What Does Cultural Appropriation Mean To Fashion Design?: Juha Park

fspc 10 (3) pp.
295–310 Intellect Limited 2023
Fashion, Style & Popular Culture

Volume 10 Number 3
© 2023 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc_00049_1
Received 1 November 2019; Accepted 27 June 2020
JUHA PARK
Seoul National University
JAEHOON CHUN
Seoul National University
What does cultural

appropriation mean to
fashion design?
ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Many global apparel brands or top designers around the world are currently culture
involved in litigation cases because of their cultural appropriation. Therefore, this cultural appropriation
study aims to examine the appropriated cases of fashion products and to suggest designer
some useful points for fashion design. The results of this study show the following fashion
characteristics. First, the arbitrary interpretation of designers makes the traditional fashion design
clothing a completely new item, which has a problem in that the inherent mean- traditional clothing
ing of appropriated objects can be changed or lost. Second, objects are generally
appropriated for commercialization, and controversy arises when there is no fair
distribution of profits. Last, when historical incidents are appropriated, particular
care should be taken if the people of the appropriated culture have experienced
colonial rule. In summary, the appropriated products have the following character-
istics: they are recognized by consumers as another kind of original products; they
have a great impact on media and fashion marketing and they have the possibility
of a semantic change because consumers can make various interpretations regard-
less of the intentions of designers. Therefore, designers should sufficiently consider
the purpose of appropriation and historical contexts and should obtain permission
from the insiders, and implement a fair distribution of profit.
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Juha Park | Jaehoon Chun
INTRODUCTION
Today, with the acceleration of information sharing through media, under-
standing and consideration of other cultures are of growing importance.
Furthermore, cultural appropriation in many fields including arts, music and
fashion field has become a very common phenomenon. Thus, it is very impor-
tant to understand other cultures that people do not belong to or have not
experienced. This is also true of fashion, which is manifested in a person’s
outward appearance.
During the past century, cultural exchanges between countries have made
the public more interested in other cultures, which give them new cultural
stimulation. People occasionally imitate the appearance, clothing and custom
of other cultures, and at a Halloween party they dress like a Native American
chief for the purpose of play or fun. In addition, fashion products with tradi-
tional patterns of other culture are produced in large quantities (Doyle 2018).
These examples are similar to the ‘appropriation’ technique, which reinterprets
an original object in an entirely new context in the field of art (Stangos 1994:
19), and this kind of utilization of other cultures or styles is becoming more
common these days. However, some controversial issues arise in the process of
appropriation, such as using the contents of other culture without consent, or
interpreting the symbols or artefacts of other culture in a totally new meaning.
Therefore, this study aims to examine the cultural appropriation phenomenon
in the fashion field, which seeks to share historical value of other cultures and
to achieve commercial success as well.
Musicians and artists are greatly influenced by other cultures around them,
so too are fashion designers. Cultural appropriation is also a common source
of inspiration for fashion designers. Culture-related items are often found
on fashion runways or brand stores. For instance, a fashion brand, Victoria’s
Secret, borrowed the feathers and ornaments of the headdress used by a small
number of Native Americans, and used them as decorations for its fashion
show. However, the brand’s attempt resulted in ambiguity in the symbolism
of the original objects (Smith 2012). Similar to the example above, Aboriginal
Australian cultural heritage or designs are appropriated by non-Aboriginal
artists or by non-indigenous people, who used them for Australian consumers’
industrial products such as T-shirts and carpets (Shand 2002). Various attempts
to appropriate other culture in fashion have the advantages of sharing cultural
diversity and of expanding the range of designers’ expression. However, it
should be recognized that there are also negative aspects in cultural appropri-
ation. Sometimes arbitrary interpretation of the appropriated objects provokes
the criticism of the original people, original authors and customers. In addi-
tion, when a brand uses the cultural contents without the consent of the origi-
nal author, its brand image would be damaged.
Previous studies of cultural appropriation have regarded it as an expres-
sion technique in art history and they focused on examining the formative
characteristics of graphical letters or the artistic aspects of the behaviour of
customers utilizing the appropriated designs. Up to now, while most stud-
ies of cultural appropriation have been conducted on overall sociocultural
phenomena such as popular culture, music and cuisine, there are few studies
on the characteristics of appropriated fashion products or the categorization of
cultural appropriation in the fashion field.
Therefore, this study aims to analyse fashion design that is appropri-
ated from other cultures, and to provide a critical perspective on the current

