This article might sound a bit like cultural appropriation, but really it’s just going to point out the hypocrisy within the fashion industry and their overeagerness to profit off of the styles of the lower/working class people. I grew up in a relatively working class family, maybe borderline middle class. When I was growing up, both of my parents worked in a bakery plant, we shopped at the Salvation Army a lot and my house was pretty scant of furniture. That being said, I never once thought bad about it, because I knew that my family was doing their most and best to provide for us, especially for me. I grew up shopping at Walmart for just about everything, including athleisure and other staples of clothing.
That being said, once I got to middle school where Nike and Under Armor regalia ruled the hallways and fashion became a way people decided if you were popular or not, I realized I didn’t have that. I couldn’t afford the new Nike runners, the Abercrombie & Fitch hoodies, nor the Hollister jeans. What I could afford, used to be made fun of with me wearing brands like Champion, Aasics, and New Balance. Obviously, that made me feel pretty left out because while the other kids were showing off their fifth pair of new, brand-name shoes, I still had my worn down “cheap” shoes. But this article isn’t focused on talking about me being left out in middle school, it’s talking about the blatant hypocrisy that really makes me want to laugh at all the irony around me.
Recently I went to Madison, Wisconsin for the weekend and we stopped at an Urban Outfitters where now the newest fashion trend is a thin, cheap-looking Champion sweater that costs about $70 there when it typically costs around $20 to $30 at Walmart. The young fashionistas are going wild over these sweaters! Are you kidding me? Another example of this would be the embroidered Mexican blouses that I used to wear when I was a kid. Because I have a lot of family in Mexico (who always read and support my articles so ¡hola mi familia!), it was very common for me to wear the traditional embroidered blouses or to get my hair done in trencitas, which are essentially cornrows. That being said, that wasn’t “trendy."
That was what the people of my culture, specifically the lower-income indigenous people made to survive, wore every day. Nowadays, in the bigger cities, it’s considered to be more of a fashionable homage to those who are of indigenous descent, but it’s still not to be used for some white girl’s Instagram “aesthetic”. Those fabrics and embroidery have a particular meaning and symbology and the fact that some overpriced, overrated clothing store is trying to make a profit off of it makes me angry. While this can go into a different conversation about what cultural appropriation is and isn’t, the point remains: big clothing companies love to rip off what was once a staple in every lower-income household and turn it into a big fashion trend while marketing it with unbelievably expensive prices.
Nevertheless, it’s unbelievably annoying that these big companies are starting to “create and market” clothing options with little to no regard for the history or context that comes with these brands and pieces. This aesthetic culture was built upon the lives of poor, young aspiring artists who wanted to become big in the arts program; whether that be writing, acting, photography, or music. So I ask of those the next time they go in and pay $70 at Urban Outfitters to realize what they’re actually buying into, because fashion is not about just clothing, it’s about culture, history and expression.
