he left some of the inspirations out and he said that more inspiration came from "80's london, anime and Harajuku girls."

Lana Wachowski - White transgender woman who was one of Jacob's inspirations 

Overall, I think that the way that Jacobs completely disregarded that what he has done is cultural appropriation shows ignorance. If he "doesn't see colour" and "appreciates all cultures" then why were 99% of the models that marched his collection up and down the runway white? If he is so appreciative of all cultures then why didn't he hire models that have dreads naturally so that he could truly promote that he appreciates and gains inspiration from black culture and why dreads are worn as well as the history behind them. I think that Jacobs did himself a disservice because unfortunately he didnt make headlines on his collection, but for the way that he insulted cultural elements and values without any thought or consideration.  

Thanks for reading.