Cultural Appropriation in Fashion: A Guide to an Ethical and Sustainable Fashion System
Fashion often draws inspiration from different cultures, but when it happens without recognition or financial compensation, it risks slipping into cultural appropriation. It is essential to distinguish between appreciation and appropriation: while the former implies respect and recognition, the latter involves the use of cultural elements without consent, mainly for profit. In essence, cultural appropriation refers to the act of borrowing, imitating or adopting elements of one culture by members of another culture, often without understanding, attributing or respecting the meaning and cultural context of those elements (Chumo 2023). The use of indigenous symbols is growing, but without due respect. Pham and Nguyen (2018) analyzed the phenomenon in fashion magazines…
Fake plus-size models: inclusivity washing
The fake plus-size models, hired by brands to communicate how accessible clothes are to those with more abundant shapes, are an example of inclusivity washing. It is showing initiatives of inclusivity without a real strategy that seriously involves minorities, which effectively nullifies any differentiation in the face of diversity and which addresses the public avoiding any discrimination. Norwegian model Karoline Bjørnelykke brought to light the case of fake plus-size models in fashion campaigns, telling in a video on Tik Tok: I’m a plus-size model. Which means that I sometimes work for plus size brands. These brands typically carry size XL-5XL. If you have eyes, you can see that I’m not…
Hiding Photoshop retouching will be illegal for brands and influencers, in Norway but not only
In France, legislation came into force in January 2017 with the aim of encouraging more socially responsible advertisements and avoiding the use of images of artificially thin bodies of models, the vision of which can induce eating disorders among adolescents. Article L. 2133-2 of the French Code of Public Health (FPHC) provides that “photographs for commercial purposes of models whose physical appearance has been altered by image processing software, in order to slim or thicken the figure , must be accompanied by the words photographie retouchée”. Similarly, the UK is about to introduce a new law that would require explicitly tagging digitally altered images. In Norway, the amendments to the…
