The Jenners 'unintentional' Cultural appropriation scandal
Kendall and Kylie Jenner are no strangers to accusations of cultural appropriation, and now a recent Instagram post by their clothing line has the Internet talking again.
The sisters are under fire for a
since-deleted photo of a plaid shirt from their Kendall + Kylie clothing line
that was posted to Instagram last week. It showed a model wearing the shirt
buttoned only at the top and worn over a black bustier with black slacks and
hoop earrings. These are elements of chola style, as Refinery notes: Women of
this Mexican-American
subculture are known for wearing baggy pants and flannels buttoned at
the top, among other style choices like dark lip liner and thin brows. As Teen
Vogue notes, the top
itself isn’t the issue, but rather the styling. Non-Latino celebrities
like Rihanna and Gwen Stefani have also invited criticism from the Latino
community and beyond for pairing unbuttoned plaid shirts with accessories like
hoop earrings, The Guardian notes.
It’s insensitive for Kendall and
Kylie’s brand (or anyone else, for that matter) to commercialize a culture that isn’t their own,
for their own gain ― and a marginalized culture at that.
“So many young girls want to emulate the [chola] look and have
no idea of the cultural background or street politics associated with it,” model
Hellabreezy, who identifies as a modern-day chola, told Vice in 2015. “It’s
easy for young privileged girls to want to have the look, but when they are done
dressing up in their ‘chola costume,’ they don’t have to go back home to the hood and deal with
discrimination, violence, and poverty.”
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