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How Are We Still Arguing About Cultural Appropriation?

How Are We Still Arguing About Cultural Appropriation?

Seriously, Marc Jacobs, how are we still having this conversation? How can you attribute black hairstyles that are literally thousands of years old to “the rave scene”? How can you defend putting fake Black hair on White models? How can your response be this bad?

For anyone who hasn’t heard, Marc Jacobs featured pastel wool locs on his White models during New York Fashion Week. When journalists asked about the inspiration behind the look, Jacobs’ hair stylist Guido Palau mentioned ravers, Boy George, and the Japanese street style Harajuku – none of whom created dreadlocks.

The biggest difference between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation lies in the narrative of who gets to express themselves without consequences.

When White people wear locs, Bantu knots, or cornrows and are celebrated as creative and fashion forward without attributing those looks to the Black cultures that created them, that’s appropriation.

When Black people – especially Black women- are degraded, fired from their jobs, or mocked on live television for wearing the styles created for their hair while White designers like Jacobs buy fake, Kool-Aid colored hair from Etsy and call it high fashion, that’s appropriation.

Jacobs’ attempted to defend himself from critics by claiming he doesn’t see race. Not seeing race doesn’t make you nondiscriminatory. It means that you are actively erasing the identities of people of color. It means that you are so privileged that you never had to worry that the color of your skin could be a death sentence. It mean, Marc Jacobs, that it’s 2016 and we’re still having the same conversation on cultural appropriation that we’ve been having for the last decade.

C’mon, man. You’re one of the most celebrated creative minds in fashion. You can do better than this.

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