What Marc Jacobs Doesn’t Understand about Cultural Appropriation

It’s currently Fashion Week in New York, and we’ve been fortunate enough to see photos of some amazing outfits via social media because if you are a nobody like myself, you probably weren’t invited to any of the shows or fashion parties.

Upon seeing photos last night as I laid in my bed, scrolling through timelines — I saw the following picture of GiGi Hadid and Kendall Jenner.

I’ll be honest, the first time I saw this photo — I just rolled my eyes and continued scrolling. However, it wasn’t till I saw Marc Jacob’s response to criticism of what his models were wearing that I began to get upset. I’m sure the comment on Instagram was deleted, but screenshots never die.

The thing about this is: Marc Jacob’s isn’t saying something that we’ve never seen before when discussing cultural appropriation so I’m not surprised in the slightest. What’s most angering is “funny how you don’t criticize women of colour of straightening their hair” because it’s such bullsh*t if you ask me. Women of colour, for decades, have been perming their hair and assimilating in numerous other ways to rid their hair of the glorious kinks and curls because in society — it’s seen as unprofessional or “too niggerish”. Time and time again, we hear stories of black men and women being told that they have to cut off their dreads in order to keep their employment because the hairstyle doesn’t fit the desired company look. And this is the issue with cultural appropriation that many fail to see.

It’s an issue when black people’s culture is commodified the crap out of and deemed “trendy” when Kendall Jenner walks onto a runway, but the moment that someone with a drop of melanin in their skin expresses their culture — they become a target for harassment and policing. Marc also mentions that he see’s people not colour or race and it’s this exact mentality that gives the fashion industry the racial issues that so many models have spoken about. Race isn’t a hinderance, in fact — the colour of someone’s skin can be used when creating outfits to see what colours match best with the tone of someone’s skin but I digress. Choosing to be “Colourblind” and not see race ultimately just reaffirms that you don’t give a sh*t about the people you claim to see, as long as you are making money.

Once again, this reminds us all why it’s important to understand why cultural appropriation is an issue. People of colour aren’t just looking for things to complain about, but this is the reality of cultural significance being commodified to the masses. Black Culture is trendy on runways on everyone except black people, and I’m sick of it.

So Marc, “Think about it”.