Celeb News: Victoria's Secret accused of cultural appropriation - Page 11

swissman

Quote:

Originally posted by VOSS

alright i checked the cast list on wikipedia and looked them ALL up and here we have it

White: 33 models (65%)
Lily Aldridge
Alessandra Ambrosio
Lily Donaldson
Grace Elizabeth
Barbara Fialho
Georgia Fowler
Izabel Goulart
Kate Grigorieva
Luma Grothe
Bella Hadid
Gigi Hadid
Rachel Hilbert
Taylor Marie Hill
Elsa Hosk
Martha Hunt
Kendall Jenner
Valery Kaufman
Maggie Laine
Adriana Lima
Keke Lindgard
Flavia Lucini
Bridget Malcolm
Stella Maxwell
Lais Oliveira
Brooke Perry
Camille Rowe
Sara Sampaio
Irina Shayk
Josephine Skriver
Romee Strijd
Sanne Vloet
Megan Williams
Devon Windsor

Black: 11 models (22%)
Leomie Anderson
Maria Borges
Cindy Bruna
Lameka Fox
Herieth Paul
Jourdana Phillips
Lais Ribeiro
Joan Smalls
Zuri Tibby
Jasmine Tookes
Kelly Gale

Asian: 4 models (8%)
Sui He
Xiao Wen Ju
Liu Wen
Ming Xi

Couldn't tell: 3 models (6%)
Janiece Dilone
Alanna Arrington
Daniela Braga

Victoria's Secret is an American company. In America white people make up 72% of the population, black people make up 13% of the population, Asian people make up 5% of the population. You can compare those numbers to the racial representation at the VSFS and decide if it's good enough for you!

This is an interesting perspective, but saying that we should have diversity on the runway does not mean that they should be offering a factual breakdown of the races. Even if black people are about 10% of the population, that doesn't mean having 1 black girl in ten is a diverse crowd.

The point of asking for diversity is also not about fairness of representation but in promoting the acceptance and beauty of other races. When black and asian models are notoriously absent from runways (especially those where their cultures are being used as inspiration), the culture is set up to value only one type of beauty. It may not make sense mathematically to have a more even spread of races given a nation's demographic but it sends the message of diversity more clearly.

If you're an American white girl and you can't handle seeing 40% of the models be women of colour, then you're just a racist point blank. And since society is basically made to benefit you, you're not losing from under-representation mathematically the way women of colour are.

Buddy

How is being inspired by another culture to make art making a mockery of other cultures?

GoldFangs

Quote:

Originally posted by Disco

Despite whatever you said it's common knowledge that these kinds of generalizations are being made. Should Islam be seen in a certain light because their religion is backed by ISIS? It's the same idea.

I'm pretty certain that both Trump and the Ku Klux Klan share discriminatory views and agendas. Neither of us can genuinely say the same for ISIS and Islamist beliefs.

winterwidow

Quote:

Originally posted by Javan

The thing is no one would be saying cultural appropriation if they actually had diversity on the runways. All you see is skinny tall white women wearing other people's cultures.

This.

Cultural Appropriation as a concept would eventually lose its relevance if platforms like VS accommodated diversity in their models, not just their fashion. The key problematic element here is western countries handpick aspects of other cultures to use for their projects but refuse to actually employ people who come from those cultures in order to maintain a conventional aesthetic.