http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/fashion/marc-jacobs-models-dreadlocks-social-media-response-new-york-fashion-week.html 2016-09-16 20:14:27 Marc Jacobs’s Use of Faux Locs on Models Draws Social Media Ire The designer was called out for cultural appropriation. His response on Instagram didn’t alleviate the outrage. === On Thursday afternoon, Bouquets of towering multicolored yarn fashioned into faux locs fueled an ongoing conversation about the relationship of cultural appropriation and creative inspiration that has grown increasingly heated. “An unknown black man/woman has dreads, it is assumed they smoke and/or are unprofessional. Marc Jacobs has a model with dreads, it’s boho chic,” “So, I guess this means POC can wear our locs freely now and not be blocked from a promotion or job in general?” The furor might have died down after a couple of hours, but instead reached a new crescendo after Marc Jacobs took to Instagram to address the criticism. Responding to two commenters using the His response set off a slew of fresh condemnations on social media. Capturing a sentiment expressed widely on the Instagram thread below Mr. Jacobs’s comment, one user wrote: “black women who straighten their hair were forced to conform to those standards. A form of assimilation. I’m from Canada but in America if you hair is unkept, in styles such as dreads, Afros, cornrows, black women lose jobs and opportunities, and they also get ridiculed like Zendaya.” The user, @kiidiosa, was referring to The same user continued: “You don’t see color, huh? How convenient for you. Cuz black women are reminded abt their hair and skin everyday. But your privilege has allowed you that option. I loved you, also didn’t take offense to the dreads, but your comment was redundant and ignorant. Shame.” This wasn’t the first time a fashion designer has come under fire for cultural appropriation. Last year, Debate over cultural appropriation, a term that refers to the use of a minority group’s customs or culture by people who do not belong to it, has also been raging in circles beyond fashion. Last week, the author “Otherwise, all I could write about would be smart-alecky 59-year-old 5-foot-2-inch white women from North Carolina,” she said. Critics of cultural appropriation say that a key difference between being inspired by a culture and appropriating it lies in attribution. By those standards, Guido Palau, the hairstylist behind the hair at Marc Jacobs’s show, may have fallen short. Mr. Jacobs’s original muse for the hair was the director Lana Wachowski, a transgender woman and star of the brand’s spring 2016 campaign, and Mr. Palau said the final version drew on raver culture, Boy George and Harajuku, a district in Tokyo known for its colorful street style. Asked if the look he created was inspired by Rastafarian culture, “It would be crazy to say that dreadlocks aren’t something that is part of black culture,” said Nelson Vercher, a hairstylist who has worked with models. He defended Mr. Palau’s artistic choice: “I don’t think that look was so specifically taken from black culture. It’s kind of a mish-mash of things that have been happening in culture over the last 30 years or so. It looks kind of Rasta, but it also has a punk rock, squatter quality as well.” For her part, Jena Counts, who made the locs using wool, commercial dye and Kool-Aid and “It is so hurtful to me,” she said of the online comments. “It was never in my head that it would be brought up as an issue. I don’t understand why they would react that way.”