Spears, Bone Necklaces, Locs & More! Junya Watanabe’s African-Inspired Runway Pieces Spark Racism Debate

At the Paris Men’s Fashion Week 2015, menswear designer – Junya Watanabe debuted an African-inspired Spring/Summer 2016 collection that raised eyebrows and brought a lot of attention to his showcase. With white male models dressed in traditional style outfits accessorized with necklaces featuring dried bones, spears, masks etc, African textile wraps, Massai collars and rocking locs and cornrows, the collection seemed like a referral to the days of colonialism.

According to Style.com, the collection was created in collaboration with Vlisco and Paris-based stores specializing in African jewelry, pieces etc.

Of course social media attacked the collection referring to it as the “Rachel Dolezal collection“.

who wore it best: junya watanabe s/s 16 or rachel dolezal? pic.twitter.com/Z7ISApz6d6

— Four Pins (@Four_Pins) June 26, 2015

Various websites like The Cut have expressed their thoughts about the collection citing it took inspiration from Africa without employing black models to model some of the pieces. The fashion brand is yet to make any official statement on the collection, and that just leads critics to think they see nothing wrong with it.

See a few ‘controversial’ outfits from the show below;

 

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What do you think BellaNaijarians? Do you think this is mainly borrowing the culture of a people to portray diversity and art, or should Black models have been used as the inspiration belongs to a predominantly Black race.

Photo Credit: Style.com