Marc Jacobs has angered a lot of people following his latest fashion show.
He had the honour of closing New York Fashion Week with a fashion show last night featuring Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid.
For the show he chose to put colourful dreadlocks on all the models who were predominantly white.
Watch our Marc Jacobs Spring ’17 show in 15 seconds, or in its entirety on https://t.co/lPefBl9Fnu ✨ pic.twitter.com/LRWwrXlEHH
— Marc Jacobs (@marcjacobs) September 15, 2016
It’s for this reason that people are angry. They are accusing him of exploiting black culture for profit.
The look was inspired by one of the brand’s models, Lana Wachowski, who recently fronted a Marc Jacobs campaign. Hair stylist, Guido Palau, said, “We were also looking at other girls that were inspiring to Marc, and certain types of cultures, like rave culture, club culture, acid house, Boy George and Marilyn.”
A photo posted by Marc Jacobs (@marcjacobs) on
One journalist, Jaleesa M. Jones, has summed up the issue saying:
“While it is true that dreadlocks have been associated with other cultures, the style is a mainstay in black culture, a manageable means of protecting strands, a symbol of black pride in a society that stigmatizes textured hair while privileging straight hair.”
They’ve taken to Twitter to vent their anger at the designer.
did Marc Jacobs really just build a whole fashion show around cultural appropriation? wow.
— Elena ? (@ddaisymeadows) September 15, 2016
Fashion week: We need a designer to exploit black culture for profit
Marc Jacobs: pic.twitter.com/m4OYesiFIQ
— Ziañ ✩ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ҉ ˚ (@Downeyinthedms) September 15, 2016
why couldn’t marc jacobs hire black models with actual dreads instead of using fake dreads on white people pic.twitter.com/I0weET1cOf
— charl (@basxmxnt) September 15, 2016
if Marc Jacobs wanted to add black culture to his fashion why didn’t they just hire black models with actual dreads???
— ️ (@rnbzains) September 15, 2016
Why didn’t Marc Jacobs just hire black models with ACTUAL dreads.. I’m tiredt https://t.co/tx7uX9GWMb
— boo boo the (@oyinakinwumi) September 15, 2016
I can’t get over how ugly this is. I’m boycotting Marc Jacobs until further notice pic.twitter.com/4QuZwpd9BW
— not lindsay lohan (@drugproblem) September 15, 2016