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What does cultural appropriation mean to fashion design?
cultural phenomenon. Considering that the design of global fashion brands is

rapidly spreading through mass media and its propagation power is great, the
inherent meaning and values of other cultures need to be correctly communi-
cated to the public. Considering these current circumstances, this study aims
to examine what makes cultural appropriation controversial based on the
perspective of fashion design and to suggest aspects to be considered when
fashion companies and designers plan fashion products that include cultural
appropriation.
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION
Before examining the cases of cultural appropriation, it is necessary to define
the term ‘appropriate’. The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as ‘to take
possession of or make use of exclusively for oneself’ (Nelson and Shiff 2003:
88). In cultural theory, it refers to an ‘action by which an object is made hostile
towards the original owner through the process of being accepted and then
used in a new way’. Nelson and Shiff (2003: 162) note that appropriation has
a negative connotation, such as taking something in an inappropriate manner,
kidnapping or stealing. Because the appropriated object is made as intended
by designers, the meaning of it is modified, but it ultimately has the character-
istic that is something owned by or available for everyone. However, the origi-
nal culture of a nation is the most important factor in its survival and unity.
Therefore, native scholars have focused their efforts in protesting against
improper appropriation of other culture (Tsosie 2002).
Appropriation was initially derived from an expression of art that created
copies of works or techniques by other artists (Irvin 2005). As for cultural appro-
priation, it was established as a practice throughout art history by ‘copying’ or
‘borrowing’ the works of preceding artists as reference materials (Schneider
2003). If we look at the word of ‘cultural appropriation’, it is the compound of
‘cultural’ and ‘appropriation’. It emerged as a critical term for specific artworks
in pop culture, deriving from active cultural exchanges between countries
through media. In the 1990s, cultural appropriation came into the spotlight in
countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia. In those days, the
original heritage of other cultures was transformed or changed without clear
consents (Heyd 2003), and cultural appropriation is broadly defined as the use
of symbols, genres, artefacts or rituals of other cultures (Rogers 2006). Young
(2005) notes that culture, which is the target of appropriation, can be defined
as a ‘generic way of life, such as the language, clothing, values, religion, and
beliefs’ of a country. He also notes that cultural appropriation is an act of
taking an object created by a member of another culture and that a member of
the original culture is referred to as an ‘insider’, while a member outside that
culture is referred to as an ‘outsider’. As in earlier discourse, cultural appro-
priation can be also defined as an act that makes the meaning of the orig-
inal objects ambiguous because appropriated products only use the objects
or images of other cultures for their own purposes without the authorization
or understanding of the original culture. Green and Kaiser (2017) said that
cultural appropriation has become a hot topic on various media and that it
has become more controversial in pop culture and mass media than in cultural
communication. Summarizing the above, this study defines cultural appropri-
ation as an act of taking something from its original location without authori-
zation and deliberately borrowing and using its images, contents, objects from
other cultures for fashion retailing or consumers.

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Various discourses on cultural appropriation

Previous studies have pointed out several problems of cultural appropriation
with examples of various fields, and the contents are as follows.
First, Nelson and Shiff (2003) raised the issue of losing the original aura
due to cultural appropriation. Their views were the same as those of Walter
Benjamin, who noted that reproducing or representing of replicas in the tech-
nological age would result in the loss of the original aura or inherent value
of an artwork (Bolter et al. 2006). A Chinatown gate shows a good exam-
ple of losing the original aura due to cultural appropriation. It shows tradi-
tional patterns of various colours, a Chinese nameplate, the blue-tiled roofs
of the Korean style and golden dragons on steel columns. Therefore, this
newly constructed gate is a building that combines the characteristics of the
architecture of many Asian countries, and it cannot be said to belong to any
one culture. Another case also shows the example of the loss of the original
aura. When the historical artworks, such as replicas of the Trevi Fountain in
Rome or the gypsum columns of Greek temples, are moved to department
stores and placed under colourful lighting, the original aura will disappear
from the artworks standing against contemporary architecture (Nelson and
Shiff 2003: 164–65).
Second, there were controversies in relation to the intellectual prop-
erty rights and copyrights of other culture and in relation to the boundaries
between creation and stealing, which caused conflict and confusion in inter-
pretation of appropriated objects among consumers (Welchman 2001: 1).
For example, an anthropologist, Feld (2000), claimed that Westerners did not
properly distribute profits earned by music that they borrowed from unknown
culture, such as the Pygmies of Central Africa (Feld 2000: 254–75). Rogers
(2006) defined ‘cultural exploitation’ as: when the objects or abstract content of
other culture that are not well known are appropriated and become commer-
cialized or publicly known, there is no proper reciprocity or permission of
using or revising of other culture based on promoting culture exchange.
Finally, Young (2005) noted that insiders had a negative view on cultural
appropriation and felt insulted or offensive when they encountered these
three specific cases. First, insiders are offended when outsiders misunderstand
their culture or interpret it in a contemptuous or insulting manner. The second
case is related to the authorization of the usage of the original. If the use is
neither unauthorized nor agreed upon, insiders feel upset because they think
they are in a weak position, which reminds them of the period when their
country was a colony. The last case involves the abuse of very private objects or
national symbols that carry their national identity. Sometimes cultural appro-
priation is morally problematic. In the process of appropriation, decontextual-
ization and commercialization occur through ‘misrepresentation’, ‘misuse’ and
‘theft’ of tangible or intellectual property (Matthes 2016).
Now, the contents of cultural appropriation related to fashion design are
as follows. Most commercial creations of brands are not formed or contextual-
ized on an equal cultural basis with other culture, and only the external form
of other culture is appropriated.
When applying only visual forms to fashion images, the most common
examples of cultural appropriation are: to wear the costumes of other culture,
to follow the hair style or clothing of celebrities or to use other culture as a
motif of inspiration. However, these kinds of appropriation can result in totally
different outcomes.

