There’s been some controversy in the fashion world a of late – a crop
of potentially offensive garb has popped up in runways and in stores. Dolce and
Gabbana recently came under fire for featuring models that sported earrings that
resembled “Blackamoor” motifs. Blackamoor refers to decorative figures that
resembled dark skinned African servants, and is nowadays considered to be
offensive depictions of slavery and of African Americans. Victoria’s Secret also
pulled a new line of lingerie not long ago, after multiple media outlets called the line
racist. The line featured various forms of lingerie and bathing suits that had an
apparent Asian influence – the get ups were called “Sexy Little Geisha”, and were
criticized for using the sexualizing Asian women. What made it even more
controversial was not a single model of either fashion line featured a woman of
color. The criticism here was while designers find ethnic influence on their clothing
to be beautiful, their ideal of physical beauty apparently is not that diverse.
Though I personally don’t find anything wrong with using exotic elements
as fashion influence, I can see how these attempts can be considered racist. It’s
a fine line where imitation segues from a form of flattery to offending a culture.
This reminds me of the “I am not a Costume” campaign by an Ohio University
student group, whose purpose was to call attention to potentially racist Halloween
costumes. The campaign featured images of students holding up costumes that
depicted thugs, terrorists, Mexican hats, and geishas, with the caption, ”This is
NOT who I am, and this is NOT okay.” Though these costumes are perhaps extreme
examples of racist depictions, there are many products out there that are perhaps
subtle attempts to express a cultural influence, but can be interpreted as distasteful.
I think the best thing about America is that we’re a mixing pot of ethnicities,
and that we’re able to represent so many cultures – however, it’s apparent that it is
tricky to represent these cultures in a manner that will be met with 100% approval.
Though I applaud what I believe these to be an attempt by these fashion designers
to showcase ethnic influence, perhaps using models that represent these ethnicities
would better show case their attempt to represent all cultures.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Rochester chapter.