TRIBAL SPIRIT: HOMAGE OR CULTURAL APPROPRIATION

The latest campaign for Spanish brand MANGO has tongues wagging. Fashions it girl Kendall Jenner has been cast as the poster girl, not a bad choice considering her millions of followers, her symmetrical and classical features and her vague personality let's face it the girl can be a chameleon because we literally know nothing about her personality. Yet it's not the fact that she's modeling for mango that has rubbed people the wrong way people, it's because the brands latest campaign "tribal spirit" features Americas top model.

Tribal spirit as expected centers around ethnic influences: fringing, tribal prints, safari styled jackets. African, perhaps even Native American attributes, so of course it's not wrong to feel that this would be better suited to a model of colour who best represents the origin and the inspiration for the campaign. What about Lineisy Montero, who modeled the most runaways in 2015, Jourdann Dunn? I would have said Joan Smalls too..but she does not consider herself black(side-eye). The list goes on.

Following a whitewash from this years Oscar's, where no people of colour have been nominated for any accolades, this may feel like another artistic slap in the face. 

People may wonder why it even matters. Fashion is fashion right, they are just clothes, It matters because the media influences the world, fashion influences people's perception of beauty, what's accepted? What looks good, more importantly WHO looks good. Also in the issue of appropriation the look is not aspirational unless the west put their stamp and approve on it and market it as their own, without giving credit to the rightful owner. 

Surely this would have been a great opportunity for MANGO to show case it's diversity to its many consumers around the globe, to push the envelope just a little more so that all its consumers feel included and represented.

Hopefully the backlash and reception this campaign has received will make other big brands think carefully about future campaigns and igniting and continuing to show diversity in the fashion industry.