Jennifer Lawrence has been one of the faces of Dior since 2012. The Dior gig is a lucrative one for Jennifer in particular, as she stars in most of the international print campaigns, not just for the Dior clothes, but Dior Beauty and the latest Dior fragrance, Joy. Dior also dresses Jennifer for most of her red carpets, to mixed results. I would argue that J-Law is probably the woman with the biggest attachment, in the public consciousness, to Dior. More than Charlize Theron, even. My point is that I understand why Dior wanted Jennifer Lawrence to be the face of their latest collection – they’re paying her all of that money, and their collaboration has been “successful” in many different ways.
But of course there’s a problem – Dior’s latest collection is a “celebration of Mexican culture” and the imagery is based on escaramuzas, or Mexican horsewomen. And yes, Dior paid J-Law to wander around in clothes based on traditional Mexican looks. Jennifer is non-Mexican as they come. Dior also paid her to say, on camera, “One of the main inspirations for this collection is the traditional women riders of Mexico, so I am really excited that this collection is looking at and celebrating these women’s heritage through such a modern lens.” Modern lens = white people appropriating Mexican heritage. People had a lot of feelings – you can see some of the comments here. Dior actually pulled the video where Jennifer was talking about the “modern lens,” but @Dopequeenpheebs grabbed it (below).
I don’t know what to say – I don’t think Dior meant to offend, but that’s no excuse. This is just another example of too many white people in the same room and not enough people of color being invited into those rooms. The one good thing I’ll say is that at least they didn’t do brownface on Jennifer.
Videos, Instagrams, print advertising courtesy of Dior.
Eek, this was a huge misstep on Dior and Lawrence’s part. Modernize? Yikes.
Every outfit is derivative of WestWorld costuming. The horse at the end seals the deal.
Terrible.
I hate it when the gabachos use “modern” as a way to appropriate. You want to see another example that will make your blood pressure rise? This is an older issue but it offers a perfect example of when they do this maneuver:
https://wearemitu.com/things-that-matter/san-diegos-barrio-logan-community-is-fighting-against-a-modern-fruteria-and-the-gentrification-it-embodies/
I had a few fights with acquaintances over this one that led to my unfriending them on Facebook. As a result, I got pegged as the mean one. Do I care? Nope.
I hate when they use “modernize” to steal culture. I hate it.
Thank you for showing me this link. I work for a german newspaper and I adore the sharpness of the critics mentioned in this article.
White girl shreaking: “bringing healthy food to the barrio!!!” Saints. Preserve. Us.
Thanks for that article. I love that quote about how “we can’t limit our criticism to individual Beckys.” Individual Beckys lolololol so great. I’m using that from now on.
Wake up people!!!
They forgot to say they want the clothes to look Mexican, but not the people wearing It.
Or to shoot it in a place that looks like a Mexican “landscape” without going to Mexico
Jennifer Lawrence is an uneducated twit. She has been offensive to people of other cultures before. I cant stand her. Dior should know better.
How about an unknown Mexican woman filmed in, um, Mexico? This isn’t rocket science, Dior!
Mexican here. It is honestly not as offensive as the many white people who wear ponchos, sombreros and fake mustaches on Halloween. BUUUT, I constantly am astonished to learn that they.havent.learned.anything. Fashion houses, famous people, designers, marketing departments, PR departments.. not a single person thought “woah hold on, this could be potentially offensive?” And my take away is that all of those people are white, so here we are. Ya llévame Diosito.
Quite how some people haven’t realised it’s offensive to dress as another race or culture yet for halloween or fancy dress is beyond me. I think that things get called out as cultural appropriation way too much but this ad campaign is a clear example. Jennifer is not doing this out of hommage because of her love for Mexican culture and she hasn’t created anything here herself. How hard can it be to find a Mexican model…
Then again their target audience is probably rich white women so perhaps they did know what they were doing all along.
@ostone- Totally agree with you. As a Mexican women I loathe when any other ethnicities wear ponchos and sombreros as a costume or on Cinco de Mayo (which no one in Mexico even celebrates!!).
Edit because I misread the Halloween part.
But yes, they could have chosen a mexican actress/model. A lot of them are extremely famous and internationally recognised.
They did. The campaign features Mexican models, they just used JLaw (their brand ambassador) to introduce it.
While we’re angry about all that, how about straight men playing gay men in movies? I’m really offended by that. Only gay people should play gay people as actors, only straight people should play straight people, and only Southerners should play Southern characters, only blonde women should play blonde women, etc. Let’s just draw the line now and say enough of all this “acting” stuff with all the “pretending”. I mean, COME ON. Those fake southern accents are AWFUL.
Mexican here too, and this pisses me off. There are so many beautiful, strong, powerful Mexican women they could have chosen from. Another whitewashing…
I’m also Mexican and it bothers me to see J Law as the star of this campaign. Ugh, they should have used a Mexican model and shot in actual Mexico. When will these people learn?!
Question for the Mexican commenters here. If they had used a Mexican model/actress would it be okay to wear the clothes? I love the looks presented (not that i could afford any of it) but if wearing those clothes would deemed offensive i would want to know so i could avoid it.
Really, no one is saying that that a non Mexican can’t wear it. What they are saying is if you are claiming to be celebrating Mexican culture then maybe use a Mexican, which is not my issue with it.
Yes, what Chingona said. I live in Texas, so seeing a variety of people wearing Mexican-inspired clothing is common, but they took it too far by discussing celebrating a certain culture, when that culture means nothing to the actress. The “modern lense” comment was simply awful.
@Chingona – love the name! ¡Si somos chingonas! 😉
@chingona thank you very much, i am a sucker for a full skirt.
I am not sure that a lot of people wouldn’t also object to regular people wearing the clothes, aside from the issue of who was chosen to lead the campaign.