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The following are two cases that show the problems caused by cultural
appropriation. In the first case, if a non-specific form, such as abstract concepts
or objects from other culture, is appropriated, the result will be fashion picto-
rials or products that will decorate the fashion-related magazine’s cover or
become widely known to the public through global advertising or campaigns
(Shand 2002). This has a ripple effect of the rapid spread of the outcome. It
is a very old practice for fashion brands to produce new campaigns or picto-
rials inspired by other culture. But, all people involved in this process, such
as concept directors, fashion designers, photographers and even consum-
ers, can commit the fallacy of not interpreting the original culture correctly.
In the second case, Riisberg and Much (2014) pointed out another problem
caused by cultural appropriation. Currently, accessories, fashion textiles and
fashion items are mass produced for fast fashion with the focus on decoration
only. This phenomenon is related to cheap or mass production of appropri-
ated items, which are originally invaluable or sacred objects among insiders of
other culture. This type of appropriation can also result in the distortion of the
original or loss of value. One more problem to point out is that fashion brands
unilaterally earn huge profits by producing expensive products with appropri-
ated designs, with no legal protection or copyright issues in mind.
EXPRESSIONS OF CULTURAL APPROPRIATION IN FASHION

In this article, we will examine three types of cultural appropriation in fashion
based on the characteristics derived from previous studies: the type of altera-
tion or loss of essential meaning and value of culture (Nelson and Shift 2003);
the type of profit obtaining from commercialized design (Welchman 2001) and
the type of offensive and insulting appropriation (Young 2005). In analysing
these cases, we focused on products that were controversial among consum-
ers or that had negative responses in marketing. The fashion products for the
case study were those produced after 2010. A total of 60 cases, which were
controversial due to cultural appropriation, were collected through online
news articles. The main keywords of search were ‘cultural appropriation’, ‘fash-
ion of cultural appropriation’, ‘culture-inspired fashion’, and ‘controversial
fashion’. The results of this analysis are as follows.
The case of alteration or loss of essential meaning and value of

culture
In appropriating traditional clothing of other cultures, the arbitrary transfor-
mation of designers can create a completely new fashion product that is differ-
ent from the original, which results in alteration or loss of essential meaning
and value of culture. In particular, if this cultural appropriation is related to
sacred or religious objects of other culture, the problem becomes more seri-
ous. Occasionally, traditional patterns or ornaments that have special meaning
in other cultures are placed in a completely different time and space for the
purpose of deriving new fashion images. Specifically, the following are the
examples of such appropriation: to create a mixed image or a new atmosphere
by arranging traditional clothing into totally unexpected backgrounds and
spaces; and to reproduce nearly identical local accessories and match them
to ready-made clothes. At times, through this process, various things related
to traditional clothing, such as the way of wearing and the characteristics and
images of clothing, can be changed to something completely different from

