Where do we draw the line between cultural appreciation and appropriation?

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When Elle Canada described the dashiki, a vibrant West African garment, as the “newest it-item” a little while back, the Twitter response was fast and furious.

People blasted the publication, pointing out that there’s nothing new or trendy about the traditional piece of clothing – even though Dimepiece prints its name overtop the patterns on its version of the shirt – it’s been long worn with pride and is very much part of West African culture.

The misstep stoked the ongoing heated debate about cultural appropriation in the worlds of fashion and beauty.

Allure drew ire recently when it ran an article called “You (Yes, You) Can Have an Afro”, shot on a white model. So did Kylie Jenner, with her dreadlocks and cornrows. Japanese designer Junya Watanabe struck a nerve when he showed his Africa-themed collection in Paris in June, the pieces clearly referencing the culture and continent without a single black model on the runway. Earlier this year, members of the Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec community in Oaxaca, Mexico, accused Isabel Marant of plagiarism for her use of a traditional design on one of her dresses and asked her to remove the item from her collection.

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

Examples abound of cultural appropriation, drawing the questions: where does inspiration end and theft begin? And how is the line drawn between cultural appropriation and appreciation?

Instagram/kyliejenner

“In my view, outright copying without somehow modifying the source material is not appropriate, especially if one is doing this for a financial gain,” says Croatian-born Toronto-based designer Zoran Dobric. “Dries Van Noten had a collection inspired by China but elements were abstracted enough that you would not consider the work to be outright copying. In this case, the inspiration was appropriately implemented in design. The grey area in fashion is that there is no copyright, unless you have patented your design. Technically you could copy someone’s design, and that is what happens in the fashion industry all the time whether you look at current designers’ clothes or [various cultures’ traditional] folk costumes.”

It’s also subject that comes up frequently in the courses Ben Barry teaches at the School of Fashion of Ryerson University.

“As artists, designers take in inspiration from so many things around us, but there are certain guiding principles,” says Barry, assistant professor of equity, diversity, and inclusion. “One of the things we talk about in class is the source. Have we included the indigenous culture in the creation and the production [of an item]? Have they actually had a role in the making of it and have they been able able to profit from that? Or are we simply taking an idea?

“It’s also important to always look at the significance of what designers are inspired by. Is there something cultural or spiritual or religious attached to that motif or that object? And if it has such an important meaning, that’s not something that should be used,” he adds.

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Drawing from other cultures in design also brings up broader, historical issues. Consider the backlash that occurred this summer, when the Boston Museum of Fine Arts debuted Kimono Wednesdays. The event was intended to celebrate Claude Monet’s 1876 painting La Japonaise, which portrays the artist’s wife, Camille, wearing a blonde wig and a red kimono, and gave museumgoers the chance to don a replica kimono. Protesters arrived on scene with signs saying things like “Try on the kimono and learn what it’s like to be a racist imperialist today!” and “This is Racist. This is Appropriation. This is Orientalism.”

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“Something that’s really important to look at is oppression and unequal relationships and the history of colonialism,” Barry says. “Are western designers taking something from a non-western culture that has been oppressed in some way? Is there a way then to try to undo that; can we undo any type of systemic oppression and create a more sustainable, equal relationship? By having different cultures collaborating and working together, is there a way to restore equal power relations and undo some of the damage from colonialism? Designers have a really powerful role in being able to do so.”

La Japonaise, Claude Monet, 1876

When done respectfully, drawing from other cultures can lead to more than great designs but also to bigger, more positive outcomes. Fashion can be a way of celebrating a culture and educating others about it.

ALSO SEE: Valentino’s gorgeous dresses honour Métis culture – in the right way

“My ethic background is Serbian, and if someone wore an embroidered Serbian men’s vest I would think that’s great and be flattered that they think it’s beautiful and that they perhaps even know something about Serbia,” Dobric says.

“In the book Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers by Kwame Anthony Appiah, one of the emerging ideas seem to be that the world is now so multicultural, especially in Canada, that the morphing and metamorphosis of cultures is inevitable and positive,” he says. “So perhaps the phenomenon of ethnic influences in fashion should be seen as a positive expression of multiculturalism rather than an attack or offence of someone’s cultural and folk heritage.”

Do you agree that there is a way to show cultural appreciation without crossing the line into racism or insensitivity? Let us know by tweeting @YahooStyleCA.