Culture

"I Just Thought It Looked Cool": Cultural Appropriation by Music Festival Attendees

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Abstract

Ethnic clothing styles have been popular among attendees of rock music festivals since the days of Woodstock. Since the millennium, music festivals such as Coachella have experienced a resurgence in popularity, giving rise to the style of dress known commonly as ˜festival fashion". Cultural appropriation began occurring at music festivals when attendees began wearing Native American headdresses and other ethnic items of dress as a fashion statement, which has created a tension between members of these ethnic groups and festival attendees. For this project, data collection consisted of a large scale fashion count for items of dress with non-Western roots worn by non-native wearers at the Coachella music festival between the years 2011-2015 using Getty Images' photos as the data source. Culturally appropriated dress items included Native American headdresses, bindis, kimonos, saris, sombreros and dreadlocks. Results indicated which types of items were worn most commonly and changes in adoption levels.

How to Cite:

Divita, L., (2016) “"I Just Thought It Looked Cool": Cultural Appropriation by Music Festival Attendees”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 73(1).