Let me start this off by saying that I'm using this specific incidence of racial insensitivity as a sort of jumping off point for a lot of thoughts I've been having thanks to Jezebel round-ups of racist teens on Twitter. No, seriously.
So the Chanel couture show was "Cowboys & Indians" themed, a racially blind trope that's been played out for the better part of a century—how are we not over this yet? Maybe it's because Karl Lagerfeld isn't from these here parts, but the big uproar is over the headdresses worn by two models to close the show. Now, this isn't a discrete incidence of misappropriation as it applies to Native American cultures—this shit happens pretty frequently. There was a huge uproar at the Victoria's Secret fashion show last year when model Karlie Kloss was sent down the runway in a headdress. "[It's] a marginalized image that exposes a preconceived, inaccurate depiction of a historical event," noted one writer*, referring to Kloss's intended 'Calendar Girl' representation of Thanksgiving. "It also fails to acknowledge the persecution and violence that subsequently occurred." *I had this quote incorrectly attributed before and have subsequently lost the fuck out of it somewhere on the internet. Will keep looking—do let me know if it's yours!
Who wore it more racistly? At left, Caroline de Maigret closes the Chanel show; on the right, Karlie Kloss walks in the Victoria's Secret fashion show.
So the Chanel couture show was "Cowboys & Indians" themed, a racially blind trope that's been played out for the better part of a century—how are we not over this yet? Maybe it's because Karl Lagerfeld isn't from these here parts, but the big uproar is over the headdresses worn by two models to close the show. Now, this isn't a discrete incidence of misappropriation as it applies to Native American cultures—this shit happens pretty frequently. There was a huge uproar at the Victoria's Secret fashion show last year when model Karlie Kloss was sent down the runway in a headdress. "[It's] a marginalized image that exposes a preconceived, inaccurate depiction of a historical event," noted one writer*, referring to Kloss's intended 'Calendar Girl' representation of Thanksgiving. "It also fails to acknowledge the persecution and violence that subsequently occurred." *I had this quote incorrectly attributed before and have subsequently lost the fuck out of it somewhere on the internet. Will keep looking—do let me know if it's yours!
You appropriate something when you rob it of its specific sociocultural context, thereby claiming it for yourself. What does the phrase "Native American headdress" mean in American popular culture at this point? What does "Navajo print" mean? Well, now they mean nothing. They are props to sell Shell majority stakeholders' wives ten-thousand dollar purses.
Why was Chanel even doing this whole Dallas-themed thing in the first place, you ask? "American stores and clients ensured the success of [Coco] Chanel’s comeback—a mutual love affair symbolized by her being awarded, in 1957, the Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion, which she traveled to Dallas to receive." In other words, it was really a watershed moment in Cowboys and Indians history and thank God Karl Lagerfeld took the time to commemorate it with this. "Historically, Ralph Lauren has owned this fashion territory," said Style.com's Nicole Phelps, noting that, "Lagerfeld seized upon it with gusto but also with characteristic deftness." To which I say: characteristic deftness or *cultural deafness*?? ZING. She then quotes Lagerfeld himself saying, "It's a reinvention of something I don't really know, but that I like to play with." No shit? Then say you were inspired by Fievel Goes West, motherfucker—not history.
