COACHELLA- Appreciation or Appropriation of Religious Traditions in Fashion?
Every spring, the fashion world excitedly awaits the return of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, more commonly known as Coachella. A three day music and arts festival spread out over two weekends in April, Coachella has been held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California for the past ten years and counting. The festival features various genres of music, art and sculptures.
Recently, the annual Coachella festival has become popularly known to be, “a breeding ground for new fashion trends to proliferate — and with dozens of hot young celebrities showing off their threads on Instagram in real time, festival-inspired style has become more popular in recent years than ever before” (O’Neil). Individuals hailing from different parts of the world anticipate exciting performances from contemporary artists, as well as a vast display of attire and style which usually foreshadow the upcoming Western fashion trends.
Coachella has become an outlet for an entire season’s fashion inspiration: from the start of vacation season, festival fashion becomes synonymous with spring style for young consumers. Coachella’s casual, summery look provides a sweet spot for fashion brands, said Megan Reynolds, senior shopping editor for Harper’s Bazaar. With tens of thousands of festival attendees and an even larger audience following online, worldwide, the influence Coachella has on popular culture is undeniable. This is evident in the uniform-like attire of the attendees; for women, the typical look includes super-short denim cutoffs, ankle boots, bikini top and/or sheer, macrame blouse, and floral headband. For men, it’s board shorts and an Abercrombie-and-Fitch body (Cohen).
This past Coachella (2014) a new fashion trend emerged following similar looks spotted on Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Paris Hilton and the Jenner sisters to name a few- all seen sporting the South Asian bindi.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed defines the bindi as,
“The bindi on the forehead is an ancient tradition in Hinduism and has religious significance. It is also sometimes referred to as the third eye and the flame, and it is an auspicious religious and spiritual symbol … It is not meant to be thrown around loosely for seductive effects or as a fashion accessory aiming at mercantile greed.”
During and following Coachella, the social networking world exploded in a heated debate regarding topics of cultural and religious appropriation within fashion as depicted through this emerging trend. For most, the South Asian culture was being embellished on the bodies of people who did not understand the significance of these cultural and religious symbols (Peeler). As blogger Isha Aran argues in her post titled, Take That Dot Off Your Forehead and Quit Trying to Make Bindis Happen, “taking a symbol from a culture that is thousands of years old and divorcing it from its meaning — or even embracing its meaning for the expressive purpose of looking cool — does not lend you any cred — street, worldly, or otherwise. Wearing a bindi to Coachella certainly is not a genuine celebration of Hindu culture, so please don’t even start with that.”
There is no doubt that regardless of this new fashion trend being a form of appreciation or appropriation, the significance and tradition of the bindi is being commodified and exploited. This idea is similarly discussed by Carrette and King in their article, “Spirituality and the Privatisation of Asian Wisdom Traditions,” in Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion. King and Carette discuss the exploitation of Asian traditions and practices as “historically rich and complex traditions which are exploited by a selective re-packaging of the tradition, and then sold as the ‘real thing.’” In both the article and this example, the inappropriate uses of a religious symbol makes the key issue clear: that the cultural object- in this case the bindi- is being separated from its purpose and history and reintroduced in the western context for western benefit- in this case, a fashion trend for “spiritual consumers.”
What is even more inappropriate and questionable is the blending of these religious symbols for the benefit of fashion. There is no doubt that Coachella- which began as a music festival- has now become an outlet for the outrageous. Kendall Jenner, a popular model and icon of fashion for young girls worldwide and more commonly known from the TV show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians was seen sporting both a cross and a bindi at the 2014 Coachella. Not just commodifying one, but two religious symbols in this manner appropriates the use of these symbols and sheds away their significance.
The bindi is not the first example of religious and cultural appropriation being displayed by Coachella goers. In the past, attendees have been responsible for using Aboriginal symbols such as the sacred headpiece for fashion purposes. For religious symbols to continuously be exploited during an event that has powerful influence over the popular fashion culture worldwide is not only deplorable but unacceptable. The result of mass appropriation and exploitation of religious symbols is the detachment from the purpose of these symbols and traditions.
Coachella is a prime example of a society’s norms and outlooks. In the predominantly white colonial society of the West where the stripping of rights from cultural minorities is embedded in history, there is a clear reflection of such themes and influences within popular culture such as fashion which continue to colonize and commodify these cultural and religious traditions. There is no doubt that with the increase in globalization, citizens of the West have the opportunity to engage with various practices and traditions. The question however is, when is it appropriate to draw the line, and when has the line truly been crossed. Though there is continuous debate on this topic, there is no doubt that much more than the appreciation of religious symbols and traditions, there is widespread exploitation in popular events such as Coachella. This ultimately concludes with inappropriate and commercialized “fashion trends” in main stream media that justify colonial ideologies and lead to the misuse of traditions practiced by cultural minorities.
SOURCES
Aran, Isha. “Take That Dot Off Your Forehead and Quit Trying to Make Bindis Happen.” Jezebel. N.p., 16 Apr. 2014. Web.
Carrette Jeremy and Richard King. “Spirituality and the Privatisation of Asian Wisdom Traditions.” In Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion, 87–122. London: Routledge, 2005.
Cohen, Sandy. “Coachella’s Young Audience a Marketers Paradise.” The Big Story. N.p., 19 Apr. 2014. Web.
Licata, Elizabeth. “Celebrities Are Wearing A Lot of Dumb Things At Coachella, And Bindis Are Definitely The Worst.” The Gloss. N.p., 13 Apr. 2014. Web.
O’Neil, Lauren. “Celebrity Bindis at Coachella: Fashion Trend or Cultural Appropriation? — Your Community.” CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 22 Apr. 2014.
