Soul(diers) of fashion
A group on Laurier Brantford's campus called S.O.U.L had a lot to say about cultural appropriation within fashion.
S.O.U.L consists of a group of students that discuss issues about racial discrimination and equality. Although the group is made up of students that originate from Africa and the Caribbean, the group welcomes students from all backgrounds. Besides discussions, S.O.U.L commits to meetings on a bi-weekly basis and their meetings involve activities such as presentations and quizzes.
The video shows members of S.O.U.L expressing their thoughts concerning cultural appropriation in fashion. The students passionately gave their opinions about how people appropriate fashion in various ways, and the affect it had on people that actually belong to the appropriated cultures. Topics of discussions involve how the Kardashian's appropriate fashion and make it popular, thoughts on how African hairstyles are appropriated and several more.
The students did not hold back their feelings and were honest about how they felt about cultural appropriation within fashion, and who was doing the appropriating.
Interview with S.O.U.L executive member:
Justin Manning
Justin Manning is one of the executives of the S.O.U.L group at Laurier Brantford. He is also the only white executive member. Josh Adesina spoke with Manning about his thoughts regarding cultural appropriation, along with his unique perspective as a white male.
Manning mentioned that he liked to “whitewash” issues such as cultural appropriation which meant that he would almost always see things from a white person’s view. People that would hear Manning say this would think he was oblivious to issues outside of his race. However, his perspective showed that he was not ignorant, and acknowledged the ignorance of cultural appropriation.
“Creators should only create clothing only if they are a part of the culture,” said Manning. He held creators of clothing to a standard, and thought a lack of knowledge on cultural understanding would lead to creating clothes that didn’t properly represent the culture.
This was what led Manning to discuss the power struggle that takes place within cultural appropriation. Josh and Manning discussed an example about people of African descent, and the entitlement they had with their clothing. Manning discussed African clothing items such as the ‘dashiki’ and how people would wear it for fashion sake. Also, Manning spoke on behalf of what S.O.U.L members thought about cultural appropriation.
“People have a sense of entitlement when it comes to their own culture,” said Manning. He discussed how he thought people should feel when it came to others from outside their culture wearing clothes from other cultures.
Manning also brought up an interesting point about how cultural appropriation within fashion can go unnoticed.
“The shirt I’m wearing now showing Kanye West counts as cultural appropriation,” said Manning.
Manning mentioned that anyone can cultural appropriate. He took the blame off of white people whom he thought were the perceived cultural appropriators of fashion. Towards the end of the interview, Manning assured that a proper knowledge of culture would tackle cultural appropriation, and that everyone has a responsibility to properly understand it.
S.O.U.L executive member Justin Manning discussing his views on cultural appropriation within fashion.
Photo: Matt Burley
Manning wearing his Kanye West t-shirt, which he feels is an example of cultural appropriation.
Photo: Matt Burley