Mexican here. I do not mind as long as it is not offensive or demeaning. Many cartoons or movies depict stereotypes that are many times offensive. I love seeing the tourists and the expats wearing any Mexican attire, that means they are purchasing handcrafts and appreciating the culture. It would be the same as if I could not buy a beautiful huipil in a southern state, when They are making them for sale.
Where do you draw the line? Can a foreigner participate in a mexican folkloric dancee group? Can you organize such a group outside the us and can nonmexicans participate? Can I dress as a settler from the US as a costume?
As long as it is not iffensive, I don’t care. Now, the clothes line, I wish they’d make a donation to a Mexican charity. There was a FB uproar (kinda) when some french designer apparently created an embroidered blose almost identical to one from a particular region in the state of Oaxaca. Some facebook people were iffended, but many donot research hoaxes nor even buy typical clothing, I see it a bit hypocritical, otherwise I hope they did something to remark that it is Mexican inspired ( which I don’t see that much in the first pics, looks a bit more Spanish) disclaimer: mi niece grew up participating in escaramuzas, my dad gave her her horse. Charreria is a beautiful sport
Yep, it infuriates me to no end to see people dress as Arabs on Halloween.
It infuriates me to no end to see people dress up as leprechauns on St. Patrick’s Day.
@Bears Really? You’re comparing people dressing as Arabs to people dressing as leprechauns? Let me give you a hint – Arabs are real people, leprechauns are not. Please move along with your disgusting nonsense.
Bears? Really? That would be like us saying we are mad because she dressed up as La Llorona, La Chusa, or La Chupa Cabra (all mythical in Mexican culture).
Bears likely saw my comment about my being Palestinian and she is implying that Palestinians are a mythical people. Unfortunately, this isn’t a first from her kind. I’ve heard this racist behavior before and you can’t wipe out our history with your nonsense.
Yes, dressing up as a group of people is ridiculous and rude, at any time, but it kind of annoys me that Halloween has now devolved into a general fancy dress party when it’s meant involve dressing up as something scary, in keeping with the original Celtic holiday.
Went to a small Halloween party and an 80yo European white woman was in black face as Serena Williams. Over a dozen ppl there – I was the only one in shock.
As a Canadian, it really pisses me off to see people wear toques and down filled jackets. Mukluks too. Especially those white Hollywood people. Actually what is more offensive than all this outrage over someone wearing a poncho is Celine Dions new children’s clothing line. It’s downright sick.
Right! Jennifer being the face I understand cause she’s one of their biggest, but FFS shoot in Mexico and with those actual Mexican Horsewomen you are ‘influenced’ *cough* stealing from. I’d love to see them in the ads.
here is a question about cultural appropriation… is it cultural appropriation when a black model wears a beret hat or some other clothing that was created by european culture?
Sadly, it’s clear you either don’t understand what culture appropriation is or you’re being intentionally obtuse. There’s a huge difference between wearing a beret, an item that is not specific to any ethnic group, culture, or tribe nor is it traditional dress, etc and having a white woman basically wear traditional dress that is specific to a particular ethnic group / tribe / culture. One is playing dress up in identifiable items that have significance for a specific group of people – that doesn’t happen when you wear a beret, or socks, or pantyhose, or a corset, jeans, sweatpants, blazers, visors, ray bans, etc. These items are designed for mass consumption – and do not have cultural significance to a group of people.
*Of course I side eye the heck out of non Scots wearing Kilts. Because unlike berets, there is cultural significance with that item of dress.
by definition, yes.but majority of folks of color, including me are culturally appropriating-english language for instance, western clothes etc. I’m going to be pilloried here, but people and companies should stay away from depicting something in a negative or derogatory way-example showing a religious icon on foot wear..and if you borrow soething from a culture, pay homage or recognize it. don’t mock it like dog yoga and beer yoga.
In this particular case, it would have been so cool and creative to see some of the mexican women model. but, why do something innovative, too much work.
look, I’m very skeptical when it comes to cultural appropriation as a phenomenon. one thing is to wear some people’s traditional clothes and ridicule them, but to be a fan of some kind of clothes and love it and wear clothes inspired by that, does, in my opinion, no harm. I am a big fan of mexican culture, I’ve always been interested in the language, the music, the films, etc. and I’ve always loved their traditional clothes. if I were a fashion designer I’d probably want to incorporate those influences in my collections. and I don’t see why that’d be wrong for me to do. I wouldn’t be claiming those influences were european. I’d be glad to proclaim my love of mexican culture. it would be silly to put jen lawrence in the real traditional mexican clothes or to put a turban on a white model, but to take something as an inspiration or to wear it sometimes because you love it, is okay. ex. if you go on a trip to india and buy a sari and wear it in italy, you’ll look stupid, but if you buy a scarf with some indian motives, that could be really lovely. all that’s necessary is some common sense.
There is a great tumblr about cultural appropriation… If you search for “cultural appropriation” on Tumblr, you’re sure to find it. It’s a wonderful way to distinguish between what is real (and harmful) cultural appropriation and when people are just looking for clicks, notes, or reasons to be faux-outraged/feel self-important.
I’m happy JLaw is getting dragged for something. She always does and says inappropriate things so finally. lol
Oof. Tone deaf.
I mean….does Dior have any Latinx celebrity brand ambassadors? I’m sure they’ve done suits for Diego Luna or someone for a premiere or awards show or whatever; but I mean actual ambassadors in current campaigns?
I don’t know for sure, but Salma Hayek is frequently wearing Dior.
Are they f—ing kidding? And that first dress is a joke.
Sigh. We will never learn.
