EXCHANGE OR APPROPRIATION?

Unless you’ve lived under a rock for the past year (or worse, without wifi), you will no doubt have heard the words ‘cultural appropriation’ thrown around relentlessly. Whether they’re in reference to Kylie Jenner wearing dreads or cornrows or Miley Cyrus’ various marijuana references at the recent Video Music Awards, it seems that debates on intersectional feminism and racism are more ubiquitous than ever. Surprisingly, it seems that the industry’s younger voices are the ones tackling the issue honestly, intellectually and, on the whole, extremely impressively. The first concise explanation of cultural appropriation came courtesy of 16-year-old Hunger Games star Amandla Stenberg, who published a video on YouTube entitled “Don’tCash Crop my Cornrows”. Amongst other topics she talks about the use of cornrows as an “urban fashion trend” and the wave of white rappers (Iggy Azalea, Macklemore etc) that dominated the rap charts by incorporating pop sounds thus making rap more palatable to a mainstream audience.

Amandla Stenberg looking incredible @ prom 

IS FASHION ENTERTAINMENT?

Is fashion entertainment? That is the question on everyone’s lips this year as the dust begins to settle on the biggest month in the fashion calendar. Throughout the cycle of SS15 shows, one debate in particular has been raging with several of the industry’s journalistic elite weighing on social media to contribute their views. One of the most publicised tweets comes courtesy of the Independent’s fashion editor Alexander Fury, who claimed that “Fashion is not entertainment. It is art. This is a business and these are trade shows, not a three-ring circus”. His statement supports that of the renowned journalist Suzy Menkes, who penned a 2013 article entitled ‘The Circus of Fashion’ as a response to the rising presence of fashion bloggers in the show tents. In this article, Menkes paints a picture of attention-starved fashionistas armed with camera phones, lingering outside show locations ready to snap selfies with the well-known attendees of the season’s biggest shows. She also forecasts the ‘fast-fashion’ ideology that is slowly becoming ubiquitous, an ideology embodied by Jeremy Scott’s debut collection at Moschino which was available to purchase from the minute the show went viral. Scott tapped into today’s consumer society in a genius way by incorporating accessories such as smart-phone covers into a collection priced from £35 upwards. By adjusting price-points, he made high fashion accessible to those without the budget and subsequently re-opened the debate as to whether fashion should be commercial or exclusive.

Gareth Pugh's SS15 'Presentation'

Fury’s initial comment that fashion shows are created for commerce is arguably negated by designers such as Gareth Pugh and Thom Browne, both of which staged fairytale presentations for Spring/Summer 2015. Browne served us one of the week’s highlights with his dreamy avant-garde garden-party, based around the tale of six sisters that designed their own dress code for the week. It’s hard to argue that fashion isn’t entertainment when we see models dressed in fantasy tailoring teetering around the runway’s perimeter in stilts, or fantastical bird-cage headpieces walking the runway. Some of fashion’s greatest designers have been showmen in their own rights – think Galliano’s legendary ‘Diorent Express’ collection, or McQueen’s paint-gun finale at his No.13 collection. It’s not unusual for collections to feature showpieces which never become available to buy; instead they are created for artistic purposes and featured in elaborate runway presentations or loaned to museums for display. Whilst the commercial element of fashion is always the most important, it’s hard to deny that entertainment also plays a part.