Gucci has recently been praised for its campaign celebrating gender equality. However, behind its golden lined feminist agenda is cultural appropriation, racial insensitivities, and an overall window into the idea that Gucci cares little about thinking in a lens that is not the white mainstream. These allegations are not dated ones, though, and not an effect of modern-millennials criticizing yesterday’s dated thinking. Gucci has seen criticism with very recent campaigns, products, and discrepancies.
In 2018, Gucci debuted its latest pieces in the Milan Fashion Week. The striking resemblance of these pieces to Sikh turbans and hijabs was concerning. The deeper criticism also came from the fact that these pieces were being modeled by white women. To many, this ‘fashion movement’ may seem a ‘celebration’, or a respectful ‘nod’ to other cultures. To understand cultural appropriation, one must understand that these pieces’ are a part of a cultural/religious connotation that is heavily criticized by Western and mainstream culture. So, to take that into account, and then design these pieces for white models who are not a part of the culture, and to have models remain closer to the critiques’ appearances than the culture they are inaccurately ‘portraying’ is just disrespectful. This instance really showcases Gucci’s inconsiderate mindset and how it comes across in their products, and the people they hire.
Yet, this is not Gucci’s only recent fault. They have recently pulled a sweater from their stores that has been compared to blackface. The sweater features a design in which the turtle neck can be pulled over half of the face, creating a false smile that appears eerily close to depictions of African American persons in minstrel shows and related illustrations. After backlash, Gucci pulled the sweater from both stores and online and issued an apology.
These two instances are examples of offenses that could have been easily prevented. A point, that many are making, is that cultural appropriation and racial offenses are only made ‘accidentally’ when companies hire little to no people of color, and diverse persons from different backgrounds. So, if one argues that Gucci did not intend to offend people, and therefore deserves slack, one cannot abstain from recognizing the fact that these offenses could have been prevented if people who were culturally and racially aware were hired. ‘But, oh, where can one find these people?’ Simply, and sadly, minority groups are the most culturally and racially aware due to the fact that they live in a biased, and prejudiced society that forced them to be so. So, yes, hiring people to help make your company racially and culturally sensitive is as easy as looking past a white-centric frame of mind while hiring.
Take this example of offense by Gucci, to showcase that all companies, whether high fashion or not, should exemplify diversity for a multitude of reasons (the obvious being that it’s 2019 and we need to recognize that talent stems from all races, cultures, classes, and more), including the fact that it can directly affect your product’s success and customer relations.