As you may remember from previous posts, after last December some of the fantasy charms in the Pradamalia range were deemed offensive as they seemed to evoke blackface, Miuccia Prada created the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council, hoping to organise a group of enlightened minds ready to educate people to the art of inclusiveness. In February this year the group therefore announced the appointment of artist and activist Theaster Gates, and award-winning writer, director and producer Ava DuVernay, as co-chairs of Prada's council.
In a similar way, after Gucci was forced to pull from stores a balaclava jumper with a a cut-out mouth and red lips that summoned up blackface imagery, the brand hired in July this year a global and regional director for diversity and inclusion, Renée E. Tirado, and announced it was going to launch a series of multicultural programs focused on diversity and inclusivity awareness and global exchange.
Yet, despite the industry seems intent in doing things properly via diversity councils and forums, just a few days ago another fashion house fell from grace, committing another cultural faux pas.
At the end of August, Dior released a teaser for its perfume fragrance, Sauvage. The teaser featured CankuOne Star, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, performing on a cliff, actor Johnny Depp (who also starred in previous Sauvage adverts shot in the American West, but not linked with Native American references) walking among the rocks in south western Utah and then playing the guitar while a woman, Canadian actor of First Nations descent Tanaya Beatty, looked at him from a distance, and a voice stated "We are the land. Dior."
The LVMH-owned fashion house described the campaign on social media as "an authentic journey deep into the Native American soul in a sacred, founding and secular territory", but a few hours after posting it on social media, Dior had to delete it from its Instagram and Twitter accounts.
Despite the advert, directed by filmmaker Jean-Baptiste Mondino, was made in collaboration with Native American consultants from the indigenous advocacy group Americans for Indian Opportunity, critics didn't think it was appropriate and consumers turned to social media to highlight how the ad seemed to emphasise a link between the name of the fragrance - meaning "savage" - and Native American culture (and there were probably people making connections between the land as representing freedom, and the rape of the land perpetrated by colonists...). Consumers also didn't enjoy the choice of Depp, who is not Native American, and who was accused of abuse by ex-wife Amber Heard.
Native American culture has been appropriated continuously, so in a way you wished Dior had somehow avoided to make the connection, remembering how Chanel had to apologise for the Metiers d'Art 2013-2014 collection that featured symbols of Native American dress, feathered headdresses, and bead work, while Victoria's Secret had to remove from the broadcasting of its 17th Annual Fashion Show footage of model Karlie Kloss in a Native American-inspired feathered headdress, fringed bikini, and turquoise jewellery.
In a way Dior didn't even had to go and check the history of appropriation of Native American culture by other fashion houses as it had another bizarre precedent in its own history, dating back to 1998 when John Galliano, then Creative Director at the French house, organised a spectacular show for the Haute Couture A/W 1998-99 collection.
Entitled "A Voyage on the Diorient Express, or the Story of the Princess Pocahontas," the show opened with a steam train arriving on the runway carrying models clad in Native American attire, including Navajo-inspired blankets and dresses decorated with beadwork, fringes and Ghost Dance symbols. When the train stopped actors posing as Native Americans danced on the platform, while more models got off the train in designs that evoked 17th century European styles.
At the time Galliano claimed he was combining fantasy and history, but the way he juxtaposed the Native Americans and the Europeans seemed to hint at a gap between the savages and the civilised that, rather than blurring boundaries between people, history and geography, reinforced them. It was therefore not suprising that, when critics mentioned this deliriously costumy and confusing runway, they didn't talk about a journey through history, but about a trip on the "Disorient Express".
It was somehow surprising that Dior committed this faux pas, considering also how a recent campaign for the Cruise 2019 collection inspired by Mexican culture, was criticised for starring Jennifer Lawrence, who is not Mexican, while the brand's Resort 2020, showcased in Marrakesh, featured garments inspired by African influences, prompting some consumers to wonder if the brand was appropriating traditions, patterns and materials to make a profit.
For what regards the Sauvage ad, the campaign was probably well-intentioned, but the connections made ended up being racist, so maybe the company should have looked elsewhere for inspirations, such as vintage illustrations.
Early adverts for the Eau Sauvage line by René Gruau from the 1966 and 1978 featured illustrations of a man coming out of the shower or a man in his armchair holding a bottle of fragrance rather than a whisky glass.
Another Gruau illustration for a 1949 Miss Dior's fragrance advert showed the hand of a woman on a leopard paw, it was suggestive, wild and sensual, and may have provided some inspirations linked to the "wild" or "savage" themes without being offensive.
The Sauvage fragrance actually often had links with illustrators rather than Hollywood actors: in 2001 Dior turned to Hugo Pratt's Largo Winch and Corto Maltese to advertise the Eau Savage fragrance, with the slogan "Méfiez-vous de l'eau qui dort" (Beware of still waters), so next time the maison should turn to a graphic artist.
In the last year or so we have seen multiple cultural offenses from the fashion industry: consider Dolce & Gabbana's ad campaign for the Chinese market that caused an uproar last November, or Kim Kardashian who decided to change the name of her shapewear, that was initially going to be called "Kimono", after people posted their outraged comments on social media complaining of cultural appropriation, so who will give the fashion industry a real lesson in diversity, equality and inclusivity? Well, it looks that, rather than diversity councils and forums, the lesson may come from young designers such as Thebe Magugu.
One of the leading voices in South African fashion, Magugu has won today Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy's LVMH Prize.
The Kimberley-born designer deeply loves his personal history and continent and has been combining motifs and references, prints and cues from his heritage in his modern designs, tackling through his fashion collections (that he often introduces on his site with an essay), social issues such as the conditions of the female force and the expectations placed on women in South Africa.
In February this year his International Fashion Showcase installation at Somerset House in London during the local fashion week won him an award: in the installation his garments were displayed next to a painting-like portrait of three women in his designs sitting in front of a scroll of the Constitution of South Africa. The installation was a way to point at the misogyny contained in the constitution (Magugu also designed a jacket with an extract of the constitution sewed onto its back).
As the winner of the LVMH prize, Magugu will receive €300,000 and enjoy a one-year mentorship programme provided by a dedicated LVMH team. Hopefully, he will also manage to teach the industry back something, like learning from your own and from other people's history and culture, and using what you learn to enlighten others rather than to just make a profit out of it.
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