The Colonization of Fashion

Fashion trends from years ago that were once deemed “unattractive” are now making a comeback, inspiring intricate discussions on whether they should be brought back into mainstream media. However, many of these repopularized trends do not give proper recognition to the true creators that pioneered them.

For instance, the “clean girl aesthetic” involves a slicked-back bun with minimal makeup and gold jewelry. This look gained popularity around the beginning of last summer, with the hashtag “cleangirl” found in the captions of makeup looks on social media. Many of these looks were inspired by Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber, who are both famous white models. However, Black, South Asian, and Latina women have been donning similar looks for decades, oftentimes with a special cultural meaning. For instance, numerous South Asian women recall being bullied for their “dirty” hair, which their mothers lovingly oiled every week, massaged into the scalp to promote hair growth and thickness. Similarly, Black and Latina women have often been labeled “ghetto” and “trashy” for wearing gold hoop earrings and necklaces.

For centuries, people of color have been demonized by the media and their peers regarding their beauty choices. In a scene from the famous sitcom “Sex and the City,” which is set in the 1990s, two characters converse about jewelry. One of the characters, Miranda, tells Carrie, another character, “But you wear gold jewelry.” Carrie responds, “Yeah, like ghetto gold for fun.” The stereotype involving gold jewelry, commonly worn by Black and Latina women, demonstrates the negative association between beauty choices and people of color. These stereotypes can often lead to stopping a cultural tradition for fear of further harassment, so it is important to note the hypocrisy occurring in the modern beauty industry.

While it is true that neither Bieber nor the introducers of the “clean girl aesthetic” claimed to have invented the look, it is evident that the style was popularized by white women. Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner, and Gigi Hadid were all labeled the inspiration of this trend by many, with some even going as far as calling a slicked-back bun with upturned contour the “Bella Hadid look.”

Similar to the “clean girl aesthetic” trend, the “brownie glazed lip” was shared and popularized by a white woman. Bieber dubbed the look after the makeup products she used from her beauty company, Rhode Skin. Beauty gurus all over social media have attempted the “brownie glazed lip combo,” which uses a dark brown lip liner with a clear lip gloss on top, as if it were a new trend. Once again, Latina and Black women were the pioneers of this look, having invented it in the 1990s. Back then, many makeup brands were not inclusive of all skin tones, so Black and Latina women had to utilize alternatives to achieve an effect, using eyeliner and brow pencils in dark shades to line their lips. Appearances have important meanings behind them, and when a white celebrity brands the look with her own label, leading people to believe it is a new trend, it disrespects the cultural importance of the look curated by Black and Latina women, who were shamed for it.

Though less recent, the “fox-eye” makeup trend has also been trending for years. Once again, many labeled Bella Hadid as the inspiration. Following the trend, numerous girls have expressed their desire to have blepharoplasty, a plastic surgery procedure that involves lifting the eyes by removing fat in order to look like Bella Hadid, while she admitted to using facial tape to achieve her iconic fox-eye appearance. Several other celebrities have participated in the trend of receiving cosmetic procedures to acquire a pulled back eye look. Jenner and Megan Fox are both suspected to have received brow lift or blepharoplasty procedures by several medical professionals. However, East Asians have experienced relentless bullying for decades regarding the genetic look of lifted and pulled eyes. For instance, artists sometimes illustrate East Asians with exaggerated slanted lines for eyes. Dr. Seuss, a renowned children’s book author, was criticized for his grotesque portrayal of Asians, shown in books such as “If I Ran the Zoo” and “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.” These mocks of hereditary features have resulted in numerous East Asians receiving cosmetic work for their eyes to appear wider.

With the rise of aesthetic surgery becoming more accessible and common, girls’ desire to change their appearance is often a direct consequence of social media. Social media has repeatedly promoted toxic and often unrealistic beauty standards, such as the standard Eurocentric features among models: clear skin; straight, shiny hair; and a thin frame. Constantly seeing these traits promoted as beautiful can lead young girls to think that they need to change their appearance to be good enough for society’s standards. Surgeons in southern California have estimated that teenage plastic surgery has increased by 300 percent in the last three years. This effect is especially consequential for young children and teenagers who do not have Eurocentric features, as social media can indirectly encourage them to change racial features that have been passed through generations.

The introduction of ethnic looks into mainstream media does hold certain benefits, however. Though these looks are currently being popularized because of white women and not for cultural reasons, popularization can still lead to a decrease in stigmatization. More people are slowly learning to enjoy the beauty choices that were once looked down upon in the past, possibly also leading to a decrease in harassment against people of color for these beauty choices and traits. Despite the fact that recognition is not given, the increasing acceptance of these traits is a step in the right direction.

By working to combat the cultural appropriation occurring throughout the beauty industry, future generations can begin to understand the history of their traits, someday resulting in appreciation. To start, attempting to diversify beauty trends and acknowledging cultural history by giving credit to pioneers can one day lessen the Eurocentric standard of beauty that is so commonly praised throughout social media.