Henry Jenkins identifies this concept of a feedback loop and
appropriation, where the mainstream industry takes independent ideas and DIY aesthetics
that are becoming popular, and uses it for its own capital gain. These ideas
and trends are often appropriated from different cultural and ethnic groups,
which causes a lot of controversy and offense. Different trends that have
become popular include white people, in particular, wearing traditionally
African American hairstyles, such as, dreadlocks and corn rows, as well as,
whites, again, appropriating Native American culture and wearing traditional headdresses
to festivals. Both of these trends have taken off in previous years, creating
entire industries, and have come under fire for the offensiveness that they
cause African American and Native American communities. We also saw the
appropriation of black hip hop fashion, and in particular, the industries role
in the appropriation, in the documentary The Remix, where corporations like Louis
Vuitton and Vogue, stole ideas from black designers and passed them off as
their own, and made them mainstream. This is a huge problem with the mainstream
industry, because it passes off cultural tradition as trends, and doesn’t give
credit to the creators. Although a lot of trends that are appropriated can
cause offense to cultural groups, it can happen to anyone. All throughout high school,
I wore large t-shirts, leggings, Birkenstocks, scrunchies, my hair in buns every
day and carried around a Hydroflask, and that was my individual style. Five
years later, due to the rise of Tik-Tok, a video sharing app like Vine, this
look has started to get noticed and become known in our culture as being a ‘VSCO
girl’. Now my individual style is a trend, so if I try to wear the same clothes
I’ve been wearing for the past five years, I am classified as main stream,
unoriginal, boring and made fun of in the way that ‘VSCO girls’ are made fun of
throughout the internet. It isn’t so much that it is offensive to me, but
annoying, and I can’t imagine how I would feel if my traditions were
appropriated, such as that with the Native American headdresses, etc. It also
puts into perspective; how difficult it is to be individual in a world where technology
and corporations can disseminate everything over the internet to create trends
faster and larger than ever before.
Lina,
ReplyDeleteI can really relate to the personal correlations that you made to this reading and how you not only saw it in “The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion” but also have seen the effects of this trend of mainstream outlets borrowing from the subcultures in your own life. You took an opinionated approach to your findings and I also appreciated this because if people are being devalued, misrepresented, offended, or overtly stolen from I would completely stand by you in this anger. Yet, on the other hand, I do see how so much of fashion has borrowed from prior subcultures and past trends. Style in itself is a borrowing and copying game. It’s definitely weird to trace the “source” of all trends and it seems quite easy to get lost in that quest for one true referent much like Walter Benjamin discussed in his theory texts. I specifically observe the “bending” of trends in mainstream society that some things are borrowed and revisited. I liked how you used the concept of “DIY” here as well because that’s exactly what I think style is all about. Taking something that inspired you, and doing your own twist on it. With the exception of cultural appropriation and the abuse of intellectual property and ingenuity, I believe that’s the fashion game we’ve literally been buying into our whole lives.
Again, I really appreciated this blog post you offered as it made my mind revisit the concepts and ideas of where fashion originates from for my own understanding.