“Native” beaded bag by Free People. #NativeAppropriations
it’s moments like these where i seriously wonder if the people responsible for this even know what the medicine wheel is, or just thought “oh i just really like the way white, yellow, red and black look together! and beads are just so pretty!”
free people is the fucking worst. their ad campaigns, their lookbooks, their products are always filled with rampant overpriced stereotypical items that are just a total mess. like this shit?! 162 dollars for a bag made by the “*By Spell & the Gypsy Collective…” wait, what? are you attempting to appropriate native american culture and then using a racist slur against romas to describe it?!
for the record, free people is owned by the same people who run urban outfitters (and anthropologie) and they can all suck a bag of dicks for all i care.
sidenote: if your only defense is “but i like the way it looks!” and you want to own something that looks like this? look up some ACTUAL native designers. support independent native artists and craftspeople. check out some of the many others people like lisa charleyboy (aka urban native girl) or jessica metcalfe (the great mind behind beyond buckskin). check out the beyond buckskin boutique.
to me, this is the fashion equivalent of putting a bunch of native art in the “craft/anthropology” section of an art museum and putting the artist name “anonymous.” do your research!
(via nativeappropriations)
