Top 10 Native Appropriations in Fashion for 2011

It's that time of year! When everyone posts their Top 10 of 2011 Lists, and here is my list of the top Native appropriations in fashion for 2011 (take THAT, Los Angeles Times!):

10. Forever 21's Cheap Knock-Offs: We can always count on Forever 21 to give us some great cheap options for any fashion trend. I even make my students go to F21 as part of a Tribal Trend Scavenger Hunt assignment. They never fail to bring in stellar images of some wacky fringed and feathered bodily ruckus.

9. Suzy Menkes and the S-Word: Fashion critic and writer Suzy Menkes selects the wrong choice of words, and her slur flies completely under the radar.

8. Pendleton's Collaboration with Those Hipster Companies: Oh, Pendleton. Our entangled epic relationship continues.

7. Spirit Hoods: I never blogged about these weird fluffy critters that hipsters love to wear on their heads while they're seeking vision quests at the latest music festival. But Adrienne Keene did over at Native Appropriations, and her interactions with the Spirit Hood Tribal Chief is hilarious.

6. Vogue's Indians: Vogue editors everywhere fell in love with the Indian and decided to do some fashion spreads in homage. The problem is that they chose to use non-Native designers, non-Native models, non-Native photographers, non-Native stylists and make-up artists, and non-Native consultants and editors.

5. Red-on-Red Art Crime: (Mis)Appropriation happens all across the board, and in every direction, and in this post from earlier in December, a Native artist/businessman steals a design from a well-known Metis artist to create accessories to sell on Zazzle.

4. The Callaloo Parade: Native-themed parades were all the rage this summer (remember when the Pride boys filled their float with Cowboys and Indians in Santa Fe?), but one in particular really stuck out for me. It was the Callaloo Caribana Parade held in Toronto, where 'sanctioned' hyper-sexualized costumes included the 'Native Apache' and the 'Sacrificial Mayan Virgin.' So, of course, I investigated the sexualization of Native women in fashion, from a critical perspective.

3. Proenza Schouler's Creepy Indians Video: Oh lawrd. When this one dropped I didn't know what to do. I think we all just scratched our heads. Some people tried to tell us that this video was 'clever,' but... I disagree.

2. White Women (and Men) and Headdresses: The headdress trend continues, despite being overtly disrespectful. Sigh. So I began researching the history of this annoying trend.

1. Urban Outfitters' Navajo Obsession: The short version: UO becomes obsessed with Navajos, Navajos send them a cease and desist letter, UO ignores, bloggers and writers wage digital war. Well, if it wasn't for this case, we wouldn't have this gem of a quote: "Don't claim Navajo, unless it's Navajo, and you ain't Navajo. So knock if off." Yea, knock it off.

BONUS: Genocide Chic Satire: Hilarity ensues when mock high fashion designer DW Diaz dips the old crusty past in some glitter!



Let's hope that none of these "top trends in Native appropriations in fashion" drag on into 2012!

Cheers to a new year~

White Women and Headdresses

I'm on a mission to find out when white women started wearing Plains Indian headdresses as a part of 'fashion'.

One of my friends, Ross Chaney, found this gem:

A unusual vaudeville act - USA, 1940s
"Wearing her authentic Native American headdress, Enid Mutterbucket would leap up and down on two mini trampolines, ululating while she performed various movements of an arcane nature. She was accompanied by Signor Prosciutto on his accordion, who played his own arrangements of Lakota folk songs interspersed with popular Glen Miller hits of the day. (Well, I did tell you it was an "unusual" act!)"

and I found this:

American Actress Tallulah Bankhead in the London stage production of The Dancers (1923), wearing a buckskin dress and a feathered headdress.

"Although not critically acclaimed, The Dancers was a sensation with audiences in England. It boasted superior production values and first rate acting, but the clear attraction was Tallulah. Her unique voice and stunning beauty caused her to be the talk of the town. Her most famous scene was one in which she performed an Indian dance costumed in feathers and jewels. Similar to Madonna's success in the early 1980's, Tallulah also developed a cult fan base of teenaged girls who copied her dress and style and lined up outside her door after performances."

Any leads, send them this way!

Top Trends Some Wish To End

Happy Holidays everyone!

As we approach the new year, fashion reviewers (albeit amateurs perhaps) are writing fashion prospects for 2011 -

Jaime Lee Morgan at Phillyist.com lists Native American Headdresses as one of the Top Five Fashion Trends We Don't Want To See Next Year.

Phillyist writes:
Native appropriation in hipster fashion has caused a stir in the blogging community this year with post after post speaking out against the trend. It's not the headdress itself that makes them an unappealing fashion trend—they're actually quite beautiful—it's the complete disregard of cultural significance that is disheartening.

