Saturday, March 03, 2007
Fuck You, Forever 21.
The OriGinal Fashionistas.
Please compare the image above to the images below:
The image on the left is a model showing off classic Filipina dress in comparison to more contemporary dresses. To the right, the 3 tops are taken straight from Forever21.com and are interestingly similar, almost replicated, from Filipin@ fashion. Last summer, I was disgusted with the Japanese-influenced geisha-like clothing line that Forever 21 displayed. This spring, I am outraged with the similarities and stylistic influences pulled from Filipin@ fashion and culture.Why the outrage, right? Fashion always draws from other cultural styles. And it's a great thing that Filipino dress is gaining recognition in this world. Yeah, it's commercialized, but at least us Filipinos can buy our native dress. And other people will like these clothes and buy them and wear them, too. At least that means more respect, right? This is the type of discourse I've come across when I attempt to get other Pin@ys to see the my frustration with this type of cultural exploitation. Maybe that's too harsh of a term, but I definitely see it that way. Ninotchka Rosca writes about this "at-least" attitude that Filipinos tend to have, but "at-least is a cop-out." Frankly, I don't understand. As a Pinay, why is an aspect of my culture (colonized or not) being presented and modernized in America and passed off as the way in which a female should dress for this season? Pretty soon this stuff's gunna end up on the clearance rack. Attemping to explain this while being triggered is extremely difficult. That's it, though. This is good for this season. I wouldn't be surprised if the relationship between the U.S. and Philippines tightened up in current events over the next few months.
Teenagers (Americans & Filipinas, specifically) will be wearing these clothes even though they don't know that they are actually wearing a part of themselves! Pinays & allies - you are wearing your own commercialized, commodified, deculturalized fashion statements! Americans - you are wearing the result of U.S. colonization, sexual violence, slavery, cheapened labor, dehumanization and imperialism. Whose culture is lost and whose is kept? Are these clothes representative of Filipinas even though we come from a HIStory of U.S. colonization? Or do these clothes rightfully belong those who inhabit our "imperial center"?
I also can't help but think of these clothes a possessive investment in whiteness. Many females in the America covet a beach tan but still maintain their whiteness, not as a skin color but as a claim to resources or power, whereas many Filipinas already possess this darker tan but will never truly be identified as white. Who is investing in whiteness when these clothes are purchased? These clothes, given their obvious Filipina influences, will become normalized and sold as an American product, made in China. Speaking of China, how is it that a country that was once coveted for its expensive porcelain, opium and other crops is now a pawn in America's game of
What is it, exactly, about Asian cultures that draw a curious kind of attention?
x_magsalita.
// posted by Janice @ 8:57 PM 
Comments:
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China's position as source of labor has specific beginnings that can be traced to the failure of the Qing Dynasty at maintaining it's isolationist policy and, I would say, even further back to the voyages of Zheng He in the 17th century NOT continuing, but drawing back from worldwide dominance to focus on domestic issues which eventually weakened the infrastructure and government of the entire country. Stupid China.
Forever 21 is evil, anyway. But we've talked about this. I'm never surprised by their exploitation of Asian cultures when I know it starts with the exploitation of the Asian womyn, in downtown L.A., working their damned sweatshops to make money by piece that they then sell for 6x the price.
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Forever 21 is evil, anyway. But we've talked about this. I'm never surprised by their exploitation of Asian cultures when I know it starts with the exploitation of the Asian womyn, in downtown L.A., working their damned sweatshops to make money by piece that they then sell for 6x the price.
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