3.1 Phillip Lim shows how to do culturally-inspired clothing the ‘right’ way

All photos via 3.1 Phillip Lim

For a while now, we’ve been hearing the terms cultural appropriation and cultural insensitivity in reference to fashion designers using cultures to inspire their collections. While finding inspiration in different cultures in nothing new, there’s been much discussion as to how this can be achieved without crossing the line into offensive.

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Most recently, Valentino came under fire for their Spring 2016 campaign images, which featured (mainly white) models set against African backdrops in reference to the collection’s tribal influence.

“Sure, opening oneself up to different cultures is always a great thing. But it just can’t be as pure as that when a fashion house is making money off “chic-ifying” hairstyles originally created by black women by transferring them to white women’s heads, in a time when black women can’t necessarily wear such hairstyles without very public criticism,” Eliza Brooke wrote for Fashionista.

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Fair enough, but it begs the question of how to use this inspiration the right way. One designer thinks he may have figured it out.

For the 3.1 Phillip Lim spring 2016 collection, Lim was greatly inspired by the colours and patterns of Ethiopia, so he contacted Ethiopian model Liya Kebede to help him out with the campaign.

“This season, we pushed the boundaries even further by asking a world-renowned model to join us in this guerilla affair; we asked her to do this in her home country with her actual family,” Lim says on his website. 

ALSO SEE: Was Allure’s Afro feature another case of cultural appropriation?

For the campaign, Lim and his crew were guided through Ethiopia by Kebede herself, chosing her hometown of Addis Ababa as a shooting location. In the images, Kebede is dressed in the collection alongside locals, family, friends and settings that are part of who she is. Unlike the Valentino campaign it’s not focusing on a contrast but rather a complement.

Click through the gallery to see the campaign images as well as some behind the scenes shots.