"They want our culture but not our struggle"
Is cultural appropriation becoming the new trend in 2015?
You could be a seventeen year old aspiring make-up artist and you want to re-invent your look and so, you decide to draw lip-liner around your lips to enlarge them and make them look a bit more plump and juicy. As you walk around the corner, you bump into a friend and they are the first to see your "new look", and instead of giving you a compliment they say your look counts as cultural appropriation. Is that fair? Why is it a big issue now?
In today's age, by adopting a popular style from another culture, you are "stealing" that style from that culture to try and fit in with today's fashion trends. Nowadays, celebrities have been abused for their use of another cultures popular style, fashion or the way they physically look (Hello Khloe Kardashian), and have received a massive backlash.
Allure Magazine have featured a brief article teaching "straight haired girls" (white girls) how to get an afro and calling it a "trend" even though this particular natural black style has been around for years. What is even more saddening is whenever a black women wears cornrows or want's to feel free with her hair and pulls out her afro, she is looked at like she is some sort of creature by other people from different cultures who don't understand, and this is why it is a massive slap in the face for black women. What Allure magazine didn't do was credit black women for having this particular style from day dot and take into account that this type of hair isn't just a style but a historical legacy. Furthermore, why didn't Allure magazine feature a beautiful black women as the face of this feature as they grow that type of hair? That beats me.
There isn't just cultural appropriation in the black community but there is live in the Asian community with the 'bindi' becoming a style trend for women and men (yes, some do look lovely with a bindi) wearing it at festivals like Coachella and Lovebox earlier this year. Bindis are ancient in Hindu culture, carrying meanings such as wisdom and spiritual development however, they were being worn to match people's Bohemian style while drinking uncontrollably while listening to one of Drake's emotional songs about love. What was even worst is the amount of abuse Hindu's get when wearing their Binid's (for the right reasons might I add) compared to those who wear it as a prop which makes their outfit look at lot more prettier but, in today's society this isn't the only issue causing an uproar. Fashion magazine 'Elle UK' have just recently heard about baby hairs and have since announced it as a new “trend.” In a recent article, the fashion magazine used images of Katy Perry with her 'baby hair' but it looks like some have had just enough of this!
Amandla Stenberg (known best for her role as Rue from the Hunger Games) released a video called "Don’t Cash Crop On My Cornrows", which highlights the frequent appropriation of black culture and hip hop. She pinpoints the fact that cornrows, (a hairstyle prominent in black culture since 3000 BC) have been labelled as a ‘new’ and ‘urban’ craze everywhere from high fashion runways to pop videos and gracefully explains the difference between cultural APPRECIATION and cultural APPROPRIATION.
I personally think that someone from another culture trying out another cultures style, fashion or the way they look isn't a problem but when that culture isn't credited or recognized that becomes a massive issue.
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