Comme des Garçons In Deep Water With Their Wig Choices for F/W 2020 Collection Show

How many times are we are going to have to say it….? Cultural appropriation in any operation is wrong. Comme Des Garcons presented their Fall/Winter collection for 2020 a few nights ago, but I don't recall seeing the clothes; I couldn't get past what was on top of the models head. They had lace front wigs braided to mimic a black hairstyle called cornrows.

What possessed this global design house to do this is beyond human understanding. The controversy spotlight is what they may be after, but is exploiting and stealing from another culture really benefiting for the brand? European models strutting down the runway, their faces say it all about how they feel about their headdress. There were black models, some using the front wigs and some using their own hair. What made zero sense is that the wigs looked last minute; just plopped on the models, not custom to fit, or matching the models at all. The real hairlines of the Male models were still showing up top,so it’s hard to tell what the story behind the wigs is.

Comme des Garçons Fall/Winter 2020 Mens Show via CNN

I think they ran out of creative juice, no one was really talking about Comme des Garcons, so they went and pulled a stunt like this for publicity. But this is not the way to get attention, this actually weakens the brand. The average consumer is aware of racism and appropriation thanks to other brands that have made similar convoluted acts such as Gucci and the Dreadlock season, or the most recent Gucci and the black face sweater. Time and time again, the masses call them on their  boycott the brand, This was a definite miss for Comme des Garcons. I hope the wigs were worth it.

cover image via Insider