There are some seriously cute new arrivals at J. Crew —
ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS FLORAL MIDI
THESE COVERALLS ARE SERIOUSLY CUTE
THIS “BEACH SWEATER” IS BRILLIANT — PERFECT FOR LAYERING OVER NAP DRESSES IF CHILLY!
BROCK COLLECTION VIBES WITH THIS WHITE TANK
J’ADORE THE ULTRA-THIN STRAPS ON THIS EYELET TOP
And in the sale section — you can’t miss this striped button down, on sale somehow for $30?! SO good! And there are also some cute gingham shorts for boys and girls marked down and with an extra 30% off to boot.
Unrelated, but I just ordered this dress as an option for my 37th birthday! I am into red RN. I also considered this happy dress and this funky seaside print dress. The blue crab! It is just SO good as a return-to-the-Mid-Atlantic find.
OH – and Frilly Frog is offering 40% off all Lila + Hayes today only (June 15) with code LILA40. Perfect time to snap up their coveted pajamas, bubbles, and dresses. This brand uses the best, most durable but soft cotton. Love!
P.S. More dresses to celebrate in.
P.P.S. How fun are these wicker ginger jars?
PS: Relatedly, I had recently also been thinking about how Indian blockprint has really exploded into the mainstream this year, but there are retailers that do not mention its South Asian origins (or East Asian, as applicable, but most of what I’m seeing currently and in the last few years seem to reflect the Indian tradition).
I do appreciate small businesses like SZ Blockprints, for being straightforward about this and featuring the artisans on their website, paying fair wages, providing safe workspaces, for example. However, the blockprint “trend” (quotes intentional, as it is a tradition dating back thousands of years in East Asia) seems to have been brought to the mainstream by white women — including Sarah Zellweger of SZ Blockprints, Julia Amory, Molly Russell of Pink City Prints — perhaps there are more? All three of them do credit artisans in Jaipur, though not all seem to equally discuss fair wages and safe labor practices (SZ seems to provide the most details). It might take a bit more digging to find out the information.
Not to say I’m immune to this, as someone who owns 3 SZ Blockprints dresses after not finding the prints I like during 6 trips to India over the past 10 years — including Jaipur, where a significant amount of block printing is done (though admittedly my trips there had been focused on visiting my in-laws and sightseeing, rather than textile shopping). It makes me wonder, will it have become as popular if Indian women or other women of color introduced it to the West (and if more WOC are promoting it, modeling the designs on websites, etc)?
All this to say… I don’t know the answer. I do feel it begs for additional reflection/conversation both in online and IRL spaces to come to greater understanding.
Mia, thank you so much for taking the time to post this comment. I am someone of Indian descent, and this is something I think about often. Like you, I don’t know the answer but want to learn more. I have four SZ dresses- the information about the artisans on the website helped me feel comfortable making the purchases. I have not been able to stomach any Julia Amory purchases but wish I could as the toiletry bags are beautiful!
Thanks to you and Carleen for contributing to this conversation — I shared some questions/thoughts on this subject in my initial response to Mia’s comment above. I appreciate and frankly admire the care and thought you are putting into your decisions to purchase from specific brands. On the specific comment about toiletry bags, I have come across a number of small Etsy boutiques that are run by artisans in India (often women-owned, too) that offer similar styles and provide detail about the provenance/production of their products!
xx
D, I agree with you on SZ. They seem to do a better job than others on this. I’m not Indian, but my husband is, so this topic feels “close to home” for me.
Jen, thank you for the reminder to look on Etsy for Indian-owned/WOC-owned stores for traditional block printed items. I have ordered a few home goods from there — it definitely requires patience to comb through, but it’s often worth it!
Hi Jen!
I was wondering if you were aware of the recent issue with the “Henrietta” design that Sea is using? You can find it on their IG:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPvPh8ehFt-/
(see caption and comments)
I mean no judgment at all — if I had just seen that dress without knowing this background information, I would have definitely thought it is a gorgeous dress.
I believe we’ve had some similar conversations about ethics and appropriation here before (in fashion and beyond), and it’s something I’m always willing to learn more about. Hoping for more conversation on this here with you and your community.
This is happening again and again. Louis Vuitton copied a traditional Palestinian scarf for their profit. With all the atrocities happening currently in the region it is just shameful that luxury brands are profiting! Shame on SEA!
Hi Mia — Thanks for sharing this. I had not seen this Instagram post prior and have been thinking about this since you first messaged me last night. A few of the questions it brought to mind for me: Is it honoring a cultural tradition (as SEA suggests) or de-contextualizing it to the point of obscuring its source/history? What kind of permission needs to be granted for a brand or another culture or even a single artist to repurpose a particular style/tradition/technique? Is all art in some way intertextual or derivative, and if so — what/how can artists properly and ethically attribute those sources? And is this kind of fashion (i.e., the SEA Henrietta series) “art” / is it fair to consider it that way, or do we need to reframe the question for consumer goods? Was it “inspired by” or “stolen from”? How do you draw the line between “borrowing” and “stealing”? (Is it intent?)
I did a little reading on this subject earlier this morning. There is a a faculty member at Fordham, Susan Scafidi, who specializes in Fashion Law and specifically interrogates these questions in her book “Who Owns Culture? Appropriation and Authenticity in American Law.” There were some interesting concepts she brings up, including misappropriation, permissive appropriation, and reverse appropriation, that I had no prior understanding of. Possibly a good starting point for thinking further about these issues.
xxx
Jen,
Yes, those are exactly the questions on my mind as well. Thank you for articulating them here.
On the question of is all art/fashion in some way derivative — does it have to do with degree of likeness? As a perhaps simpler example, must all striped garments credit the Breton mariniere as its source, or only if they have 21 stripes spaced this many millimeters apart?
I do think that where it gets tricky, in addition to degree of likeness, is when the cultural source is a historically (or currently) marginalized or oppressed group, and when the borrower profits off that group (from what I have read on this topic) with no intent or plan to credit and justly compensate members of that cultural group.
Thank you for sharing that book by Scafidi – it sounds like it will address some of these questions. I appreciate your thoughtful response, as always!
Hi Mia – Such interesting points. I also think there is a very difficult-to-put-your-finger-on way of reading whether something feels truly artfully done versus borderline plagiarist…I’m thinking specifically of some of the designs from Shein, that are copies of designs from high end brands, although then there is an adjacent thread of thinking about how sometimes those retailers make “high fashion” accessible to more people? I don’t know — those are always complicated issues, too. xx
Yes — the copying of designs certainly happens all the time and there are so many I can think of (e.g., the many “dupes” for Hermes sandals).
But more than just the imitation though, the larger issue seems to lie in the power differential between cultures, and how the borrowing/copying/stealing (as applicable) of designs with neither credit or compensation perpetuates the oppression — colonization in modern times.
Thank you for continuing the conversation!