Frankly, I don’t care if Dior MEANT to offend or not – this is utterly tone deaf and should be called out as such. Enough of rich white men capitalising on brown cultures and replacing us with white and women as the ‘face’ of their ‘interpretation’. Chanel did the same thing with South Asian ‘inspired’ clothes not long ago – and don’t even get me started on d&g…
In today’s culture, with it daily in the news,
they should know better.
As far as the images go… Mario Testino’s photo series of Daria Werbowy as Maria Felix is still stuck in my brain, and it’s far superior. And that was what 10 years old now?
Cast Jennifer over a Hispanic model for Mexican-themed ad and get sub par results, bravo Dior. Ugh. They can’t even argue she made the ads more interesting.
I love María Félix and had never seen that Testino “tribute.” It’s so cringeworthy!
so now drawing inspiration from anything is considered bad.
I wondered that myself. With the appropriate model, I think some of the clothes are quite beautiful. Aesthetically, I do not think Lawrence is the right woman to model them. Even aside from the issue of cultural appropriation, they just don’t look right on a blonde white woman.
I was wondering about it too. When does inspiration become cultural appropriation? Should Americans be offended when French or Chinese wear cowboy boots?
Moreover, someone mentioned Halloween – but the whole idea of mascarade is to dress like someone or something else.
I cant believe that in 2018 this still has ro be explained to people but here we go: Using cowboy boots as a comparison is massive false equivalency. Cowboy boots hold no significant meaning in American culture. They are boots. That’s it. Unlike the clothing of say Native Americans, Indians and Chinese which often holds religious significance. As for Halloween: a person’s cultural identity isnt a costume!
Varnished
Cowboy boots do have strong cultural meaning (rugged independence, connection to the land, frontier fortitude etc ) but there is absolutely no ethnocultural significance to them which makes it okay for anyone to wear them. No one was ever harrassed, shamed, abused, victimized or disenfranchised for wearing frigging cowboy boots. I completely thumbs up your response but just wanted to make that distinction before one of the willfully ignorant commenters attempted to single out that point and pick it apart.
Rhys
Would you wear a yarmulke if you weren’t Jewish? No? Okay then, a little lightbulb just switched on above your head.
@ValiantlyVarnished – wrong assumption. Did you think that traditional garments they came into an existence in a vacuum? No, they were borrowed from cultures predating theirs.
Seriously?
This has been explained on this site alone, like, a thousand times. If you really want to understand just read the comments from the people whose culture is being appropriated by this ad campaign. And if that doesn’t convince you – though how it wouldn’t is beyond me – then Google Cultural Appropriation.
Also, you don’t see a problem with using another culture’s traditional dress as a costume? Like you’d wear vampire fangs or a scary mask or a bloody bumblebee costume?
Do you consider blackface OK too?
Thousands of years of civilisation and culture reduced to a party costume or to sell high fashion (supposedly) clothing to wealthy white women? This is the world we live in, apparently.
Every day I feel as though I should apologize for white people. I swear, I’m ashamed to BE a white person most days.
Do I think traditional garments exist in a vacuum?? No. But apparently you do. Traditional garments DO date back hundreds of years dear. Which is why it’s DISRESPECTFUL for random white people to think it’s okay to appropriate said culture with no real understanding or respect for the meaning behind it.
In regards to the Halloween comments- I always feel flattered when people appriaciate and see the beauty in my Mexican culture. Especially after the movie Coco came out. Suddenly all these kids were singing Spanish songs and dressing up in Día de los muertos clothing and painting their faces as calaveras for Halloween. But where I find myself becoming irritated and offended is when people purposely dress up as a stereotypical Mexican. Mexican come in all shapes, colors and backgrounds. We don’t all walk around in Sombreros, ponchos or have our hair braided and wearing shawls. For those who do, then great.. but not all of us do.
Hez, unfortunately the problem seems to be that they don’t want to understand.
@Rulla, I don’t pretend to understand everything. As a white woman of British background born and raised in Canada I can’t understand everything. But this seems so very, very basic to me. You’re right. Clearly some people don’t want to understand.
@Bren, I think that’s an important distinction actually.
These are not religious or culturally restricted outfits. They aren’t even direct interpretations of outfits. They are inspired by a style of dress that was common and originated amongst a blend of cultures. They are using Latina models, but also featuring one of their three brand ambassadors. The freak outs are unjustified. I’m a fashion-obsessed person who owns several pieces by Mexican designers including Tanya Moss and Carla Fernandez, designers who often use both their own cultural heritage and other ethnic influences in their designs. The brash criticisms *in this situation* are over the top.
A blonde white woman can look gorgeous in these clothes. She just shouldnt be the face selling them. That is the line Dior crossed.
Apparently. This was meant to be a beautiful tribute.
I have some honest questions. What is Ms. Chiuri’s background? And does it make a difference when we’re discussing appropriation versus appreciation that she directly references her inspiration for this ad and collection? This really doesn’t seem the same as the Kim Kardashian boxer braids nightmare.
She’s Italian. It’s not quite the same as the Kardashians because they’ve literally built their careers around appropriation, but this is a misstep. Highlighting different cultures is fine but until we have parity in representation of people, removing the people from the cultural context will always be appropriation.
As a mexican, what I find offensive, is that not even in Mexico are Mexicans depicted in adds or tv. Just look at all the telenovelas out there. Main character? White, even blonde. “Sirvienta” or aides are always depicted as native or poc. So no point in criticizing Dior or JLaw. Ignorant people are going to be ignorant. But Mexicans do it knowingly every day in one of the most racist and classist societies i’ve ever seen.
European colonialism has left just as detrimental a mark on South America as it has on the North, I agree. I don’t think a lot of people realize how complex and charged racial politics are in Latin America because so much attention is given to the United States’ shit show of historical racial segregation.
So true. I have a friend who has family in Brazil and she talks about how racist and classist the rich white people there are. Their most popular celebs are from European decent.
Oh my goodness, hallelujah, finally! I so rarely do hear my fellow Latinx admit this. Our race issues are just as nuanced as North American race issues. People think Latinx are a monolith… No no no, we are so complex and for Latinx growing up in the States there is a balancing act of dealing with racism from (or conversing about race) within the Latinx community as well as American society at large.
I am a light skinned afrolatina (my mom is Dominican and my dad is Puerto Rican). I can really only speak to my experience with my Dominican family – racism, internalized racism and colorism is RAMPANT in DR. It’s disgusting. In DR you are looked down on if you have dark skin, or if you wear your hair curly, or if your features are more “African.” I work in journalism focusing on Latin America and I see similar attitudes in every other Latin country as well.
Also to touch on what people say about the novelas and overall Latino media, lead actors are always white, same with anchors on the larger networks (Telemundo, Univision). Latino networks project themselves as being strictly white or white passing instead of reflecting the many races and ethnicities that comprise Latin America (black, indigenous, Asian, Middle Eastern, etc.).
that’s right. that’s the problem. far more significant one than somebody being inspired by something and then choosing jen ’cause she’s dior’s sweetheart.
I’ve been watching mexican telenovelas since I was a little girl and I was always wondering why white people were always main characters and servants were native.
Yup. Same in Argentina, to a lesser degree. There is more diversity on screen but not as much as I would like. At least our telenovelas are now talking about abortion, same sex marriage and mental health, while casting actors of every colour.
there is not such a thing as diversity in argentinian television
i honestly ask this, is it cltural apropiation to advertise this clothes with a white model but not the designs itself ?
Yes, there is. Unless all you see on TV in Argentina is white people. Which you can’t, seeing as there are a lot of POC in it. Unless of course you consider POC to be WHITE. As many argentines do.
Yup. I’m Chilean Canadian and colourism is huge in Chile. Everyone wants to know what your ancestry is. The whiter it is, the more recognition you have. It was tremendously sad to see such internalized racism. I’m fair skin and it drove people crazy when I would just respond that I’m Chilean and refused to discuss my ancestry. (We have all skin tones in my family and it really was the luck of the draw how dark or fair we are.)
Ana, excellent point! I’m Mexican American but watched novelas with my abuela growing up. Back then characters especially the lead females were all fair skinned and looked more “white” than the maids/servants and other supporting characters on the show. I’m very tan/morenita and always questioned why there weren’t more lead “Mexican” looking people on Mexican television. I can’t stand Jennifer “I drink beer and fart because I’m so relatable” Lawrence so not surprised she agreed to this ad.
I wonder if the outrage will make any difference to the people that can afford to buy the clothes. Looking at the prices on the Dior website for example, the black tulle skirt in this collection is $4,700.00. I could be all like “Boycott Dior!” but I would never able to buy anything so expensive as they sell in the first place.
They’re playing to their clientele of rich white women. They evidently think a design will be more palatable to this group if they show a rich white woman modeling it.
To say nothing of the way actual people from Latin America are being treated in America today—I’m sorry but in addition to the “rinse and repeat” of high fashion cultural appropriation (because they have no imaginations and hire the same white people over and over again and then have to steal other peoples’ cultures for “something new” to sell out of touch elites) is only aggravated by actual people from the southern regions who come to America as migrants and refugees being treated like criminals and their children being incarcerated/abused at border camps…GROSS.
Those of you who still don’t understand why appropriation is messed up and want to play dress up, ask yourselves how the real people from that culture are treated in everyday hegemonic culture. Want to wear Native dress but don’t understand the fight against uranium and oil development on sacred lands and the high levels of sexual violence against Native Women? Want to wear an Central American textile but don’t do anything to keep children from being arrested and incarcerated at the border? ENOUGH.
Bravo! Bravo! This!
It’s a shame because it’s a gorgeous collection. They could have easily fixed this by getting a Mexican – or shit, most people would just take Latino at this point – model to do it.
Dior could have easily partnered with Mexican visual artists, fiber artists and designers to create some really beautiful pieces, but instead they did this…ugh.
I see this as white European colonizer Spanish culture foisted on the indigenous people of Mexico. So whatever.
As a Mexican what I find offensive is that Americans will use us as inspiration, love our food and drinks, vacation in our country, have us raise their kids,etc. but still see us as subhuman and racist towards us. So while some Mexicans may not find it offensive, I do. Don’t use my culture as an inspiration and then not give a crap about our children being ripped from their families being in cages.
I grew up in the Rio Grande Valley and Mexicans are the bomb. As a white girl, I was an extreme minority back then and my best friends, my boyfriends, my family’s friends, our lifestyle, everything was submersed in the culture. I was constantly mom-corrected because I had the accent lol. I’m still in Texas, but I too get angry when the culture is watered down or taken and ‘owned’ by anyone and anything not Mexican. Tex-Mex I get because it was a natural progression over decades and centuries, maybe even southern Cali., but the only thing I can see as a positive, as the other side of the coin, is that America is multi-culture rich. We are so fortunate for this massive melting pot, there is absolutely no reason on the planet for having JL represent. Anything that leans into a specific culture needs appropriate personification. This isn’t rocket science.
Please don’t assume all Americans are awful, ignorant, cruel people like that @chingona
That’s a pretty big fucking ask, Beth. We put children in cages, they were/are harmed forever. Parents committed suicide, children were molested, stolen from their family with no hope of seeing them again. No one has been charged or punished for this. We, as a country, do not get the benefit of the doubt, we have to prove our goodness.
@eto
Thank you. I don’t assume every person is racist but when there isn’t outrage and protest across the whole country for the government to stop caging children and causing damage to so many of my people then I can’t say this country isn’t racist.
Yeah, my husband’s evangelical family loves to vacation in Mexico but are major trump supporters. And if that’s not enough, They still voted for trump despite my being a Palestinian refugee and Muslim. They really love to say how much they love our son though.
Oh my gosh, Rulla, your comment just hit me in the heart. Sending you peace and love.
Thank you, Nona. And same to you :).
Amen. We have so much to learn about how to be decent humans.
Well… she doesn’t quite look like an escaramuza, except for the wide midi skirt, and Isabel Allende is chilean-american so, you do you, Dior, I can’t afford your clothes anyway.
(Btw, I am Mexican)
Tbf Isabel Allende’s novel takes place in Chile ,including the years after a coup backed by the US (which is actually what happened in Chile in 1973) but i know for you gringos every latin american country is Mexico.
I KNOW!!! How did a discussion on cultural appropriation suddenly totally forget to include the Chilean culture, BOTH Mexico and Chile are mentioned in the Dior inspiration above. Sadly, you all criticize Dior’s ignorance by showing your own 🙁
Chilean reds are SUPERB!
This exactly!! Where over 40,000 Chileans were killed, tortured or imprisoned, and all paid for by the American government.
Exactly! I couldn’t believe no one mentioned it sooner or in the article itself! Chilean and Mexican culture can not be just jumbled together like one monolith culture. Crazy
Touche!
And every Texan owns a cowboy hat and boots and sees tumbleweeds on the way to work lol. I’ve never had the pleasures.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Stereotypes showcases an alphabetized list of subcategories for anyone interested in a plethora of ‘gotchas.’ Stereotypes are a bit like cliches…over-used, eye-rollers, boring and predictable lol.
Of course we don’t know that! Can’t have Americans thinking we have to share 9/11 as a meaningful historical date with anybody else.
Signed,
A Gringo Totally Guilty of Not Realizing That
There is no up and coming Latina model they could’ve given the huge campaign to? Geez.
I wanna see models no more actresses in fashion.
Same. I’m so sick of actresses modeling. Stay in your lane.
Also, I can’t imagine having such tunnel vision as to not even want to find Mexican models? There are so many gorgeous Mexican women who are actual models. *sigh*
If you look on Dior website u will see all different types of minorities modeling these same outfits. Jen, Natalie portman, one of hadid models, robert patterson and rhianna are diors top ambassadors. Then there are the lower tier models. As was posted earlier dior clothes is super expensive and targeted for rich european white women. Michelle obama even wore white shirt and leather corset jennifer is wraring for cover of Elle magazine. Shes not mexican
Dior, the same brand that put johnny depp as native american and the one that made an advertising about love with the abuser johnny depp. To say they are tone deaf is an understanding.
Also dolce gabanna had their catwalk cancelled just today because the boycot against their racist advertising.
The photographs are beautiful. The clothes artful. Nothing here derogatory. There are real issues. This is not one of them.
Good thing we have you to set us minorities straight.
Gotta love when people attempt to police what POC should or shouldn’t be offended by or speak out about. Newsflash: you dont bet to decide that!
everybody can speak their mind. including jala. but also, the fact that somebody gets offended doesn’t mean they’re right.
Sure, everyone has a right to speak their opinion but expect to be corrected when your opinion is ignorant and uneducated.
Yes. Thank you.
Am sick of cultural appropriation. First, considering this looks like New Mexican style then it is American style. Second the nature if art and creativity is that it is derivative. Mexican culture is derived from Spanish culture. I just learned a major company is going to celebrate one of my culture’s holidays. Apparently the Millenials there celebrate everyone’s holidays because they like lots of employee parties. I JOKED it is cultural appropriation, which I regret because I’d like the term to go away.
I wonder…if New Mexican style might be closely associated with…Mexico???? This entire comment is so stupid.
Is Dior one of the brands that Salma Hayak’s husband owns? If so, I imagine this isn’t going to go over well chez Pinault.
Sorry, responded under wrong comment.
When does cultural appropriation become cultural appreciation? Is there even such a thing? All fashion is piggy backed off of some other cultural some shape or form. This doesn’t offend me. As a woman married to a foreigner, they constantly buy me attire only people in their country wear. I don’t wear it home but because of cultural appropriation, but because it’s not fashionable here. I doubt I could wear it anyway without someone complaining.
We sincerely apologize for making it even a little uncomfortable for you to wear clothes from another culture in the US because it’s not chic.
Signed,
Eyerollers of color everywhere
Dior is my favorite label for skincare, makeup, and clothes, but they are always ALWAYS screwing up their marketing. Their perfume commercials are stupid and dated and they have the most boring WHITEST spokes-models and then ish like this. UGH.
This is disappointing but not at all surprising. Everyone at Dior should have known better.
I’m starting to think these companies do this kind of sh*t on purpose for pr. After all the other sh*t companies have gotten in trouble for, you think Dior didn’t for one second think this might be inappropriate? WTH? Yes let’s celebrate Mexican heritage by paying a White woman millions of dollars to “dress up” as a Mexican. F*ck off.
Word.
Yep. It’s done on purpose: They get more coverage than they paid for, but at the same time they know this is still innocent enough it won’t harm them.
For every customer they lose with this they win two back: one that doesn’t care but is reached only because of the negative comments; and one who disagrees with cultural appropriation as a phenomenon and will support them just because.
And, since Dior’s been doing it for a long time, do they even have any customers to lose? People either cancelled them long ago or don’t care enough.
Win-win.
Hate to burst everyones B*&^h bubble but Selena Forrest was part of this photo shoot, a gorgeous African American model– um, but you won’t hear about that as it doesn’t fit the divisive narrative everyone’s obsessed with. Just like it’s constantly ok to culturally appropriate ‘long (straight)blonde wigs, blue eyes, lightening creams’ and everything else. 😉
You’re showing your ignorance. And just so you know, light skin, blond hair etc isn’t an exclusively “white” feature.
Straight blonde hair and blue eyes is a culture now? Oh wow fascinating.
I started getting gray hair in my twenties. I’m now full-on appropriating 80-year-olds everywhere! It’s a thing right?! Lol
Every time one of these threads pops up, I became uncomfortably more aware of just why Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro are in power in the Americas.
Actually hate to burst YOUR bubble but an African American model wasn’t appropriate for this shoot either. “POC” is not a catch all. They could and should have hired a Latina – specifically Mexican model. Signed, an intersectional African American woman.
Exactly. I think the only “appropriate” models would have been Latina models, more specifically Mexican ones. This ad was shot in California. Was the Mexican border not open that day?
You literally cannot throw a dart in California without hitting, like, five people with some sort of Latino descent at this point, so it’s especially egregious in that regard. Mexican-Americans are not in short supply.
There are many Mexicans of African descent. Fact.
Not all Mexicans look the same, some areblond, others dark, some are a mixture, others are more “pure” native, european, jewish, Lebanese, some have asian or african descent. I am not that offended by these pics of fashion, i find some of the comments a bit too much. Escaramuzas are mostly practiced by richer people anyway. Charreria with all the parafernalia is not for people with no much money, even tho it originated as cowboys ‘ art and competition.
I think itbisnthe same as when some people cry that foreigners can’t wear a kimono, but then you see that in the actual country, people don’t care abou your outfi, onnthe contrary.
I’m so damn sick of this appropriation shit.we are creatures of fantasy, story telling, make believe, fiction. This is how we build emprhy, continue story lines and try things that other introduce. Imitation is the best form of a compliment but stay in your precise lane?! We as a collective have important things to focus o like kids separated from families. Lack of healthcare. A shitbrain human for president. Stop picking shit apart. If Kim wants cornrows so be it. If a black girls wants to straighten her hair and dye it blond please do. Let’s come together people!
Thank you!! I’m glad you can see both sides.. fashion freedom ladies!!
As a foreigner it sounds to me that getting offended has become American national past time. Because of people focusing on non-issues, like Dior borrowing inspiration from someone else’s home culture, the real problems stay underrepresented and underreported.
You all chose to click on the article, read it, look at the comment section, and comment, knowing what the conversation was about. All Those Real Issues going on in the world, and a discussion about representation and cultural appropriation is what you took time to have a problem with today? Children are being separated from their families and we somehow ended up with a racist, shitbrain president despite all this talk of unity.
people are offended by everything these days.
@Rhys, you seem to spend a lot of time gaslighting people interested in calling out white supremacy and colonialism on this site. We see you, and your attempts at gaslighting. Do better.
I guess if your country has never been colonized by Europeans And your culture raped then you’ll never get it. The difference between you and some of the other commentors here is that they are putting themelsves in our shoes and trying to understand what cultural appropriation means to us. But yeah, continue living in your bubble.
Exactly !
I think she has a point. This is not some religious headband. Basically these clothes are inspired by Spanish and Portuguese colonists.
I think the designs for this collection are actually beautiful and a modern interpretation of the escaramuza style. Giant misstep with using Jennifer for the campaign, however. Clearly still too many homogenous brains in the creative room calling the shots. Fail. Honoring a culture means uplifting it, not a total reimagining under a “white lens.” If we dont have that many mexican women of the same platform level as Lawrence to use as an alternative, we’ve just pinpointed a whole other issue. We should call these things out in order to demand “better” approaches to this problem in the future.
Reimagining style and art and culture is exactly what designers and artists have done for millenia.
I agree with JALA. She looks stunning. The pics are beautiful. Nothing wrong about appreciating the beauty of a different culture.
Jesus Christ, I thought the commenters here would be smarter than this but here we are. This. Is. Not. Cultural. Appropriation. Dior is not claiming to have invented the escaramuzas or ignoring their role in the inspiration. In fact they make it very clear who inspired the collection and even use the campaign to educate people. I’m willing to bet that most people had no idea escaramuzas existed. Dior even used ACTUAL escaramuzas im their May fashion show. Second, the outfits escaramuzas wear do not have any significant religious or social meaning other than being able to ride horses well, something people all over the world have been doing for thousands of years. This particular group of horsewomen have actually taken their style of dress from European settlers in Mexico. Lastly, there ARE models of Hispanic descent used in the campaign. Dior just used the person they pay a lot of money for to introduce the collection to a larger audience. I can’t stand Jennifer Lawerence but I know who she is so my eye is going to train on her based on familiarity. That’s kind of the whole point of having a brand ambassador.
Thank you so much for the first educated and balanced comment on this thread.
Shh, let’s not let sanity and historical facts get in the way of outrage culture.
Hats, striped dresses and silly costuming are Mexican?
Wow this getting rediculous. Can’t wear anything cultural, can’t do this, can’t to that. Honestly, not everyone wearing a halloween costume or a designer interpretation of a cultural outfit is trying to offend. I am an immigrant myself and I would not care if someone did an interpretation of any cultural outfit from my country. Take it a bit more lightly people, jeez. (jeez is just a word expressing annoyance and is not a play on the work Jesus (eyeroll), soon we will be mutes and wearing simple sacks as not to offend the precious minds of people who will complain about anything)
Really with some of these comments.
1) If you don’t as a non Mexican think it is insulting you don’t get to tell me how I should or shouldn’t feel about something.
2) No one is saying that non Mexican people can’t wear or be infuenced by my culture, but don’t sit there and celebrate my culture when it is convenient for you and then not give a crap about my people actually dieing and suffering right now.
3)Exuse me if I as a Mexican women am mad and done with people and companies using our culture,music, food,people for their benefit but then not giving a crap about our children being ripped from thier family, voting and endorsing a President who spews racism, having women who are have seeked asylum in this country legally being forced to wear ankle monitoring bracelets, being the number one consumer of illegal drugs bought from the cartels that are ruining my country then putting the blame on innocent people who just want a better life.
I could go on and on but if you don’t get why this isn’t just about fashion as some of you think then maybe you need to look within because maybe you are just racist yourself.
Your anger is misdirected. It is just about fashion and you’re using it to lash out. Blame the people who are responsible. The greasy politicians and the cartel.
Oh believe me I do blame the polticians and cartels, but you can’t say oh it’s just fashion and not see that you can’t use what you want from a culture and then not care about the atrocities that are being committed to them today at this very moment and don’t say you or most Americans care when nothing is being done to stop it.
Her anger is most certainly directed at the right people. Politicians as well as the people that elect them are to blame. As for the cartel, look into America’s role in that. But I doubt you will as that would require you to learn and do some reflection. It’s easier to tel
Us to get over it rather than understand your role in all of this. And believe me, you and the others who choose to be obtuse play a big role.
I’m not American. I’m not the cause of what’s happening there. Isnt it nice you have white people and colonization to blame. How convenient. This is about money plain and simple. It doesn’t know colour or culture. Only greed. The world is run by evil people. Don’t be one of them.
Yeah because blaming colonization for the many problems many of us are currently facing here and abroad is so very left field. Many countries are cultures are still devastated by the after affects of Europeans colonization. If you can’t acknowledge that and choose to respond sarcastically then there’s really not much to say to you.
@ Claire
If you are not a Mexican in America then you really can’t comment on what is or isn’t happening to the people here. Also I am not some downtrodden Mexican blaming white people for everything as you seem to think. I could afford every single thing being called fashion in this spread, except I have something you seem to be lacking which is a heart. I care about and actually help my people with multiple charities that I started and run in my native Mexico. So again look within yourself and see that you are spewing racism especially with that blaming white people crap.
No I don’t know you so I can only judge you by what you said which that I or Mexians need to stop blaming white people and colonization for the issues in Mexico. If you don’t see how racist that sounds than please realize it is. A lot of Mexico’s issues are most definitely caused and/or impacted by the United States. So maybe if you have a heart realize that you don’t get to tell someone that they can’t be offended when USA uses my native Mexico and then abuses its people. I have had to hold a sucidal family member whose children were taken from her and then those children were forced into child labor by the guards in the prison and she still has not gotten them back, so yeah I am mad but mostly heartbroken that these children are being treated like less than an animal.
@Claire
One last time, maybe I am not getting my point across as English is my third language, I am not necessarily mad that they used Jennifer or do I think that only Mexican people can celebrate Mexican culture. What I am mad about is how in America our culture, food, music, art, etc. is used but then the same people who love everything Mexican will turn around hate, disrespect, and see a Mexican as less then. I hope you aren’t racist but maybe put yourself in my shoes and realize that other people are allowed to have thier own opinions on things based on their life experiences. I guess we might just have to agree to disagree on this.
The fashion industry loves pulling stunts like this. They want the attention and the outrage because all publicity is fine with them. Never mind that they always make a mockery of whatever culture they’re appropriating in the process. These people are woefully out of touch with the real world and it shows. Unfortunately it seems they’re too insulated to make serious changes.
Wow! Talk about a policed society! With all the crap going on in the world and this is a big deal?
Claire, you need to educate yourself on the lasting impact of white colonization on the world. I don’t care if you’re not American. My own culture was colonized by the British and yeah, hundreds of years later they are still dealing with the impact of colonization, white supremacy and appropriation of our culture by white people. It’s not people of colors job to educate you on why you are wrong. Your comments are ridiculous.
Then go dig up the people who colonized you and take it up with them instead of trying to make others who weren’t even alive feel quilty for your self inflicted victimization.
Claire, I think we can all acknowledge that white people have caused a lot of pain in the world and colonization is big part of it. (mostly because of greed)
And I don’t mean that you or anybody else is personally responsible, but a little empathy, compassion and kindness is needed in regards to this.
If we accept and acknowledge it, we can learn from it and hopefully do better, denying a problem and sweeping it under the carpet will not solve any issue.
Most of us are very sensitive and worried these days, due to the Bigoted Orange Nazi trying to rule the United States like a dictator.
Maybe you should learn a bit about colonization, so you have a better understanding of this issue.
In regards to Lawrence, I really don’t understand why they couldn’t pick someone with Mexican heritage, since it would be pretty easy to do and shoot the ad in Mexico.
Although this case just highlights the lack of diversity and in a country like United States which has a huge population of people coming from every part of the world is just ridiculous.
Seems really ignorant all around.
Yeah, no. As an immigrant, I can see very clearly why American Left is so weak right: they spend time screaming at each other over who is more culturally insensitive instead of talking and working on solving the real and pressing issues. Dior put a sombrero on a white girl? Gasp!
If borrowing from another culture is such a sin to some of you, start with taking mayo out of sushi rolls first. And quit calling Stolichnaya “Stoli” while you are at it because it’s offensive to call that a drink named after a capital of another country.
Yeah, that must be it. Thanks for taking time to break it down for us.
This was already an issue back in the Spring when this collection was rolled out. Wasn’t it Paris Jackson that left the show because they had escaramuzas in the show & she felt that the horses were being abused even though she didn’t understand what she was watching? This site posted an article on it. So, the fact that Dior still went ahead with this and used Lawrence (is this really her issue though?) instead of Latina models makes them look ridiculous.
