Catwalk Colonialism

Image copyright B. Yellowtail; all rights reserved.

Sometimes "appropriation" goes way beyond what that term implies. It's a word that sort of sounds like someone just borrowed something for a little while because s/he genuinely needed it.

Really, it's just a synonym for theft, but even then, not all thefts are equal. Some are more outrageous, and more openly racist, than others.

When a white British fashion house appropriates the work of a Native designer — work that features a lineal ancestral pattern with deep cultural and spiritual significance to the designer herself, no less — and when said white-run design house then submits it as part of a redface catwalk minstrel show for New York's Fashion Week . . . well, even theft doesn't begin to cover it.

It's catwalk colonialism.

And when the international fashion media are complicit not only in the cover-up but in using their collective megaphone to amplify the racism of the company involved . . . it's time to do something about it.



The story came to light last night; I've been following it since very early this morning, but have not had time to sit down and write about it until now. And the more hours that have gone by, the more outraged I've become. As a Native woman, I've had my own work (both intellectual and tangible, physical property) appropriated on more than one occasion. I know plenty of other Native women who have had the same indignities, the same forced invisibility, the same erasure inflicted upon them; it's endemic in the dominant culture. It happens to Native men, too, but not at nearly the same rate. After all, for indigenous women, our very bodies, our very selves and souls and spirits are presumed by the world at large to be theirs to appropriate however they see fit; why should our labor and the fruits thereof be seen as any different?

Hint: It's not.

Doesn't make it right. Also doesn't mean that we should put up with it.

The image at the top is just the latest example [and before you say they look nothing alike, I'm gonna need you to take off your blinders and look closer at the actual patterning]. The dress on the left was designed and given tangible form (and offered for sale) in 2014 by Apsàalooke/Northern Cheyenne fashion designer Bethany Yellowtail, whose design house goes by the name b.YELLOWTAIL. Ms. Yellowtail is a brilliant artist, and her dress entitled Crow Pop has become a sensation online (and justifiably so). Her prices aren't bad, either.

It's a design that's been featured on social media with considerable frequency, and in various news and other outlets. Janet Mock and Lauren Chief Elk both wear it proudly. And Ms. Yellowtail's other designs have been given similar recent exposure, including the one pictured above.

Now comes U.K. design house KTZ. They debuted "their" new line at Fashion Week yesterday. And it's an entire catwalk of stolen identity and imagery and work and culture. 

The company's Twitter feed makes it clear that they have no respect for people of color, nor for their cultures: It's a perfect storm of racism and stereotyping, of culture-vulturing identity theft and mocking minstrelsy, beginning with the image that serves as the banner at the top of its Twitter timeline. An entire crowd of white people in the indigenous dress and symbolism of cultures of color, cultures not their own? Way to try your racism on and then display for the world, people.

But scroll down that timeline and take a look at how bad it really is. Aside from the steady stream of white women (and the occasional Black model) in sartorial redface, they've paired the stolen Native designs with replicas of Confederate military caps from the Civil War. Oooooh! Way to be edgy, dudes!  

Not.  You are being racist, though, so if that was your goal, congrats! You succeeded.

Their peers and the media are, as usual, entirely complicit. 

Let me get this straight:  "Leather feathers and human bones?" Seriously? Do you idiots have the faintest idea how repulsive the "human bones" reference is to Native peoples? Do you realize what a slur and a slander this is?  I know, I know; you don't give a shit. You're edgy, you're hip, and you're getting attention. There's a word for that, too, by the way.

Vogue UK calls it "colorful crazy." So, indigenousness as mental illness now. MADE calls it "tribal frenzy" — you know, that whole "savage" thing. And KTZ itself, via the mouthpiece of B2B Media Ltd., had this to say about what "its" line was really all about:

Oh, so I'm "primal," now. I guess we all are. Huh. And in the same breath, they tell us they're honoring us — all of us, but especially Native women like b.YELLOWTAIL.

White men, take your "honor" and shove it. While you're at it, do the same with your catwalk colonialism and the rest of your thieving racist redface ways.

Y'all need to get schooled and come correct on this. You won't, I know, not without some pushing and shoving. But that's where all the rest of us come in.

Peeps, you know what to do. Send the criticism of this racist company viral. And while you're at it, help promote the work of b.YELLOWTAIL. You'll be honoring her great-grandmother when you do.




Except as otherwise noted expressly or contextually, all text copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.