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Is the 'Eyebrow Slit’ trend the latest form of cultural appropriation?

Because it isn’t new, and never was a ‘trend’...

Many ‘trends’ and ‘styles’ come in and out of fashion, but when it comes to reproducing something that was important in a specific culture, copy-cat’s are often called out and accused of 'cultural appropriation'.

Earlier in the week, crazy coloured hair model Chloe Norgaard posted a selfie on her Instagram account with chunks or ‘slits’ missing from her eyebrow. The image instantly caused turmoil, with a range of different comments raising questions about why this may be another example of cultural appropriation.

Mail online asked if they could use the image for a story on the ‘Eyebrow Slit Trend’, and it was in that question alone that caused a stir. Other comments include people wondering if they will also follow this new ‘trend’ or not.

Social justice activist Camonghne Felix told TeenVogue “this is not a new trend; this has been in the hip hop community for a long time”

It was actually first noticed on Big Daddy Kane, a rapper who made the look iconic.

 

 

Even naming the trend ‘slits’ has caused problem as originally they were called ‘cuts’, and renaming a ‘cultural legacy’ is actually micro aggression.

We saw this when Kylie Jenner earlier in the year donned cornrows. Upon doing so, Amandla Stenberg created a YouTube video called “Don’t Cash Crop My Corn Rows”, which touches on why people believe it may be a cultural appropriation, as Camonghne describes “a dominant culture takes something that belongs to a subculture and makes it seem like something they created.” 

A similar thing happened with Kylie's sister Khloe Kardashian, when she wore an American Indian head-dress to her neice’s ‘Kidchella party’. This distinctively made a lot of people question why these festivals (Kid-chella being replication of the festival Coachella), have a ‘norm’ of wearing similar clothing and accessories of American Indian descent, and how that may also be an example of cultural appropriation.

The question is: when someone like model Chloe Norgaard boasts eyebrow cuts, why is it that their faces are the ones featured in stories recapping a new ‘trend’, when black people have been rocking these looks that is part of their cultural history and is seldom met with similar promotion?

People who are offended don’t expect to be the only ones ‘allowed’ eyebrow cuts or any other style that originates from a cultural history or not, they just believe that they should receive some sort of recognition and understanding of its history.

People express themselves through style and ‘trends’ all the time, and it is acknowledged that not much is ‘original’ anymore, but it can be seen as disrespectful for a dominant culture to flaunt a subculture's looks as their own.

Do you guys think this eyebrow trend is the latest form of cultural appropriation?

- Bianca Mastroianni

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