dolgematki:

emeraldtriangleprincess:

there is a new trend out in the fashion industry that’s really really bothering me. thanks in large part to the ongoing Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, and Rodartedebacles, I think a fair number of designers are learning that overt cultural appropriation can have severe legal and financial consequences, and are thus trying to avoid it. however, “tribal prints” and “Native” fashions are still hugely popular among their client base, and I believe most of these designers still have some kind of yearning for the fetishized exoticized aesthetics of indigenous peoples. 

I have noticed couture designers, as well as would-be designers turned NGO white saviors, side-stepping legal battles by hiring indigenous artists expressly to create prints for their collections. Sole ownership of the prints is retained by the designer in question (not the artist), and the designer is able to sell their wares as “authentic indigenous” because a fraction of the garment design is a copy of indigenous work. the artist does not get to control how their print is used (ie if they made a print which has spiritual meaning, there is nothing stopping the designer who now owns the rights to said print from using it to make overpriced bikinis or something). not only does the designer reap the benefits of selling legalized “tribal print” clothing, they also somehow earn special snowflake status for vaguely including indigenous artists, and are then promoted to virtual sainthood for offering to donate a portion of the proceeds to indigenous communities (not to the artists who created the print—Communities—a broad-brush blanket term which is rarely every defined or explained). The artist who created the print and the inspiration for the garment remains essentially nameless and forgotten as anything other than Ambiguous Mystic Indigenous Peasant Woman (because they all have to be low-income rural single mothers with special primitive mystique, right?). 

at the end of the day, it’s still dehumanizing fetishization and exploitation. it’s not helping out indigenous artists because they remain nameless, exploited for the legal protection their prints provide, and rarely see a paycheck. this system has been compared to guest designer status, but the reality is that a guest designer owns the rights to their work, receives public accreditation, and designs the full garment—a much more respectful cooperative relationship, rather than exploitative. 

This, this and motherfucking THIS.