Click here to read the original list, which includes sandal boots, jeggings, photoblogs, and ironic moustaches.

Headdress Zine - Download for Free

Downloaded your own copy of Kate Burch’s zine HEAD DRESS :

Headdress was created to expose the negative and offensive ways in which Native American imagery is appropriated in "fashion" and "trendy" photographs on popular internet sites. The zine is composed entirely of found images from blogs, juxtaposed with critical quotes from theorists and bloggers examining the effects of cultural appropriation.

Download and distribute widely.

Article | Techno Tribal, Tribal Punk in Fashion

("Tribal Punk" (Cheek), photo by Felix Wong)

Techno Tribal, Tribal Punk in fashion
by Remodel Minority

Tribal is the new cool thing kids. Fashion site WhoWhatWear.com featured “Techno Tribal” in their Trend Report (source). In their words:

Last spring, we noticed a preponderance of fashion-forward femmes who were trying the Tribal Punk trend: think ethnic prints paired with loads of leather and studs. Of course, prints are huge news for spring as well, but we are pleased to report that this year both designers and directional dressers are taking a new approach to patterns. This season the focus has shifted to digitally engineered prints that riff on classic Native American and African folk art in hyper-bright colors. And while the influences of these Az-Tech looks come from all over the globe, we are beyond pleased to gather our favorites right here in today’s Trend Report featuring our favorite Techno Tribal looks!

Anyone catch the (racist) pun? I personally have a morbid fascination with the fashion industry. It’s something that I have come to enjoy (and indulge in at times) but I feel quite critical of it. Here, the appropriation of said “tribal” cultures is problematic and the fact that mainstream fashion is now catching on only helps to propagate illusions of “nativism.” Many of these fashions are influenced by an underlying matrix of stereotypes and bourgeois fantasies. Specific cultures and their cultural productions have become regular images in an industry dominated by eurocentric and elitist ideals. The spread in Cheek Magazine (pictured) detailing “tribal punk” shows a white model costumed in a turban, headscarf, dreadlock-looking braid things, geometric prints (clearly “ethnic inspired”), stone beading, etc.

Analogously, hipsters have also taken to appropriating Native headdress as illustrated on Adrienne’s blog Native Appropriations. She writes, “I’m guessing it’s just an iteration of the tribal fashion trends, with a little bit of the desire to be counter culture thrown in there” (source). I definitely agree with her, but I think there is more than a little bit of desire to be counterculture on the hipsters’ part. These appropriations take advantage of already grounded ideas of exoticism, “rawness,” and “otherness” of non-white cultures, and then repackage them with alluring unconventionality and uniqueness. Which, of course, just furthers the marginalization of people of color and their cultures.

For many, fashion is a medium for self-expression. It can help you escape mediocrity, monotony, and the mainstream. However, tribal fashion trends only exacerbate censored depictions of historically oppressed cultures. In other words, appropriation is often times advertised as a “celebration” of cultures but we only get a guilt-free, clean, re-envisioned replication. For those who wonder why cultural appropriation is considered offensive by many people, I think it is best stated by Tami on her blog What Tami Said: “What’s so wrong with being inspired by another culture? I’m not sure how to answer, because borrowing from a historically oppressed culture is not as simple as some would want it to be. Fair or not, there are hundreds of years of meaning behind that faux African print dress, that Motown-inspired tune and the silent Harajuku posse” (source).

All I can say for sure is that there’s a fine line between inspiration and appropriation, appreciation and exploitation in the world of fashion. Let’s continue to keep a critical eye on trends such as these.

[see original here at Remodel Minority]

Topshop Goes Native In London

Topshop goes Native in London:

London Fashion Week is coming to a close, and not without seeing some raw earthy 'Native' influences at the Topshop Unique fashion show. Several fashion publications and blogs reported on the over-the-top antler headdresses, bushy unibrows, and 'caveman chic' - but this reporter discusses the earthy Tribal Trend and ponders its influence and future:

"We didn’t think it would take long before the native look that us hippies have been rocking would start to wear off onto the mainstream. Over the last couple of years we’ve seen the mainstream fashion outlets slowly but surely turning more and more native. All of a sudden it’s ‘cool’ to look tribal. Could it be that urban chic is slowly but surely evolving from commercial hip hop honey style to something a bit more imaginative, meaningful and artistic…? And now the question is, when people were wearing bright colourful shades and neon 80s outfits only a year ago is this narnia earth mother native vibe being represented on the streets because Topshop told us so? As kroarohawks, we know that glorifying Gods creation like the native americans do with their costume is more than just a fashion statement…"

Also, here is a video of Topshop's fashion show: