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"African" Fashion Described As A "Drumbeat"

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hippichx sez PEACE PLEASE
04/24/09

In reply to "African" Fashion Described As A "Drumbeat"
i'm going to be honest... i, too, stereotype animal print when i see it. i immediately think "punk rock". i apologize to the many this may offend, but i went through a SERIOUS punk phase in high school where i felt it was necessary to constantly wear vegan leopard and zebra prints.

another stereotype... i see hear somebody talk about african culture as "drumbeat" and i immediately think "idiot".

i'm flawed. what can i say?
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feministabroad
04/24/09

In reply to "African" Fashion Described As A "Drumbeat"
Oh yea, wearing clothing and shoes inspired by Africa is all cool and shit but possibly helping Darfur or other countries in need of SERIOUS help...oh totally NOT cool. Possibly looking at Africa as the complicated ugly/beautiful continent (yes, continent, not fucking country) it is, NOT cool. Having more models that are actually decsendents from Africa or are actually African, NOT cool. Let's exploit, exploit, exploit.

Rant over.
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hippichx sez PEACE PLEASE
04/24/09

@feministabroad: americans would rather send africa money through their diamond trade. don't mind the genocide...

sorry, may have gone too far.
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Easybreezy
04/24/09

In reply to "African" Fashion Described As A "Drumbeat"
Very well written piece. Can Wendi guest-star on Jezebel at some point?!
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Eric Northman is mine
04/24/09

In reply to "African" Fashion Described As A "Drumbeat"
The masked face with its feathers of hair glares from the instep. And the savage hybrid of a shoe mixes python straps and a sky-high heel with beads, wooden pearls, a cord and a tassel.

Sorry, I can't read any further or my head will explode.
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JerseyGrrrl
04/24/09

@Sookie Stackhouse: Who edited that and thought the use of the word "savage" was appropriate?? What's so sad is that the staff of the NYT represents some of the best journalists, editors, artists in the country. And this is what they give us.
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Eric Northman is mine
04/24/09

@JerseyGrrrl: It's ridiculous animal print/leather/beads=africa=savage. Try again, NYT
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Trulymadlyme
04/24/09

In reply to "African" Fashion Described As A "Drumbeat"
Of course Africa is one big homogeneous place. Sigh. Nigeria fashion differs from Ethiopian fashion, which differs from Libyan fashion (which is fucking snazzy).
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Evie Havok
04/24/09

In reply to "African" Fashion Described As A "Drumbeat"
So, I see that they used a lot of black models. Is this the only time it's permissible to use black models when they're shilling "African" clothing.

Also, this quote is so full of fail that I can't even, ugh, I hate these people.

"The colonial world has also been mined for inspiration."

Wow. I don't think our world is getting better.
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maneki neko
04/24/09

In reply to "African" Fashion Described As A "Drumbeat"
Okay, confession time. I like animal prints, a lot. And up to this point I've treated them like just another pattern with no particular inherent values. But is it really possible to deploy them in an inoffensive or apolitical way, or am I just deluding myself?
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Sister Toldja
04/24/09

@maneki neko: I dont think that wearing pink leopard print is rocking an "African" style. I wear animal prints too, but I don't see it as an extension of me being Afrocentric. It makes me think I may be mixed with New Jersey, actually.
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mharker
04/24/09

In reply to "African" Fashion Described As A "Drumbeat"
I understand and (agree with most of) Racialious' points, but I wonder...is there any way to respectfully have African influences in clothing if the designers themselves are not African? Same thing goes for Indian influences. Sub-Saharan African (which seems to be the focus when people say "Africa") does have a heritage and several of the clothes do resemble artwork from these countries. If anything, the Times is the main offender by using adjectives like "savage".
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msAnthrope
04/24/09

@mharker:

i think color palettes, for one, are an excellent way to respect the influences without resorting to animal prints. also fabrics themselves. many of the color palettes are very vibrant, in contrast to the earth-toned animal prints.
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Rosaxé
04/24/09

@mharker: I feel like if designers are inspired by African anything people will cry Colonialism!

Sucks about being PC -- you can never win.
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Jessi Ramsey
04/24/09

@Rosaxe: Yeah, sucks that people just can't do whatever they want and not have to actually critically think about about the cultures they're appropriating.
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jigglyball
04/24/09

In reply to "African" Fashion Described As A "Drumbeat"
This is from the New York Times? That's so embarrassing for them. Did they not, at the very least, read Heart of Darkness in 10th Grade Honors English?
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msAnthrope
04/24/09

In reply to "African" Fashion Described As A "Drumbeat"
my friend who was born in liberia is regularly asked by others what it was like to live in tents out in the jungle with elephants, zebras and tigers.

i blame national geographic. whenever they feature africa it's always about some remote tribal group instead of the many urban areas that are just as much africa as the old colonized versions of painted savages with spears.
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Wit is periodically disensouled
04/24/09

In reply to "African" Fashion Described As A "Drumbeat"
Thesaurus fail.

Well, brainfail in general, really.
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Ailatan
04/24/09

In reply to "African" Fashion Described As A "Drumbeat"
You guys, they have those creepy Mischa Barton shoes.
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EkaterinaBallerina
04/24/09

In reply to "African" Fashion Described As A "Drumbeat"
Wait, what? Africa isn't a country? That's the last time I get my geography from Sarah Palin.
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misspell
04/24/09

@EkaterinaBallerina: Yeah - also I can't find Montreal on this map of France I have...
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EkaterinaBallerina
04/24/09

In reply to "African" Fashion Described As A "Drumbeat"
I love that it's the 21st century and yet every time you throw some animal prints and wooden jewelry on a model, it's still called "African" or "Tribal". Even worse, "Tribal" seems to be always used in reference to Africa, when I'm pretty sure there are "tribes" on other continents.

And those Louis Vuitton shoes are unbelievably offensive. Not to mention pretty ugly.
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maneki neko
04/24/09

@EkaterinaBallerina: It drives me nuts that people still don't seem to realize that Africa is a BIG-ASS continent with so many different cultures. ARRGH.
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Sister Toldja
04/24/09

@EkaterinaBallerina: Those shoes are a hot offensive mess.
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JerseyGrrrl
04/24/09

@maneki neko: People are simply not being taught. In my high school education, we learned nothing about the entire continent or any of its peoples that did not immediately pertain to how it was divided up in the late 1800s by European powers.

Anything I have learned about Africa and its cultures has been because I have picked up a book, a memoir, sought it out. And each time I do, I realize how I have not even cracked the tip of the iceberg. Or course, it helped to take some African studies classes in college, but those I took as electives.

My point is that it must begin with reform in education. People must be given the information because they're sure as hell not looking for it themselves, but rather being content with their ignorance out of a misguided sense of cultural hegemony.
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EkaterinaBallerina
04/24/09

@maneki neko: My first day of my African history class in college, my professor brought in a map of the world that had been re-adjusted to show the real size of continents. Africa is HUGE. I think comparatively, like three North Americas could fit into it. And South America? Massive as well. The maps we saw as kids are definitely, definitely skewed to a Euro-centric, American-centric perspective. We're not as big as we'd like to think we are.
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maneki neko
04/24/09

@JerseyGrrrl: This is a very good point. History, in the USA at least, is alarmingly Eurocentric. We might be taught about Mesopotamia and maybe a Mongol or two, but anything else outside of Europe or the USA that comes up is almost always in relation to these countries.
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boxspelunker
04/24/09

@EkaterinaBallerina: There is definitely an argument in geography about what map projection we should use to teach geography. One cannot preserve both size and shape accurately, so you have to pick what you want. The two most common projections used tend to keep things pretty close at the equator, but massively distort the poles. Most Western schools have chosen shape, and that makes Europe, America and northern Asia look GINORMOUS, but everything else small. There have been accusations of racism and elitism and all that.

Maps! Political tools!
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misspell
04/24/09

In reply to "African" Fashion Described As A "Drumbeat"
Oh shit. The folks at Racialicious already addressed the point most heinous to me: "The colonial world has also been mined for inspiration." Right, because it's so inspiring to see various languages and cultures razed by a bunch of people in jodhpurs. I am so incredibly disappointed with the NYT.
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JerseyGrrrl
04/24/09

@misspell: I read your comment before actually clicking the link, and I see the writer points this out too. And it's not even the worst of it...
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Eric Northman is mine
04/24/09

@misspell: oh yeah and mined for slaves, oil, diamonds....oh wait, i'm sorry were we talking about animal prints.
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misspell
04/24/09

@JerseyGrrrl: Ugh! Yeah, I can't believe it. I literally can't believe it, I am more stunned the more I think about it. The sick part is that whoever wrote that article is probably patting themselves on the back for being so clever...
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