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those of the original. Commercial appropriation uses these methods in bring-

ing and transforming the traditional clothing of other culture: to change only
details of the materials of clothing or to bring the symbolic or sacred patterns
of the original as pointers of a designer’s clothing.
More seriously, mass production and sale of daily clothing by SPA brands
can not only distort the history or essential meaning of the clothing itself, but
they also bring the problem of modification or deletion of unique details of
the clothing. For example, Victoria’s Secret launched a new product line called
the ‘Go East’ collection in 2012, which was inspired by East Asian women.
This lingerie line, known as ‘Sexy Little Geisha’, produces a black-see-through
mesh-like lingerie that shows women’s breasts and belly in a provocative way.
A blonde female model wears the obi, embroidered with Japanese patterns,
with Korean ornamental hairpins, holding a fan of the East Asian style in
her hand. The white model’s exposure, enchanting pose and heavy makeup
give a completely different sexual appeal unlike Asian models or geishas. The
catalogue includes sexually stimulating messages, such as ‘your ticket to an
exotic adventure’, and this expression implicitly reveals the view that East
Asian women are a curiosity and a sexual target (Fleming 2012). In reality, a
geisha is a ‘luxurious performer’, and a ‘graceful’ or ‘natural’ beauty in East Asia.
She is treated as an artist who conveys Japanese culture through performing
the traditional dance, singing and instruments, completely different from a
modern prostitute (Kim and Yun 2011). Before the Second World War, there
was the sad history of affluent men buying the virginity of young girls or
geishas, both in the East and in the West. However, in modern times, this way
of thinking that regards geishas as merely the objects of sexual fantasies of
men has been greatly resisted, especially among Asian women. Such ways of
thinking convey incorrect sexual images of Asian women and can be regarded
as a racial fetishism that lacks understanding of Asian women.
Religious costumes, which are used exclusively in certain cultures, are
frequently used as exclusive resources of inspiration. Religious costumes
or accessories that are sacred in other cultures are used in fashion for the
purpose of deriving new images in space or time completely different from
that of the original. When clothing with religious significance is matched with
that of heterogeneous backgrounds or with ready-made clothing, it shows the
mixed image with the exotic mood. In this process, several factors related to
clothing, such as the wearer, wearing etiquette and the religious symbolism of
clothing, can be changed from the original. Often designers of luxury brands
create products by their arbitrary interpretation of the objects with special reli-
gious meaning. The turban, a type of a headwear, worn by Muslims in mainly
Middle Eastern countries, and the hijab, a cloth or cloth-shaped veil, used to
cover women’s heads and faces, are sometimes used as accessories at fashion
shows of luxury brands. In fact, each country has its own way of wearing a
head decoration, and the degree of head covering varies in each Islamic coun-
try. The headdress is different for each religion or group, depending on which
religion or group the wearer belongs to. Similar to the turban case, the hijab
is also used by fashion designers as a decorative coordination for the exotic
concept every season. The traditional hijab has a calm colour and its length is
usually long. But in the Western countries, such as France, and Australia, the
hijab also becomes hybridized, and they wear it with jeans, loose tops and high
heels. Their way of wearing the hijab is described as feminine or unholy at the
same time (Winter 2008: 3). However, within the Muslim countries, some say

