CulturalIdentities or Lack Thereof in Luxury Fashion Print and Digital campaignsMarc Jacobs, dreads, and an abundance of cultural appropriation! All eyes on Gucci’s appropriation of the Far East! While there is no patent of symbols and styles from cultures foreign to Western influences, the most expensive, upscale designers in the world, are taking their inspirations from some of the most underrepresented cultures in society.  However, cultural inspirations from Eastern and Black cultures need to be clearly recognized for its original origin. This essay will further discuss the issue of cultural appropriation in modern western luxury.Cultural appropriation is happening in luxury fashion, from one season to the next. Even though designers do not give credit to minority cultures that they often draw inspiration from, the groups become related cultures and are more socially acceptable to wear dreadlocks and turbans, whether in the workplace, schools, day to day life outside the house. Designers are appropriating cultures and marking them popular, but they should give credit for their inspirations instead of using cultural styles for financial gain or praise. InSeptember 2016, American fashion designer, Marc Jacobs featured many whitemodels wearing dreadlocks in his Spring/Summer 2017 fashion show and digitalcampaign. Often, dreadlocks and other natural hairstyles have been seen asunprofessional but when designers do it, particularly upscale, white designers,the look is then normalized and trendy, thus influencing the culture as awhole. Marc Jacobs did not credit whom this hairstyle is historically seen onor the cultural identity that it belongs to, yet he uses the style forcommercial gain resulting in cultural appropriation.The luxury fashion industry is knownfor its exclusivity and awe of setting the best trends and prints season afterseason, attracting customers globally. Withthat,  comes inspiration of colors,patterns and cultures from all over the world. But for whom? Even though communities of color have always had fashion,luxury fashion in the western world, got its start in the 19th centuryby Charles Worth that has been traditionally catered to an upper class whiteaudience. What defines luxury fashion is the highprice tag and use of premium materials like silks and furs. In recentyears many luxury fashion designers have been in heavy spotlight for culturalappropriation and lack of representation in digital and print campaigns notjust in the US market, but in Europe as well. Cultural appropriation is usingcultural artifacts, symbols, clothing and other indicators, outside of one’sown identity or culture for their own benefit or gain.While the argument for culturalappropriation is about not crediting to another culture’s origin, morespecifically minorities, it is also about who has the power to control cultureand cultural expressions.  In the contextof modern luxury fashion, contemporary uses a specific hairstyles, patterns andprints. Designers present these styles asthough they are new and unseen. They may be foreign to their traditional white,upper class customer, but these styles are certainly is not anything new thoseidentities that they belong to. When one brand of significance does this, thenother brands think it is okay the reproduce styles without correctlyacknowledging where it comes from. This is when you see these same looks styledin fast fashion stores like Zara and H&M or places like Amazon or Ebay.Cultural identities are governed bymedia. Identities classify people’s ethnicity, social class, gender, etc..  The later themes of some identities, like thewhite majority in modern western luxury fashion are more accepted, thus grantedunearned privileges. Those identities saturate the media and are thusover-represented on social media platforms, television and print. Identitiescan also refer to one’s sense of belonging or based on specificcharacteristics. In Douglas Kellner’s book, Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity andPolitics between the Modern and the Post-Modern, he looks at identitythrough a postmodern lens. Identity was a function of the group as a whole, butin modernity, identity was a function of creating a particularizedindividuality. Kellner argues that television integrates individuals intosocial order, dominant values and behaviors, as I argue that luxury fashiondoes. Luxury designers introduce hundreds of styles and trends season afterseason, heavily circulated through digital platforms like Vogue Runway, onlinehomepages and social media, as well as print campaigns in the top fashionmagazines, Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire and Harper’s Bazaar globally. Luxuryfashion integrates its audiences into the dominant looks of the western apparelmarket, creating Eurocentric ideals of beauty and style, that are often forcedon people of color. Marc Jacobs is a White-Americanfashion designer, born and raised in New York City. Raised by his grandmotherin the