ipl-logo

Essay On Cultural Appropriation In The Fashion Industry

878 Words4 Pages

Within the fashion industry is African culture appropriated or appreciated? In this essay I am going to be focusing on the appropriation of cultures in the fashion industry, specifically black culture. The Cultural Dictionary defines cultural appropriation as "the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture". This topic generates a range of contrasting opinions and expectations from the fashion industry and society. With the increased use of social media, personal opinions are spread worldwide and debates on this topic create confliction. This has increased interest and awareness which has resulted both positively and negatively. Despite the advancement of knowledge within this area, cultural appropriation is still evident in todays modern world. Typically the dominant group within society are guilty of appropriating the traditions of the subordinant social groups, whilst seemingly not considering it necessary to understand the context of the established practice or its heritage. To begin to understand what would be categorised as appropriating, we must …show more content…

Society appears to be designed to favour those considered "normal", in this way left handers may struggle to play the guitar without purchasing one special. Throughout history it has been shown that anything contrasting to the majority of people is considered abnormal, this is particularly evident in the disapproval of homosexuality. Being different or "deviant", these groups may be victimised, discriminated against or excluded from the rest of society, resulting in marginalisation, compartmentalisation and negative stereotyping. Due to this, the subordinate group would be disempowered, leaving the dominant group as

Show More
Related

  • Examples Of Dystopia In Harrison Bergeron

    486 Words  | 2 Pages

    To make a society like this work the only way is to make everyone the same, therefore, not one person is “normal” in this

    Read More

  • What I Pledge Allegiance To By Kiese Laymon

    607 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cultural Appropriation is a problem because we do not choose to accept other people livelihoods. “ cultural appropriation typically involves members of a dominant group exploiting the culture of less privileged groups.” (Little, Cultural). That is the society we live in today, we do not want to understand other cultures, race, and ideas. It is like when our mothers say don’t judge a book by its cover, it is the most important lesson we can all learn in this lifetime.

    Read More

  • The Controversy Of Topshop's Clothing

    110 Words  | 1 Pages

    I think it is a really clever idea to combine entertainment with fashion. I know a lot of people like the show Stranger Things and looks from the eighties are coming back into fashion. It benefits Netflix by advertising the show on the clothing and it is a good way to get people who enjoy the show to buy Topshop’s clothing. That makes me wonder, did Topshop buy the rights to make Stranger Things related prints? My assumption is yes

    Read More

  • Summary Of Three Cheers For Cultural Appropriation

    705 Words  | 3 Pages

    It's especially terrible when those doing the stealing are "rich" […] and those they are stealing from are "poor." to define cultural appropriation. Not only does this definition not cover the complexity of this term, it gives no room to qualify the examples given by this author. Weiss' simplification of this term makes cultural appropriation seem blown out of proportion which in turn compliments his argument that cultural appropriation accusations are over dramatically labeling the simple blending of cultures that are directly related to the success of America. Aside from this, Weiss' examples of the MTV music awards, including references to Kendrick Lamar, accused of "borrowing Asian dress", Katy Perry, accused of "caricaturing African-American women", and Beyoncé, accused of "exploiting Persian culture", and their respective acts of cultural appropriation. Weiss effectively includes these examples of "cultural appropriation" to show his audience how the term "cultural appropriation" is excessively applied to "every corner of American life".

    Read More

  • African American Fashion Artist Essay

    419 Words  | 2 Pages

    5 African-American Artists with their Own Fashion Label A lot of artists and musicians have dabbled into other business ventures. Most chose the fashion industry because it is one of the most successful business that rakes in millions each year. Here are our five favorite African-American artists who launched their own fashion label. 1.

    Read More

  • Multiculturalism In African American Culture

    847 Words  | 4 Pages

    Culture is easily influenced and is constantly shifting as it passes through various racial and ethnic interactions and exchanges. “With your liberal minds, you patronize our culture, scanning the surface like vultures, with your tourist mentality, we’re still the natives. You’re multicultural, but we’re anti-racist. We ain’t ethnic, exotic or eclectic” (Prashad, 56). This refers to when cultures are commodified and picked apart without taking both the negatives with the perceived positives.

    Read More

  • The Next Black Film Analysis

    1417 Words  | 6 Pages

    Fundamentals of Fashion And Their Reflection In “The Next Black” Aaliya Gujral Unquestionably clothes are a prominent part of our lives. They help us express who we are and often represent our sex, occupation, age and social standing. Clothing has been used by humans for thousands of years, and comes in a variety of forms. It has evolved throughout the course of history to include more fabrics, patterns, styles and designs.