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the hijab represents the beauty of femininity or innocence, but others say it is
the symbol of oppression on women. Despite the controversy over the hijab,
wearing it for the sake of fashion brands’ promotions or bottom line is an
overlooking of the original values of the hijab.
Fashion design has long obtained inspiration from appropriating reli-
gious values. If we take the time machine back to 100 years ago, we would
see Paul Poiret’s love of the Eastern exorcism in the 1920s, such as adopt-
ing Japanese textile or designs for his design inspiration (Hayden 2007).
Also, both John Galliano and Gucci ‘adopted’ the elements of religion and
spirituality from other cultures. Nevertheless, their creativity and innovation
is revered by everyone. However, in recent years, advertisement of fashion
products is quickly delivered to consumers through the media. Therefore, the
public shows the immediate response to the advertisement (Shand 2002). In
today’s world where people are closely associated with the media, they speak
out their views honestly about what they see through the media. Regarding
Gucci’s fashion show, the public expressed their criticism on the problem of
cultural appropriation. Gucci introduced a white model wearing the dastaar,
a Sikh turban, during F/W Milan Fashion Week in 2018. Sikhs criticized Gucci
for overlooking their religious creed by matching their dastaar with off-the-
rack clothing (Begum 2018). He wore the dastaar merely to show the styles
of the fashion show, although he was not a Sikh (Figure 1). This case showed
that the commercial fashion show overlooked the fact that it should only be
worn by boys or men belonging to the Sikh community (Baker 2018).
In addition, we can see design, symbols and patchworks of other cultures
are frequently used as decorations in fashion shows and festivals due to their
handicraft values and original symbolism. Feathers and ornaments of Native
Americans, which are mainly used to highlight sexy and ethnic fashion sensi-
bilities, attract the attention of the public through various transformations of
their forms and use. Victoria’s Secret is using animal skin patterns on its linge-
rie products, which call to mind Mother Nature, and a slender white female
model was highlighted with colourful feathers, headdresses and handcrafted
decorations in its 2012 fashion show (Smith 2012). The giant feather decora-
tions in fancy colours made the performance of the model more colourful.
These eagle feathers, often redesigned as an ornament for perfect bodies in
fashion shows, were originally handmade headdresses or helmets worn by
Native Americans from the past (Monture 1994). Mostly worn by men as
objects to show their bravery, they carry the symbolism and identity of Native
Americans. Although currently there are more than 562 Native American
nations, they are still represented only in the stereotype of wearing feathers
and of living primitive lives in fashion shows (Lubltz 2016). Moreover, their
feathers have lost the inherent meaning of locality and traditions, and are only
acknowledged as fancy performance decorations made with artificial colours
and shapes. Monture (1994) said that those artefacts were not really made by
Native Americans and that people sometimes degrade the historical value of
the artefacts and play ‘Indian mimicry’ to satisfy their enjoyment. In a similar
case, if a headdress made with Native American feathers dyed with different
colours is matched with grotesque ghost makeup or highly exposed cloth-
ing, such a combination would ultimately harm the morality and the purity of
the clothing, and the original inherent value would disappear. Also, the cases
of traditional patterns of other culture, face painting, tattoos, etc., are easily
found in fashion design. They can maximize sexual appeal of the appropriated

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Figure 1: Gucci, a model wearing a blue turban in fashion show, 2018.

© Shutterstock.
objects, but their interpretation seems to be done in a low-level way. Thus, the
cognitive problems due to the appropriated objects may threaten the authen-
ticity or context of the original history (Coleman 2001). In most cases, the
products created by designers are transmitted to anonymous consumers with-
out any context of the original. Then, the designers’ intentions are generally
forgotten, and only the biased images interpreted from the external form of
the original come to remain in consumers’ subconscious mind (Young 2005).

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The case of profit obtaining from commercialized design

When fashion products are appropriated from other cultures, the specific
contexts of the original tend to be diluted in new products. As important as the
respect for other culture is that designers should consider the issues of obtain-
ing the permission to use and of protection of the copyright. If a certain object
is appropriated without proper consent, and mass produced as a commodity,
the problem will be that the huge profits generated by the commodity cannot
be distributed fairly to insiders of the original culture (Feld 2000: 254–75).
For example, a Spanish fashion retailer, ZARA, produced a fashion item
similar to lungi, which is a daily or a formal type of clothing worn in South
East Asia, East Africa and Arab countries. Lungi is a sacred clothing in the
above-mentioned countries, and it is used to cover legs when entering Islamic
or Hindu temples, or is worn as formal attire. ZARA emphasized the details of
the drape and added a zipper to the back of the waist to maintain the original
shape of lungi, selling it for $89.90, approximately 25 times higher than the
usual price of the item (Kuruvilla 2018). Consumers all over the world fiercely
criticized the fact that ZARA manufactured nearly the same shape of clothing
using similar materials and colours and that its price was too high compared
to the original. Nonetheless, this nearly copied lungi by ZARA was sold as a
new product in the fashion market. This creates the problem that when inex-
pensive daily goods or clothing are presented as products of famous fashion
brands, the profits of famous brands are not properly allocated to people of
the related culture. Rogers (2006) interpreted this phenomenon as ‘cultural
exploitation’: the culture of insiders with relatively low economic positions is
not properly compensated based on the cultural reciprocity, and the consent
or permission to use the culture was not given.
Similar to the above case, images and clothing of other cultures are
described as somewhat comedic and sometimes used as commercial items.
Recently, Disney sold children’s clothing, depicting a character from Moana,
Maui, to promote a new animation. On this children’s clothing, Maui is
depicted in the appearance of having a muscular physique with a leaf-shaped
skirt, a top and bottom, and a photorealistic tooth-art necklace, as worn in
Polynesian culture in New Zealand. The child model wears a curly wig, and the
fabric of the clothing is printed with an aboriginal tattoo reminiscent of black
skin colour. The public thought that this children’s play clothing described
other races as primitive and that it was portrayed inaccurately, protesting
that ‘culture is not a costume’ (Stone 2016). Thus, Stone expressed his opin-
ion in sarcasm, ‘you can buy brown skin for $44.95’. In that clothing, we can
find no effort to learn other cultures, to understand the context and to show
respect to other cultures. Disney only had the intent of using the elements of
other cultures for their own purpose and profit. The idea of making money
by imitating or representing other races will give a dangerous idea to chil-
dren who wear them. They can be exposed to racial prejudice, because they
lack background knowledge about other cultures and their concepts of human
races are not properly formed.
Due to the active media marketing of fashion brands, such media can be
used as an effective place for discussion or criticism. When a problem occurs
with a fashion product, the news platforms or various social media become a
space for active discussion to request disposal of the product or to demand
appropriate compensation from the relevant countries. For example, Chanel
has been accused of selling a boomerang at $2000, which has been used as