affluent Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan. Jacobs wasinfluenced by NYC nightlife and culture in the 80s and 90s, hence Jacobs grungeand street style aesthetic. Marc Jacobs is well known for being the creativedirector at Louis Vuitton (1997 – 2013) and his own label Marc Jacobs. Thebrand’s customer demographic is are typically city  concentrated in the upper- middle to wealthyclasses with high disposable incomes. In September 2016, during New YorkFashion Week, Marc Jacobs premiered his Spring-Summer 2017 collection. Thiscollection was inspired by streetwear, rave culture, Boy George (British pop starfrom 80s and 90s) and Harajuku (Japanese clothing style known for its a mix ofbright and youthful colors, punk, girly, goth and grunge aesthetics originatedin Japan) and 80’s grunge. After the collection was debuted, it took theinternet by storm because the show featured mostly white models wearingdreadlocks. Jacobs claims he was inspired by his hair muse, Lana Wachowski(thecut.com/2016). She is a transgender woman film director who wears hot pinkdreadlocks. Jacobs and team used artist, Jena Counts who sells wool-dyeddreadlocks on Etsy. Jacobs fell under heavy criticism for not paying clearhomage to his inspirations for using dreadlocks as a hairstyle choice. He didnot mention any context of dreadlocks other than thinking they were fun and fithis theme of the season. In a modern historical context, dreadlockshave been attached to a Rastafarian identity, more broadly people of Africanancestry. The style allows African Americans and Blacks to make a connectionwith their ancestors and defy the Eurocentric standards of beauty that havebeen forced on people of color. The Rastafarian movement native to Jamaica, isnot only a social movement, it is also a lifestyle and religious movement. Bornin 1930’s Jamaica, from Black political leader, Marcus Garvey, Rastafarianismemphasized the unifying of Black people with the motherland in resistance tooppression and being robbed of African heritage (Lee, Hélène, and Stephen Davis, 2003). Rastasexpress their identity is, through their hair, dreadlocks. This hairstyle hasbeen adopted by not only African Americans, but also people with Africanancestry throughout the Caribbean and Great Britain. Dreads was a hairstylefamously embraced by Rastafarians in the 1950’s and 60’s who wanted to give asymbolic homage to ancestors and anti-colonial efforts. This brought acollective effort of reclamation of African pride and a confronting of socialculture in America and post colonialism from Europe in the Caribbean. Dreadshave seen multiple political phases (Kuumba, M., and Femi Ajanaku, 2018):earliest Rastafarian phase (1950’s-70’s), African nationals (1970’s – 80’s),counter hegemonic phases (1980’s – 1990’s and a transitional phase (1990’s –present) that has since separated the statement of wearing dreads as strictlyas political statement. Cultural expression also means equality. If white dominance was being forced on people ofcolor, then wearing natural hair styles needed to be at the forefront toprogress for racial inequality. Dreadlocks are also a protective style for hairand a fashion trend that people foreign to its original cultural identity havesince adopted since the mid 1990’s when dreads transitioned to be more a stylefashionable style rather than a political statement. The influences from this collectionare from a group/culture of people that are not seen as professional due tonatural hairstyles, one being dreadlocks. Usually those people who deem that those styles are unprofessional arethe ones in power. Now, a designer who designers for people like the majority(white, upper class) in western luxury fashion is making it trendy to havetrends as a hairstyle, when in reality that same trend, on people of color isnot acceptable or in style. Marc Jacobs designs for whiteupper-middle class to wealthy clients. In this example from 2016, he uses ahairstyle from people who have historically placed in the lower class as aminority culture. I respect and am inspired by people and how they look. Idon’t see color or race- I see people…” (Marc Jacobs, 2016). He turned thetables on women of color and yet still has not mentioned his inspiration ofdreadlocks. Even though his hair muse, Lana Wachowski wears dreads as aneveryday look known to her aesthetic, Jacobs in an internationally recognizeddesigner who should have been accountable to the context of his “ideas”. In a more recent instance ofcultural appropriation, Italian luxury fashion brand, Gucci was criticized forits abundance of cultural appropriation offenses. Gucci is an Italian fashion brand,know for its leather goods and logo printed products.  