It’s a “white young ritch lady comes to Mexico for a holiday because she read about Mexico in a fancy fashion magazine and wants to appear very open and progessive” campaign.
Also…. Isabella Allende is Chilean and her novel House of Spirits takes place in Chile. Not all Latin/ Central American cultures can be jumbled together….
I’m sorry, but this is beyond ridiculous. Does no one know what cultural appropriation is anymore?
These comments are disappointing…
It’s funny. My make up is all Dior and I had no idea Jennifer was their model.
Looks like I found the outrage culture.
I seriously wonder if these marketing departments do these kinds of things delberately. Dolce & Gabbana seem to do it deliberately once in a while with China, to get more clicks. There’s so much noise and competition for eyeballs that if you court controversy and then follow up with an apology it could help you get more coverage.
I just want to know if they paid Sigur Ros for that music.
There’s no denying she looks absolutely stunning.
I actually don’t find this offensive as a Latina. Peaple are way too poc now days and are quick to join on this bandwagon . Heck, I even have a cleddagh jewlery set given to me, should I nevear wear it because I’m not Irish?
I apologize in advance to everyone who might find me ignorant or shallow or offensive and am writing this so you guys might help me evolve 🙂 i grew up in a country where people of color are to this day exotic and I say this in a very positive way. Last year I had my hair bleached and since it got very damaged I decided to make what we call braids. A friend of mine living in the USA called me up for cultural appropriation of cornrows. I tried to explain to her that this were the kind of braids my grandma would make me when I was a kid and they were a part of the century’s long tradition. She wouldn’t even listen. Then I got a present- a kimono from my friend from Japan. I want to wear it, over jeans and just you know play with styles but I worry it would be offensive and by no means would I want to do that. What do you think?
She IS the face of Dior don’t think they’d pay her all that money and then swap her but yes they needed to rethink the entire situation. You’d think as they pay a PR company loads of money someone would ha e out their hand up to say something.
The Cheeto is using The Caravan™ to stir up MAGA hatred, but okay, Dior. Come through with ‘Mexican’ fashions.
Fun fact! Escarazumas, charrería and all that stuff are ancient sports practiced by the descendets of the colonizers. Whom never/rarely mixed their european roots, even to the present day. So, it’s not that weird if some of them looks like Lawrence.
Dior has done it again! 🙁 you should check out the Romanian campaign from a couple of years ago, called ,,Bihor, not Dior”. Basically, Dior completely stole an entire design of a Traditional Romanian vest, put it up for sale for 30k usd or so, without giving any credit to the Romanian people that make these things manually since centuries.. and it’s not the only brand and not the first one. Why do they keep doing this?
The only cultural appropriation that really offends me is when men dress up as women, but I get why Jennifer is offensive to people for this campaign. For one thing, she looks very awkward, like they only had a day to shoot the whole thing so they had to go with the photos they had of her shlepping around. When she played an older female in that movie about the mop I was also offended because she looked 22 years old and was playing a 60 year old. That’s age appropriation, which is actually quite offensive.
As far as cultural appropriation in general…. well, we used to be a melting pot culture that was supposed to blend together, but I guess we aren’t anymore because of Trump, so never mind.
I am the 180th comments on this post so I’m sure nobody will read it, but I am not Mexican and this does not offend me. I’m curious to hear from Mexicans who may have been offended by this campaign. In my experience the people getting offended about cultural appropriation tend to be the white people. There is such a thing as overcorrection and it’s so irritating. That is all PS black queer and proud
No more offensive than when I go to a fusion restaurant owned by someone who isn’t from either of cultures being fused. As long as the food is great I eat. I’m not going to deny myself beauty or great food for my entire life based on an accident of my birth in a different culture. If that makes me racist in the eyes of some people, that’s their problem. I’m tired of living according to what other people will think of me.
I really think people are waaay too sensitive now a day. We are a melting pot in the United States after all. Our culture is a blend of all of the subcultures that make up the United States. I could list the things people from different cultures enjoy in the United States that aren’t a part if their cultural backgrounds and to say they cannot enjoy them is ridiculous. Lighten up folks. I’m going to let other people wear green and party on St. Patrick’s Day who aren’t white and people who are white party on Cinco de Mayo. If it blows their skirt up, I’m going to be fine with white people who wear Asian inspired clothes and Asian people who wear Halloween costumes based on European folklore and traditions.
Enjoy the world around you and hang the secular Puritans wagging their fingers in your face. We give them too much attention. If they want to go through life being miserable judgemental hypercritics of everyone around them who won’t follow their rigid belief system that’s their problem. Let them be miserable in their corner. I’m not going to join them or let them make me feel bad.
This is so irritating. Seriously. I wish we could just keep the cultures separate, to spare anyone embarrassment or offense. Y’know, feelings are the only thing that matter, right?
We should stay separate. Separate water fountains, separate schools, separate busses, separate public places. That’ll stop the eeeeeevil white devils (white people are the true face of satan and should be publicly executed for wearing clothes that hurt my feelings, am I right, guys?) from appropriating other cultures.
Keep races, classes and cultures separate. ‘Cause we’re the progressive ones, apparently!
And before you call this ‘ignorant’, zip it. My joke of a comment is made after I’ve read all your crybaby comments and determined that most of you are pathetic~
The same freedom of speech allowing you to act like spoilt, racist children allows me to act like a jerk here. Feel free to tell me the correct way to think. Maybe set up a camp to help me be reeducated from my evil racist ways, since not seeing a problem makes me an ignorant, racist white guy, right? The colour of my skin devalues my opinion on this topic, since that’s now how it works?
I can agree that cultural appropriation exists and is an issue that needs addressing. But this ain’t it, chief.
This ain’t it.