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Australian Aboriginal people’s hunting tool around for at least 50,000 years
(Vinjamuri 2017). People filmed the problematic boomerang and posted it
on social media to have an active discussion on why such behaviour was a
problem. As a result, Chanel officially apologized for insulting some people
and disposed of the entire product. This case shows that no matter how much
people expect to see a new concept or design every season, they expect its
inspiration to be presented in a fair way. Otherwise, only negative feelings
towards fashion brands or designers will be maximized.
The case of offensive and insulting appropriation

Occasionally, prohibited symbols in some countries are presented in fashion.
It requires careful handling because such symbols are related to historically
sensitive issues. Although Young (2005) does not directly refer to objects that
should not be used for appropriating, he notes that if the objects from other
cultures or related culture history were misused, it could cause fierce offense
or insult to insiders of other cultures. In this case, the symbols, as objects that
recall negative memories related to history, evoke the anger of both insiders
of other cultures and the public. Those symbols remind the colonial rule in the
past or distortion of the essential meaning of their history. The use of these
negative symbols can lead to worse results than designers’ arbitrary interpret-
ing of traditional clothing or sacred objects do. Products made of such design
do not show the essence of historical events, and the appropriation of a simple
external form only causes criticism from global consumers as well as the coun-
tries affected.
The example related to the above is the design case of Rising Sun Flag.
This design is being used as a motif for various products on the web, not only
in historically unrelated countries, such as the United States or Europe, but
also in the countries that were under the colonial rule of Japan during the
Second World War, such as the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Korea
(Park 2018). Christian Dior released a long dress with ivory colour at the 2018
S/S Shanghai Fashion Week. The circle in the centre of the top of the dress and
the red colour stripes extending around it resembled Rising Sun Flag, which
was a representative symbol of the Japanese Empire after the First World War.
Japan was a threat to neighbouring countries. Thus, for victims of Japanese
imperialism, that design reminds them of the painful history as well as war
and imperialism. However, this design is being used as a motif for various
products on the web and netizens criticized the designers, not for the fact
that they used the flag as a motif, but for their lacking of historical sensitivity
(Kim 2016). That kind of design not only obscures the important implication
of historical incidents, but also leads to secondary damage, which makes the
insiders feel insulted due to the fact that their cultural sensitivity is not under-
stood by the outsiders. Many global companies still use this kind of contro-
versial design without knowing its historical meaning and the controversy
over the design (Kim 2018). Thus, global companies should consider historical
meaning when using symbols related to historical incidents as a tool for their
marketing or advertisement exposure.
Similar to the above, historical artefacts are constantly becoming a source
of inspiration for fashion designers. The examples are the Hakenkreuz, the
national flag of the Nazi regime in Germany, and blue stripes and stars, remi-
niscent of the clothing worn by Jewish people imprisoned in Nazi concentra-
tion camps. Unlike East Asian countries, certain European countries, including

