People Are Accusing Zuhair Murad of Cultural Appropriation After #IndianSummer Couture Collection
Zuhair Murad just staged his 2018 Spring Haute Couture runway show in Paris, but he was met with accusations of cultural appropriation after his set as well as many aspects of his collection designs seemed pulled from the uneducated outsider’s view of many Indigenous cultures. What’s more, the event was actually promoted by the brand itself using the hashtag #IndianSummer. And the fact that the term “Indian,” used in this particular context, is totally inaccurate only begins to scrape at the surface of the issue.
For starters, the stage was set with painted sticks that were arranged in sets of three, meant to look like a teepee without a covering. Even the fluted soundtrack that filled the room when the lights came up seemed inspired by the same. What’s more, no matter how influenced each of the 54 couture looks was by the aforementioned culture, every single girl who walked the runway was styled with at least one feather in her hair. Worse, still, many of the individual gowns were designed with graphics that we can’t help but trace back to the gorgeous craftsmanship of those who lived on this land long before we arrived here. Not only was the representation of early North American culture uneducated, but what exploded the situation was the added fact that many of the adornments and embellishments that were used in the show are sacred and religious symbols in these Indigenous cultures, so the use was quite insolent, at best.
Zuhair Murad is not alone (sadly) in using similarly influenced designs and those such brands were also met with outrage. Perhaps one of the most memorable in recent years is Victoria’s Secret, who has had multiple accusations of cultural appropriation when it came to the use of feathered headdresses, chevron-embellished looks, and the like.
No comment has been made from the designer or the couture house, though it comes on the heels of the explosion of cultural bigotry with Miroslava Duma and Ulyana Sergeenko, so we hope something will be said on the subject soon.
Related: People Are Calling for a Boycott of Ulyana Sergeenko’s Fashion Show for Her Use of the N-Word
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