Cultural appropriation or cultural tribute? This ongoing question has frequented conversations about the fashion industry in recent years, and Carolina Herrera is the latest company to come under fire for incorporation of cultural elements into high fashion. This time, however, government entities have gotten involved.
Fashion designer Carolina Herrera is seen leaving the Carolina Herrera Fall/Winter 2019 Fashion Show during New York Fashion Week. Image by Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images
Last week, the Mexican government penned a letter to Herrera and creative director Wes Gordon, who worked on the brand’s latest line, titled Resort 2020. According to its official description, the collection “takes on the playful and colorful mood of a Latin holiday.”
In the letter (first published by El País), Secretary of Culture Alejandra Frausto points out that the patterns incorporated into some of the designs were lifted from specific indigenous communities in Mexico; she asks how the brand arrived at their inclusion, and how their use in the collection would benefit these communities. She specifically highlighted two dresses embroidered with patterns that originated from the Tehuantepec Isthmus in Oaxaca, as well as another that resembles the serape from Saltillo.
The designer is accused by the Mexican government of appropriating culture. Image by Bryan Mullennix/Getty Images
Frausto asserts that pointing out cases like this is essential to the development of sustainable industry, “promoting inclusion and making those who are invisible visible.”
While Herrera has not released an official statement, Gordon told the New York Times that the company was currently discussing their next actions regarding the collection: “We want to do what it takes to make everyone feel the same joy about this collection we felt when making it…. We are going through a big social shift in how we talk about gender, culture and identity. These are important discussions to have. We take this very seriously.”
Many, including Oaxacan senator Susana Harp Iturribarría, have weighed in on the topic. Hashtags have begun making the rounds on Twitter speaking to the controversy: #MexicoSinPlagio (“Mexico without plagiarism”) and #SinlascomunidadesNO (“without the communities, NO”).
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