A pair of $1,190 designer sweatpants are causing quite a stir, after multiple critics accused the design as a form of cultural appropriati...
A pair of $1,190 designer sweatpants are causing quite a stir, after multiple critics accused the design as a form of cultural appropriation.
Designed by prominent Spanish fashion brand Balenciaga, the 'Tropme-L'oeil' grey sweatpants feature an exposed boxer short built-in above the waistband - a style made famous in hip hop culture during the 90s.
Critics caught wind of the controversy after TikTok user @mr200m__, whose real name is Josiah Hyacinth, posted a video mocking design at a Selfridges on September 2.
Designed by prominent Spanish fashion brand Balenciaga, the ' Tropme-L'oeil' grey sweatpants feature an exposed boxer short built-in above the waistband - a style made famous in hip hop culture during the 90s.
Critics caught wind of the controversy after TikTok user @mr200m__, whose real name is Josiah Hyacinth, posted a video mocking design at a Selfridges on September 2
'This feels racist. This feels very racist, guys' Hyacinth said, while inspecting the pants. 'They have woven these boxers inside the trousers.'
The video is captioned, 'You know when something feels racist @sxbwxyy I have questions,' and has garnered over 1.6 million views.
In an email statement to CNN, Marquita Gammage, an associate professor of Africana Studies at California State University, Northridge, said she was disturbed by the Balenciaga item and what she witnesses as 'Black culture with the hopes of securing major profits,'
Gammage, who is the author of 'Cultural Appropriation as 'Agency Reduction'' notes that the style has often 'been used to criminalize Blacks, especially Black males as thugs and a threat to American society.'
'Balenciaga men's Trompe-L'Oeil sweatpants in red triggers immediate concern given the grotesque similarity to the iconic African American hip hop aesthetic worn by Black Americans for decades that has resulted in the imprisonment and death of Black men,' Gammage added in the email to CNN. 'The trousers have commercial cultural appropriation written all over them; branded with the name Balenciaga.'
In an additional email to CNN, Ludivine Pont, chief marketing officer for Balenciaga, said 'in many of our collections, we combine different wardrobe pieces into a single garment, such as denim jeans layered over tracksuit pants, cargo shorts merged with jeans and button-up shirts layered over t-shirts.'
'These Trompe L'Oeil trousers were an extension of that vision,' she added.
Individuals immediately responded to the design online, slamming the fashion brand for gentrifying yet another aspect of black culture.
'Black men being discriminated against and devalued for sagging pants and Balenciaga is profiting off the style. Crazy how it's ghetto until they put a price on it,' user @HighestPriestess criticized the design on Twitter.
Many individuals also noted that Balenciaga's $2,090 ' Barbes East-West Shopper Bag' resembles a bag design that originated in West Africa, informally referred to as 'Ghana Must Go' bags
'Sooooo @BALENCIAGA has made pants with underwear tops sewn into the pants to create a 'sagging' look...meanwhile..black men have been targeted for years for actually sagging...who tf told them this was a good idea...I swear these companies do stuff like this to garner attention,' Twitter user @ThaGuy added.
This isn't the first time the fashion brand has been accused appropriating black culture.
Many individuals noted that Balenciaga's $2,090 'Barbes East-West Shopper Bag' resembles a bag design that originated in West Africa, informally referred to as 'Ghana Must Go' bags.
The bag earned the nickname during the 1980s, after 'hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants, most of them Ghanaians' were forced to quickly stuff their belongings into them after being given short notice to flee Nigeria, the BBC reported.
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