Teacher Resource: The Politics of Fashion

I came across this really cool course blog called The Politics of Fashion, which is a class offered by the Gender and Women's Studies Department at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. This course is taught by Mimi Thi Nguyen, co-author of Threadbared (a favorite blog of mine).

The following two posts look at the Native-inspired fashion scene as worn by white bodies. The first one focuses on Forever 21 as a case study, while the second looks more at the hipster headdress trend. I hope to construct some of my own teacher resources and curricula material to post on here to help all you educators out there to present compelling, interesting, and relevant material in your classes. For now, here's Nguyen's materials:

Top 10 Native Appropriations in Fashion for 2011

It's that time of year! When everyone posts their Top 10 of 2011 Lists, and here is my list of the top Native appropriations in fashion for 2011 (take THAT, Los Angeles Times!):

10. Forever 21's Cheap Knock-Offs: We can always count on Forever 21 to give us some great cheap options for any fashion trend. I even make my students go to F21 as part of a Tribal Trend Scavenger Hunt assignment. They never fail to bring in stellar images of some wacky fringed and feathered bodily ruckus.

The New Trend: Calling Out Racist Trends

Is calling out racist fashion trends the new trend?

The Huffington Post recently published a scathing article about Forever 21. Titled 'Forever 21 Sells Faux Native American Items in Their Columbus Day Sale,' the article takes a critical look at the items that were 'on sale' for the holiday that many Native Americans want abolished. And the author found Native-inspired clothes on sale, for Columbus Day. WTF F21.

The author wrote, "it just seems like someone over at Forever 21 could have given the items in their Columbus Day sale a little more thought.

Forever 21 Goes Native

Forever 21 picked up on the Native American trend spotted on the runways and has made their signature 'affordable' versions.