The high-profile show featured celebrity models like Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Karlie Kloss, and Adriana Lima.
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The choice to send a phalanx of mostly white models down a runway wearing dreadlocks was met with backlash on social media, with many calling Jacobs out for cultural appropriation-particularly on one photo in the brand’s Instagram. The renowned fashion designer took to Instagram to shut down critics who slammed his Spring 2017 runway show, because of a particular hairstyle models wore during his club culture inspired fashion show. I don’t see color or race- I see people. Jacobs himself responded to the criticism in the shot’s comments, writing that “I respect and am inspired by people and how the look”. Palau found Etsy shop @DreadsbyJena, owned by a women named Jen in Palatka, Florida, and purchased custom wool dreadlocks. I’m sorry to read that so many people are so narrow minded… Appreciation of all and inspiration from anywhere is a handsome thing. Though he did seem to allude it, telling the magazine: “The interesting thing about Marc is how he takes something so street and so raw, and because of the coloration of the hair and the makeup, it becomes a total look”.
According to an earlier article on The Cut, Palau commissioned Jena after Marc Jacobs expressed a desire to portray trans director and icon Lana Wachowski’s everyday look on the runway.
Which is why, ultimately, Jacobs’ show is not even worth it.
While it is true that dreadlocks have been linked to other cultures, the style is a mainstay in black culture, a manageable means of protecting strands, a symbol of black pride in a society that stigmatizes textured hair while privileging straight hair. “As a woman, it feeds into the insecurity of not being enough because your look is unacceptable; like being “politely” told you’re ugly”.
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There are so many things wrong with this.
