I found the most interesting part of the reading by Hebdige the discussion about fashion and sub-cultures. I took Fashion in the Global World for my RCC freshman year and we discussed the punk subculture of the 1980s. Punk fashion was largely inspired by BDSM: straps, leather, buckles, exposed zippers, chains, bondage pants, clothes that mimic lingerie. A taboo subject that was supposed to be private (sex, kinks) was made public through fashion. This matched the perception of punks. Punks were viewed as dangerous, violent, and a threat to the conservative Christian values of the 1980s. Despite being viewed as a menace to society, punk subculture was appropriated into mainstream fashion and continues to today. “What was exotic becomes more and less exotic.” A lot of things I listed above are incorporated into fashion today without even necessarily being associated with punk fashion. How does this subculture then differentiate itself and make a provocative statement?
This pattern of adopting styles from subcultures and making the style mainstream leads to cultural appropriation. African Americans are discriminated against for how they style their natural hair. Children are sent home from school because their natural hair isn’t “appropriate” and job opportunities decrease because their hair isn’t viewed as “professional.” Despite this, white celebrities like Kylie Jenner are celebrated and are told their innovative and a trendsetter for wearing “boxer braids.” The style is viewed as new and fashionable because it’s on someone other than a black woman yet black women still get discriminated against for how they decide to style and maintain their hair. Black culture is celebrated and appropriated by mainstream culture, but black people aren’t celebrated and acknowledged. A white person gets credit for doing or wearing something that has existed in another culture for years and people from that culture continue to be looked down on for doing the same thing.
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