Culturally Inspired Fashion: Perceptions of Fashion Designers and Consumers

Culturally inspired fashion is defined as contemporary clothing inspired by a cultural aesthetic, for example, a bodycon dress with a mandarin collar. This type of fashion generally has no actual connection to the original culture and is mostly designed for profit-making. Concerns and challenges around culturally inspired fashion have received very limited empirical attention despite being widely discussed in the media. There is speculation whether culturally inspired fashion is designed to meet consumers’ demands or if designers subconsciously dictate consumers’ demands. This study explores the line between what is cultural appreciation and what is cultural appropriation and how creativity and ethical transparency are approached. A qualitative approach was used to explore the perceptions of American fashion designers and consumers regarding culturally inspired fashion. For example, how designers differentiated between cultural appropriation and creative liberty, what were consumers’ experience with cultural appropriation and appreciation in wearing culturally inspired fashion, and how call-out culture affected designers and consumers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 participants (seven designers and seven consumers) and data was analysed using thematic analysis. It was found that designers struggled to find a balance between cultural authenticity and creativity. Fashion was mostly viewed by them as a business where the focus was on profit maximisation more than ethical authenticity. Although aware of the salability of cultural fashion, consumers demanded transparency from designers to credit the source of their cultural inspiration or clarify if their design teams collaborated with the culture or gave profits to culture. Fear of public outcry regarding designers’ creations and consumers’ choices of cultural clothing was also identified as a theme. Findings imply that designers must pivot how they design to promote culturally inspired clothing more ethically and consumers to try to adopt a culturally sensitive mindset regarding cultural fashion.