Kendall And Kylie Made Culturally Insensitive Clothing – Again
Hate them or love them, the Jenner girls have proved to be quite adept in one specific field: egregious displays of cultural appropriation.
Just this year, Kylie and Kendall have come under fire for numerous instances of insensitivies, including but not limited to: Kendall's Pepsi ad, Kendall's Vogue India cover, Kylie lifting designs from POC creatives, and disrepecting rap legends. So much appropriation, so little time!
Now that they've pilfered elements of Black culture — there's not much left to copy. So the gals have found a new movement to exploit: Latinx culture!
This past weekend, the Kendall + Kylie kollection quietly dropped a new line, but uproar ensued soon after. That's because, as seen above, the "newest arrival" to the Kendall + Kylie shop wasn't something "new" after all... it was a copy and paste of Chola culture, commodified by the already very rich Jenner girls.
An image teaser for the new drop featured a plaid button-down buttoned only at the very top, a lacy bra top under, and large hoop earrings. In other words, they were trying to sell you the Chola starter pack.
Perhaps the most troubling aspect of appropriation is that when these features are reinterpreted onto another ethnicity, it carries a totally different meaning on that person, Ashley Sherengo, aka @lipstickitty, explained to Refinery29.
“What bothers me is that they don't ever come up with their own original ideas. They are always taking ideas from others and never give credit. Aside from being unoriginal, it's definitely irritating to see these girls making money off a culture they know absolutely nothing about. When we — Latinas and Xicanas — dress in flannels and big pants, we get profiled and frowned upon. But when they do it, it's ‘fashion,’” she said.
The real problem here lies in the obviously out-of-touch paradigm the Jenners function within: they don't seem to understand why their constant cultural appropriation is bad. And until they do, they will continue to get bad press regarding the same subject over and over again.
A word of advice, girls: it might be time for a hiatus from the fashion sphere — your inattention to detail (and refusal to learn) is sullying your other brands! It's a well-known fact that the Jenners aren't actually responsible for any of the designs — but that doesn't make them any less at fault.
In the end, they have the final say on designs and the ability to opine on products that are attached to their names. Here's to hoping they actually learned their lesson this time!