In their Fall/Winter 18 show that debuted onFebruary 21, 2018 during Milan Fashion Week, Gucci featured mostly white modelswearing cultural articles such as bindis and turbans to the scene of anoperating room as a backdrop and the beats of dramatic symphonies. Gucci’screative director Michele Alessandro, who is charge of overall brand directionand image drew his stylistic inspirations from Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto: SCIENCE , TECHNOLOGY ,AND SOCIALIST – FEMINISM I N THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY (2016). In heressay, she eludes to a mythical construction of one’s own existence, throughthe contrast between man and animal, and philosophies like Buddhism, Hinduismand Christianity. A cyborg represents the complexities of human development anddifferences.The show was filled with looks ofwhat was Alessandro Michele’s interpretation of how people construct their ownidentities and self-regeneration so to speak. In his collection, there was anarray of logo printed jackets, accessories, balaclavas (face ski masks),turbans, androgynous looks and head scarves. Typically for western designers,the runway and its spectators see largely homogenic model casting, with veryfew models of color. That reflects the customer profile and what images arebeing sold to consumers. The turbans Gucci featured, were worn by modelsforeign to the Sikh identity, being mostly white and non-Sikh. The blue andblack turbans on the models were to be a part of accessories that one can usefor self reconstruction, however there was no mentions of historical analysisof wearing turbans. Started in 1921 by Guccio Gucci in Italy,  Gucci was originally for leather goods, its now known for its “Eclectic, contemporary, romantic—Gucci products represent the pinnacle of Italian craftsmanship and are unsurpassed for their quality and attention to detail.” (Gucci.com/2018) Alessandro Michele is inspired by the old city of Rome, Italy and the stories that it tells. He has changed Gucci to reflect its the beauty he sees in life through contemporary contradictions between the past and the future, maintaining Gucci’s preceding customers, white, due to the nature of the demographics of the upper middle class and the wealthy in the United States and Europe. However, Michele has also tapped into the Millennial buying power and catered toward a target audience not only in the west, but also the the expanding markets of Asia, Africa and Latin America, making Gucci one of the most recognized brands in the world and a household name. Alessandro Michele has shifted Gucci’s brand aesthetic towards a more universal customer. The digital campaigns feature a diverse cast of races and ages, however the runways are not as diverse as what is projected on social media and web platforms. This season’s looks from Gucci haswhite models in turbans native to Sikhs. The turban is not a new accessory buthas gained popularity from fashion trends throughout modern times. Althoughturbans are not only native to Sikhs and has been a style in many othercultures (African and Eastern) for centuries, the turbans were tied in a wayspecific to Sikhs, which caused major backlash. Sikhism was founded in 1469 byPunjab native, Guru Nanak and was developed as a faith under the principles ofliving a true and honest life, meditation to God, and being lending hand to thecommunity and the less fortunate. Nanak and his followers spread the faith tothe regions of South Asia and the Middle East spreading the philosophies ofequality for all people, away from the present social and gender divisions. Theturban is article of faith and is a collective visible identities for Sikhs andis a symbol of religious mandant. According to Neha Singh Gohil and Dawinder S.Sidhu from their article, THE SIKH TURBAN: POST-911 CHALLENGES TO THIS ARTICLE OFFAITH (2008)turbans are meant to keep hair clean, acts as an identitymarker for all Sikhs and also means equality and a guardian to help Sikhs or arighteous path of faith and good citizenship. While turbans are usually seen ofthe male followers of Sikhism, women also wear them and wear scarves to covertheir hair. Turbans are not exclusively for Sikhs. They have also been seen ondifferent peoples dating back to over 2,000 years ago seen in ancient Egypt,mentioned in the Old Testament, Hindus and other groups in South Asia. In amodern western historical context, the cultural style of turbans have beenheavily discriminated against in the workplace and society. Especiallypost-911, people who have worn turbans face intense discrimination and are seenas a threat to society all because of an false ideas of Sikhs placed on societyby the white majority.Many of the criticism Michele facedhad has the same rhetoric as Marc Jacobs. People were upset that their culturewas used as a fashion piece and not even styled the right way. Actor andactivist, Avan Jogia replied to a follow in opposition of his tate about thisincident, “Brother, I know it might be hard for you to get why this is a big dealto Sikh people and people of colour in general, but try to be compassionate andrespectful. We get torn down for our things, only to find them on the runway.It hurts.” (Twitter.com/avanjogia,2018). The turban is already widelydiscriminated against, as Sikhs have faced trouble with employment is socialstigma, increased after the September 11th attacks in the United States. Iunderstand Michele’s attempt to construct one’s own identity, however it doesnot mean that one can pick and choose different cultural imagery that alignswith a fantasy narrative without any cultural context. In general, when  acts of cultural appropriation happens in thecontext on luxury fashion, these designers who are putting these styles down arunway are the ones with the power. In many cases, from observation shows atFashion Week in North America and Europe, most of the designers/creativedirectors, are white.  