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Germany, have some legal restrictions on the use of the Hakenkreuz pattern.
However, the pattern, which was widely used on an aircraft and military
uniforms as a sign symbolizing Nazism, is now being repeated, enlarged,
transformed, reborn as a unique design and merchandised in modern fash-
ion. ZARA merchandised children’s clothing with a design similar to the
‘Star of David’ in 2014, which was worn on the left chest of Jewish people
in Nazi camps during the Second World War, and also clothing with blue
stripes, which remind prisoners’ clothing (Peterson 2014). A fashion company
in the United States sold a T-shirt with a swastika pattern on it, which became
controversial on social media. It modified its design after being blamed for
misusing the banned symbol. Its attempt to brand the swastika as a symbol of
‘peace’ after transforming it into a rainbow-coloured logo brought public criti-
cism, and the T-shirt was later replaced by an ‘anti-swastika’ symbol (Winer
2017). It is not easy for consumers to notice what the fashion brand secretly
intended (sort of noise marketing by using sensitive or historical issues). As
we can see from the previous cases, clothing is purchased and consumed by
outsiders who do not have a deep understanding of the history of other coun-
tries. Consumers regard it only as a fashion product, and its historical meaning
is overlooked. Both Rising Sun Flag and the Hakenkreuz have a specific ideol-
ogy, and they remind many people of the past, historical wounds and that
bad things happened to them. Thus, designers always need to consider the
historical significance when they create products with inspiration from other
cultures. Otherwise, their clothing can face consumer criticism, brand boycotts
and the failure of their brand image.
COMPREHENSIVE DISCUSSION
In the past, appropriation was used as an artistic expression technique, but
now it has become an interesting source of inspiration for fashion. Therefore,
this study focused on the cultural appropriation phenomenon that attracts
public attention or criticism when objects of other cultures are brought to
fashion design. In this study, the collected cases of cultural appropriation were
categorized into three types and related discussion was conducted.
The first type refers to the case in which the appropriated products are
made almost identical to traditional costumes or sacred objects of other
cultures. People can share the symbolic meaning of the original objects. But,
when the objects are arbitrarily appropriated into a new design, the inherent
meaning of the original, such as history, usage, specific details and atmos-
phere, can be altered or lost in the process. Second, when there are economic
differences between insiders and outsiders of a certain culture, that is between
developed and developing countries, problems arise in the process of appro-
priation. Some brands routinely and privately use some objects of other
cultures, and gain huge financial benefits by mass producing the heritage of
other cultures. The third type is the case in which the symbol of historical
events of other cultures is applied to fashion design without deep understand-
ing of its meaning. This can cause offensive feeling or insult to insiders of
other cultures, and the appropriated symbols can be glorified or distorted by
consumers’ interpretation, regardless of the designers’ intention.
Cultural appropriation in fashion design is varied. There are cases where the
clothing and ornaments of other cultures are completely imitated and produced
as products. There are other cases where designers create a completely new
design, being inspired from the style of other cultures, and reconstruct it. The

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most frequent cases of cultural appropriation are the ones in which designers
take some or all of the formal details of other cultures, such as the morpho-
logical characteristics or patterns of clothing, and make them into ready-to-
wear clothes or into disposable ornaments that can match their fashion style.
In particular, when the original objects of other cultures are used as props for
fashion brands, they are inevitably restructured to meet the innovative and
shocking planning intentions or concepts of fashion brands. In this case, the
appropriated products can have a heterogeneous atmosphere, and their newly
restructured image turns out to be different from the original one.
As a result, the outcome of the appropriated fashion design provides
two main controversies. First, it has the problem that the effect of original-
ity or traditional context of objects is blurred due to the specificity of fash-
ion, which emphasizes visual elements. Particularly, culturally appropriated
objects are mostly aesthetically appealing fashion products. Fashion, which is
always pursuing new things, is communicating with the public without the
limitation of time and space, online or offline. Fashion brands are developing
fast based on the needs of customers. Therefore, if consumers are attracted
to a particular newly appropriated fashion design, its products will soon be
mass produced and be spread in the fashion market rapidly. They will raise
the concerns of consumers, accelerate public consumption and counterfeit
goods will soon appear. Second, most of the appropriated objects come from
indigenous people or unique cultural properties. But designers do not receive
any permission for their use of cultural objects, and they have never heard of
any explanation on its meaning or history from any one. Eventually, they only
utilize the external forms of the cultural property. Therefore, consumers will
accept the original meaning of other cultures based on their level of knowl-
edge or experience. They are more interested in the aesthetics or practicality
of fashion products, rather than pursuing deep understanding of the original
meaning or inherent value. Thus, both the productive process of fashion and
purchasing activities of consumers should not undermine the value of other
culture. In addition, the unique cultural asset should not end up as a one-time
consumption or a means of making money (Shand 2002). Therefore, if fash-
ion brands fail to handle the problem of appropriation correctly, it can cause
anger among cultural insiders (Young 2005), leading to a brand image loss or
a brand boycott.
CONCLUSION
Today, it is possible for the public to enjoy various contents of other cultures
such as music, clothing and lifestyles due to the openness between countries,
multicultural families and the expansion of pop cultures. Recent trend shows
that cultural appropriation is widely used as a means of expressing creativity
and uniqueness in fashion.
Thanks to global fashion brands and online marketing, the public indi-
rectly experiences other cultures even though they do not visit other coun-
tries. People can embody the images on other cultures, purchase the items
of their embodied images and enjoy their purchased items. In other words,
they go through the empirical process of implementing images, purchasing
and enjoying clothing. However, these activities of consumers are consid-
ered as consumption activities rather than as understanding and respecting
of the traditions of other countries. Thus, in the process of integration of two
cultures, the symbolic meaning of original objects is likely to disappear or

