What is cultural appropriation? Cultural appropriation means taking elements of another culture, often sacred and symbolic, and presenting them in a shallow manner. Essentially it is commodifying a culture. The intention is inconsequential and usually stems from privilege. The mindless taking is a demonstration of the imbalance of power that still remains between cultures. To be clear, the dominant culture in the US is white culture.
First, let's take a look at some of Victoria's Secret's culturally appropriated outfits.
Victoria's Secret apologized to the individuals offended and decided to remove the footage from the show. Kloss also tweeted an apology and stated she supported the decision to the outfit from the broadcast. The outfit perfectly exemplifies appropriation because VS took no consideration of where the war bonnet originates from and presenting it as lingerie is very shallow.
In the 2nd photo was a part of VS's "Go East" collection in 2012. The whole collection was criticized for appropriated Asian culture. The geisha costume pictured above was called "tasteless" due to the complex history of geishas. It also provokes harmful Asian fetishes and exotic sexuality. Similarly to how they removed the Native American headdress, they removed all of the "Go East" collection from the website.
"Peering" into the Future
What Victoria's Secret has done is provide solid evidence that cultural appropriation can be very offensive to marginalized groups. They show that there are social and historical implications to treating marginalized groups as costumes. While the outfits are not malicious, they do not acknowledge where the importance of these cultural items came from.
Victoria's Secret is not the only company to appropriate a culture in the fashion industry. Other companies have also appropriated bindis, niqabs and burqas, saris, and various other cultural elements that hold significance in their culture. Designers should do research and understand these values before selling them to the masses and offending minority groups. They need to be held responsible. Marginalized groups deserve more than just a tweet apologizing for these outfits.
There needs to be a cultural exchange. This means there is understanding, equality, and respect among all groups involved. If designers want to be socially responsible they can engage with a culture and be respectful and humble guests to avoid selling the culture for a selfish profit.