Coachella Fashion: Cultural Appropriation 101

Something odd happens to the whole concept of fashion when it comes to Coachella: cultural appropriation inexplicably becomes the trend du jour. Stereotypical and often offensive takes on the Native headdress, the Hindu bindi and “gypsy style” run rampant at the annual outdoor music festival in California. While it can be fun to put on a wacky outfit for a festival-length bender, there’s a pretty obvious difference between out-of-the-box style and cultural appropriation. Yet hordes of festival-goers both famous and not continue to sport terribly ignorant pieces plucked from various cultural groups, stripped of meaning, and re-appropriated as trendy. So why is wearing a bindi, a Native headdress, or any other culturally-appropriated item not okay? For one thing, this is a form of cultural stereotyping, or, you know, racism. Stereotyping another culture is bad because it is reductive and promotes ignorance about said culture. Further, bindis and headdresses are spiritually significant in their respective cultures – when you wear these things to an event like Coachella you clearly aren’t honoring their purpose and meaning. Respecting and honoring another culture isn’t taking one of their spiritually meaningful symbols out of its context and pairing it with a fringed bikini and some warm beer. That’s being offensive, and it’s in the same realm as blackface and other more openly vilified forms of cultural appropriation.

The Bindi

Celebrity bindis on Instagram
From top left: Selena Gomez, Sarah Hyland, Kylie Jenner and Vanessa Hudgens

Bindis are this year’s biggest Coachella fashion trend and have been spotted on countless (ignorant) celebrities. Hindu Statesman Rajan Zed said of the bindi trend: “The bindi on the forehead is an ancient tradition in Hinduism and has religious significance. It is also sometimes referred to as the third eye and the flame, and it is an auspicious religious and spiritual symbol… it is not meant to be thrown around loosely for seductive effects or as a fashion accessory aiming at mercantile greed.”

Looks like, having already offensively appropriated the cultures of Native and Romani people, Coachellites have moved on to religious adornments this year. Vanessa Hudgens even bragged about her “bindi mark” – the white mark left on her forehead after having worn her bindi out in the sun. Let’s hope this Coachella fashion trend doesn’t spread into the mainstream as many have before this.

The Native Headdress

Native headdresses at Coachella (note repeat-offender Vanessa Hudgens, top left)

I’m especially disgusted by this festival trend and honestly shocked at its continuing popularity. Sporting a Native headdress to Coachella is equivalent to wearing a T-shirt with “I know nothing about Native American history” emblazoned on it. Adrienne K. does a great job of explaining why this isn’t okay on her blog – here are the basics: as a North American (and especially as a white North American), you have benefited from a horrifying history of colonization of Native peoples, who suffered displacement, violence and overall just massive amounts of oppression, and still do to this day. Wearing a Native headdress is dressing up as some stereotypical version of a Native person who lives in history when no one should be further negating the pressing and present issues of Native peoples. I shouldn’t have to say this, but Native people exist in MODERN SOCIETY and do not regularly walk around wearing headdresses. They are also not a monolithic culture: tribes are distinct, with their own separate cultures, some of which include feathered headdress. Oh, and feathers have to be earned.

Images courtesy of cbc.ca and buzzfeed.com

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Have your spotted these offensive looks at Coachella or other music festivals? Let us know in the comments!