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become ambiguous, and appropriation is used only as a way of new aesthetic

expression.
As such, designers need to be more careful when reflecting their cultural
inspiration into fashion design because they have an influence on consumers
through the process of conveying other cultures to them. Due to various social
media platforms, it is common nowadays for consumers to communicate with
international fashion brands and other cultures. Such a new way of commu-
nication has significantly altered what we wear, how we buy and where we
pay for. Nevertheless, consumers sometimes lack the background knowl-
edge of other cultures and preferentially interpret the appropriated objects
from the aesthetic point of view. Thus, it is difficult for them to judge design-
ers’ intention from the critical point of view. Therefore, there may always be
the possibility of controversy when designers’ design lacks understanding of
other cultures. Furthermore, fashion brands mainly thrive on merchandising
of products, and appropriated fashion items are mass produced and delivered
in the fashion market rapidly. In this marketing structure, a secondary prob-
lem arises that profit from mass production of fashionable and trendy items is
unfairly distributed between insiders and outsiders.
In conclusion, the appropriation has the possibility of a change of mean-
ing in its process, and it is also possible for consumers to have an infinite
interpretation regardless of the intention of the designers. Therefore, when
the cultural heritage of other countries is used for a commercial purpose, the
various factors related to appropriation, such as the purpose of use, meaning
and historical context of the appropriated objects, should be considered suffi-
ciently. Also, it is important for everyone to have a mature perspective that is
free from stereotypes about other cultures. If these preconditions are met as
the basis of cultural appropriation, designers will have an unlimited source of
inspiration that can be utilized continuously, and consumers will also be able
to continue sharing the beauty and value of other cultures.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by Research Institute of Human Ecology in Seoul
National University.
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SUGGESTED CITATION
Park, Juha and Chun, Jaehoon (2023), ‘What does cultural appropriation mean
to fashion design?’, Fashion, Style & Popular Culture, Special Issue: ‘The
Reviews Issue’, 10:3, pp. 295–310, https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc_00049_1
CONTRIBUTOR DETAILS
Juha Park is a doctoral course student majoring in fashion aesthetics at Seoul
National University. Her main research interest is fashion aesthetics and fash-
ion cultures. She worked for an R&D programme at a fashion company and
worked as a full-time instructor of fashion and arts at a high school and an
educational institute for several years.
Contact: 222-203 Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design,
Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, Republic of
Korea.
E-mail: lean_in@snu.ac.kr
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2667-6717
Jaehoon Chun is an associate professor at the Department of Textiles,

Merchandising and Fashion Design, Seoul National University. She worked
as a fashion designer for several fashion companies. She has much interest
in fashion aesthetics, fashion and arts and fashion media. In 2018, she was
awarded the eighth KSCT-Youngone Young Scholars Award by the Korean
Society of Clothing and Textiles.
Contact: 222-209 Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design,
Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, Republic of
Korea.
E-mail: kingkem2@snu.ac.kr
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4236-1229
Juha Park and Jaehoon Chun have asserted their right under the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the authors of this work in
the format that was submitted to Intellect Ltd.

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fspc 10 (3) pp.

295–310 Intellect Limited 2023

Fashion, Style & Popular Culture

What does cultural

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cultural phenomenon. Considering that the design of global fashion brands is

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Various discourses on cultural appropriation

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EXPRESSIONS OF CULTURAL APPROPRIATION IN FASHION

The case of alteration or loss of essential meaning and value of

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those of the original. Commercial appropriation uses these methods in bring-

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Figure 1: Gucci, a model wearing a blue turban in fashion show, 2018.

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The case of profit obtaining from commercialized design

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The case of offensive and insulting appropriation

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become ambiguous, and appropriation is used only as a way of new aesthetic

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Coleman, Elizabeth Burns (2001), ‘Aboriginal painting: Identity and authenti-

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Monture, Joel (1994), ‘Native Americans and the appropriation of cultures’, A

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Jaehoon Chun is an associate professor at the Department of Textiles,

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