Disrespectful. Distasteful. Disappointing.
I wanted to end my review there. But clearly we need to keep talking about why what happened during the Commes des Garçons AW20 show cannot continue to happen because it keeps happening.
Was the choice to put models in wigs styled in braided, protective hairstyles necessary? Did the wigs make any sort of contribution to the collection?
The answer to both: obviously not.
How many more times does this need to be spelled out? The fact that most of the *white* models in the CDG show needed wigs, because it would’ve been impossible to accomplish these hairstyles with their natural hair texture, should've been the flag that discouraged the creative team from moving forward with this idea. The fact that on a runway braided hairstyles are considered "cool" or "interesting" yet in real life, outside of the cloistered and often ignorant walls of fashion, braids are still considered "unprofessional" or "unrefined” is why this choice was reckless. The fact that many Black and brown models in the industry choose not to wear their hair in certain hairstyles out of fear they won’t get booked is why this choice was unacceptable. It is precisely because of these double standards that fashion has the responsibility, the obligation, to do the work that other industries can’t to usher societal conversations towards meaningful change.
Sartorial culture is not static. Braids have been adapted across time and place, adapted to different cultures and races. African, Asian, Central and Latin American, Caribbean, European, and Indigenous people around the world all have versions of braided hairstyle, which were created for specific hair textures and cultural practices. Yet in the last 20 years the braided styles that have been favored by the fashion industry on runways and in magazines typically come from African, African-American, and Caribbean cultures. While braided hairstyles have evolved, in that process many styles were largely disparaged in predominately white societies because they were associated primarily with Black people until white people co-opted the styles, which all of a sudden made braids seem artful and beautiful. So, I don’t care if Rei Kawakubo was “inspired” by ancient Egyptian hairstyles because the wigs were actually styled in Fulani braids, which come from “a primarily Muslim, traditionally pastoral ethnic group in Africa that’s scattered throughout West Africa and parts of East Africa.”
As a cultural and societal medium, fashion often feels so low stakes that it can inconspicuously shift the paradigm. There have been people (some who immediately come to mind: Franca Sozzani who made the first-ever magazine edition dedicated entirely to Black models in 2008 as the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Italia, Mr. Yves Saint Laurent who— for the time— had a notably diverse cast of models in his runway shows, and Diana Vreeland who’s editorials in Harper’s Bazaar during the 1960s and 70s exposed readers to non-western cultures at a time when most people didn’t think culture existed outside of the west) who weren’t perfect by any means, but were still early advocates for expanded definitions of beauty and importance. They used their influence in fashion, and the platforms they had, to make people pay attention to people/places/ things they would’ve otherwise dismissed or ignored. Ultimately these were not major disruptions to the industry, however small steps today can become big leaps tomorrow.
This review would be entirely different if Comme des Garçons had selected a cast of majority, or entirely, Black models, which would've been notable considering that before 2018 it had been 24 years since CDG had a single Black model walk in their shows.
Yes, you read that correctly. 24. Years.
And yet in 2020, they put on a disappointingly regressive show made only more disappointing by the fact that the pieces that have come from CDG over the years typically present a forward-thinking future. In 2020 we shouldn’t need a single new example of how racially and culturally insensitive fashion can be but here’s one more data point for our consideration.
The silver lining is that now we can take stock of where the industry truly is, and not get overly self-congratulatory for the work that has already been done in face of the work that still needs to be done. Lest we forget that for every Pyer Moss, Alton Mason, Tyler Mitchell, Gypsy Sport, Paloma Elsesser, Telfar, Indira Scott, and Kenneth Ize that has found space in the industry, countless other people of color have been excluded from the industry for deplorable racial and cultural prejudices.
It is the responsibility of every single person in the industry to do better and to wield the cultural influence they have towards a more inclusive and less ignorant future. Fashion is a societal medium that at its best offers a vehicle in which society can look in the mirror and change certain assumptions. But, at its worst, it perpetuates ignorance and reinforces the access people feel towards cultures they don’t understand.
I sincerely hope that these kinds of reviews will become fewer and fewer in the coming months and years.
P.S. it was difficult to focus on the clothes but, in my brief glances, they were unimpressive. Better just to leave garnish prints to Moschino and print mixing to Dries Van Noten.
To see the whole collection, follow this link.
**PHOTO CREDIT TO Filippo Fior / Gorunway.com @ Vogue**