    Read More

  • The Noble Or Ignoble Savage: A Cultural Appropriation Of American Culture

    1494 Words  | 6 Pages

    The cultural appropriation in which Americans take pieces of African culture without even acknowledging where it came from greatly reduces the identity of this culture, and it makes the African American culture seem less unique and special than it is. One of the best examples is with an African cloth called kente, and this cloth represents royalty and each square of the kente “tells a part of the story or represents a character of the weaver” (Hinton), and it once was made in great quality. However, only Ghanan families today have a kente made of good quality that is sacred because through cultural appropriation, it became common in the American society. Kente is a sacred cloth to Africans, but the cultural appropriation of African culture lead to this cloth being mass produced in America and with a poorer quality than once was. Kente, a part of African and African American culture, is taken and turned into this common cloth of poorer quality, and this diminishes the cultural identity of African Americans because now a key part of their culture is common and normal due to cultural appropriation.

    Read More

  • Non Western Fashion

    1779 Words  | 8 Pages

    Globalization helps in invasion of minds and thoughts this revolution leads to share, that non-western countries are less effective to create and produce a new style and collections. It is important to note that European fashion is interesting to have introduced in non-western countries to learn from its historic. Mrs. Angela Jansen and Mrs. Jenifer Craik are critical thinkers of modern fashion traditions. They presented an overview about Euro and ethnocentricity in fashion discourse. The revolution of modern fashion tradition has its aims to show the important contribution of non-western fashion in historical and socio-cultural development of the world.

    Read More

  • Essay On Ethical Issues In The Fashion Industry

    959 Words  | 4 Pages

    Introduction The modern fashion industry has a dreadful reputation in the area of human rights. The industry was built on abusive labor since the Industrial Revolution. In 1990´s the sweatshop scandals came up to public scrutiny involving large companies, like Nike and Gap. Since then, the public has been aware of abuses across the clothing supply chain. Nearly 1 billion people are employed by the fashion industry worldwide, the majority of whom live and work in peril, unjust and austere conditions.

    Read More

  • Cultural Appropriation Research Paper

    1219 Words  | 5 Pages

    This is problematic because not only does it encourage borrowing aspects of culture from others, but it encourages the outright theft of these aspects, in that those who own the culture are no longer socially permitted to use it. Both cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation are major topics in today’s society. However, cultural appropriation is a large problem that is widely ignored as a problem. Its general presence, as well as its prevalence in social media perpetuates harmful stereotypes and can cause several other problems.

    Read More

  • Essay On Fast Fashion

    875 Words  | 4 Pages

    Fashion never remains the same and with the advancements in technology fashion has become even more wavering. Fashion is highly influenced from the social, technological and economical changes. A series of events that replace current societal patterns with the

    Read More

  • My Culture: A Short Story

    1637 Words  | 7 Pages

    This ideology has taken root in our society where, in our society we often times take words like cultural appropriation, once used to convey a serious point and through media convolute them so much through sites like urban dictionary so that there point is no there strengths are underestimated much like the fires in my mother villages. So let 's come up with a definition for this, that this isn’t on urban dictionary. In richard a rogers book titled, from Cultural Exchange to Transculturation Cultural appropriation is often mentioned but undertheorized in critical rhetorical and media studies. Defined as the use of a culture’s symbols, artifacts, genres, rituals, or technologies by members of another culture, cultural appropriation can be placed into 4 categories: exchange, dominance, exploitation, and transculturation. Or in english by activist

    Read More

  • Fashion Management Personal Statement

    997 Words  | 4 Pages

    Fashion is my method of self-expression. The clothes we choose to wear gives us control over how others perceive us and affects how we feel about ourselves. From wearing black at the Golden Globes in support of the Time’s Up movement to the traditional Chinese Qi Pao, clothes can show solidarity without words or act as a way for us to connect to our cultural heritage. This is why fashion is important to me, because it allows me to tell a story about who I am and who I aspire to be. I have chosen to further my Management studies at the London College of Fashion because the MA Fashion Design Management covers themes essential for managing a successful fashion brand, which has always been a dream of mine.

    Read More

  • Essay About Popular Culture

    1281 Words  | 6 Pages

    People are immersed in popular culture during most of our waking hours. It is on radio, television, and our computers when we access the Internet, in newspapers, on streets and highways in the form of advertisements and billboards, in movie theaters, at music concerts and sports events, in supermarkets and shopping malls, and at religious festivals and celebrations (Tatum,

    Read More

More about Essay On Cultural Appropriation In The Fashion Industry

Open Document