They areultimately responsible for what the audience sees on the runway, from looks, todesign to the models. Those in power choose to take attributes from culturesforeign to their own and give agency to their existing demographics that theystyles are not on trend and acceptable to wear. It sends a strong message tothose who are without power, the groups that whose culture has not beenaccredited, it is a high offense, because they have historically beendiscriminated against for these same styles as dreads and turbans, yet they areacceptable to wear after popularized by white western designers. Fashion trends start with designersliked Marc Jacobs and Alessandro Michele. These trends then get popularized bythe media and are give cultural capital. The cultural styles and sentiment ofwearing dreads and turbans are taken away or belittled when white designers appropriatethem and make them in style. Years of being profiled and discriminated againstfor these expressions are not taken into account for. Althoughthese incidents were highly criticized, it was also heavily debated as manypeople went back and forth online. The majority of those criticizers spoke outabout this, commented about people being overly sensitive and there is not muchof an issue here. But of course those commenters do not identify themselveswith this hairstyle, Rasta culture or Sikhism. This alludes to a larger issueof cultural appropriation in society as people making jokes about not beingable to wear certain Halloween costumes (non-Japanese wearing kimonos as aHalloween) or Native American headpieces as festival wear. White people do notneed to wear things in order to normalize things.   According to McKinsey and Businessof Fashion, trends for 2018 show that the apparel industry will continue toover half of its sale to have high growth out of the Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Africa This will be the first time that these sales do notoriginate from Western markets of North America and Europe (McKinsey FashionScope).Inthe past years, luxury fashion has had a consistent demographic based for whitemiddle-aged clients, however trends show that those demographics are rapidlyshifting to millennials and consumers heavily based in the Asian, LatinAmerican and Middle Eastern markets (mckinsey.com), but still has a long way togo in terms of representation on and off the runway. Works CitedThe Business of Fashion, and McKinsey & Company. The State of Fashion 2018. 2017. www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/industries/retail/our%20insights/renewed%20optimism%20for%20the%20fashion%20industry/the-state-of-fashion-2018-final.ashx. Accessed 30 Oct. 2018.Haraway, Donna J.. Manifestly Haraway, University of Minnesota Press, 2016. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/warw/detail.action?docID=4392065. Created from warw on 2017-12-18 03:37:21.Garrin, Ashley R., and Sara B. Marcketti. “The Impact of Hair on African American Women’s Collective Identity Formation.” Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, vol. 36, no. 2, 2017, pp. 104-118.Hunt, Kenya. “New York Fashion Week SS17: Trippy Raver-Inspired Fashion And Dreadlock-gate at Marc Jacobs.” ELLE, 16 Sept. 2016, www.elle.com/uk/fashion/news/a31903/marc-jacobs-ss17-show-new-york-fashion-week/.Hyland, Véronique. “Lana Wachowski Is the New Face of Marc Jacobs.” The Cut, The Cut, 7 Jan. 2016, www.thecut.com/2016/01/lana-wachowski-marc-jacobs-ads.html.Kellner, Douglas. Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity and Politics between the Modern and the Post-Modern. 2003.Kuumba, M., and Femi Ajanaku. “Dreadlocks: The Hair Aesthetics of Cultural Resistance and Collective Identity Formation.” Mobilization Journal, 1998, Accessed 30 Oct. 2018.Lee, Hélène, and Stephen Davis. First Rasta, the: Leonard Howell and the Rise of Rastafarianism. Chicago Review P, 2003.Mendes, Valerie, and Amy. Haye. Fashion Since 1900. Thames Hudson, 2010.Sidhu, Dawinder S. and Gohil, Neha Singh, The Sikh Turban: Post-9/11 Challenges to this Article of Faith (2008). Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion, Vol. 9, p. 10, 2008.Wagner, Lindsay P. “What It’s Really Like to Be Black and Work in Fashion.” The Cut, 23 Aug. 2018, www.thecut.com/2018/08/what-its-really-like-to-be-black-and-work-in-fashion.html.Get Help With Your EssayIf you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!Find out more