348. Dear Christian Dior, your Shanghai Dreamers campaign is bromidic, lame, and example 253284293847289 of Orientalism, and we’re supposed to find it brave and exciting and new?
July 30th, 2010 § 55 Comments
I’m not sure I can go another day without posting the pictures from Christian Dior’s new ad campaign, ‘Shanghai Dreamers.’ Check it out, friends:
All photos from Tom and Lorenzo’s Projectrungay
I have a ton of thoughts about this, mostly 1) What the fuck? Parading this tired bullshit again? Can a person yawn and barf at the same time if that person is me and I’m not tired or nauseous, just so sick of seeing this over and over and over and over and over and over again? (All of those links will take you to the amazing ladies of Threadbared, who are always on the ball when it comes to fashion’s enduring predilection for using people of color as background and/or props.)
And 2) Doesn’t this creepily remind of you when Gwen Stefani was in her Harajuku Girls phase,after she decided to get over Indian culture and appropriate Japanese street culture instead?
During her Harajuku phase, Gwen physically outfitted herself with four Japanese women, who were, of course, a good two feet shorter than her (making the visual image of a very familiar Orientalist narrative of domination and subordination all but undeniable,) and were all dressed the exact same in contrast to Stefani’s wildly differentiated and individualized outfit (to visually reinforce the same tired trope of the simultaneous conformity and weirdness of Japanese culture, even though Ms. Stefani was the one who picked their outfits!) For more than a year, Gwen paraded herself around in public with these four Japanese women serving as the background to her fashion statement, with virtually no public outcry or criticism, except for the incandescent and brave Margaret Cho. How much more obvious can objectification look? Just look at this photo. Gwen’s Harajuku girls are meant to look like objects, while Gwen stands out as the clear subject. She gets to be an actual person who can articulate and exert her personality, which is defined against the backdrop of undifferentiated small, Asian, female bodies. Dior’s Shanghai Dreamers campaign is no different.
Going back through some of the wonderful archives over at Threadbared under the category of ‘Fashioning Race,’ I revisited Mimi’s essay, “Background Color, Redux II,” where she quotes from art historian James Smalls’ essay, “Slavery is a Woman,”:
A recognized example of the standard representation of blacks in European art is provided by Jean-Marc Nattier’s 1733 Mademoiselle de Clermont at Her Bath Attended by Slaves. (Fig. 2) There, black women are shown in their expected roles as servants and exoticized complements to the white mistress. [...] The portrait constitutes a visual record of white woman’s construction and affirmation of self through the racial and cultural Other. [...] The black woman’s headwrap and partial nudity are signs that mark her as different from white womanhood. As well, they constitute visible markers of white woman’s command over black woman’s labor.
In the case of Dior’s ‘Shanghai Dreamers,’ the conformity and the old-fashioned appearance of the rows and rows of repeated Chinese faces and bodies only serve to constitute a visual record of the Western world’s construction and affirmation of self through the racial and cultural other. If Chinese people from a certain era (and to be quite uncharitable, I don’t believe Christian Dior knows what era of Chinese photography and life he is referencing when he says, “My inspiration came from a certain Chinese style of group photography but these ceremonial photographs marks a departure from a certain historical period and herald the future,”) represent how oppressive Chinese society is and how indistinguishable Chinese people are, then it must mean that European and American societies are so free and liberated and individualized!
I’m so tired of hearing about how scary and conformist China used to be (and might I mention, always hearing about it from people who AREN’T ACTUALLY CHINESE AND DIDN’T LIVE THROUGH SAID SCARY TIMES.) Can someone, for once, actually ask a Chinese person who lived through the scary sixties and seventies what it was like and how they see themselves? To all future fashion designers and artists who want to capitalize on the current cultural fascination with China (aka Yellow Peril Redux), I can give you my mom and my dad and my entire extended family’s phone numbers, and Mister Christian Dior (and Karl Lagerfield and the folks over at Chanel who were behind that awful video about Shanghai,) you can call them up and ask them what it felt like to live through the Cultural Revolution in China. Because I promise you, they won’t mince words about how difficult of a time it was to live through, they won’t forget to mention all of the loved ones that disappeared or died or were imprisoned or went crazy, but I don’t think for a moment that my mom or my dad or my aunts or my uncles would recognize themselves in your stupid fucking photos.
And on the subject of conformity and democracy, we seriously need to talk about our own scary and conformist ideals of beauty and feminity and fashionability, and thank goodness for Natalie for starting the conversation with her posts, “The best argument against the evidence of democracy in fashion is a conversation with a fat woman,”and “Rejecting the notion of the flattering outfit.” And I’m not even going to get into the plenitude of other arenas of oppression and conformity and inequality in American and European societies.
I keep thinking of David Foster Wallace’s speech/essay on why Kafka is funny (you can listen to it here,)and the moment when he asks us to take a cliche literally. For example, what does it mean if someone is actually ‘creepy?’ (Hi Gregor Samsa.) What about the uneasy and repugnant relationship of the photos in Dior’s Shanghai Dreamers campaign to the fairly commonly trotted out comment in reference to Asian people, “You all look the same?” Has any Asian person in America been spared of this comment? I certainly haven’t, and neither have my friends and family. If a random dude says that to me in a gas station, is it any less innocent or sinister than if Christian Dior decides to say the very same thing at his Dior storefront on Huaihai Lu in Shanghai?
By the way, I know a lot of people have defended this campaign by pointing out that a Chinese photographer, Quentin Shih, shot these photos, but that argument doesn’t make any sense. Just because there are people of color working in the police force and in the courts, that doesn’t negate and invalidate the structures of racism that exist in the criminal justice system? When Margaret Cho spoke out against Gwen Stefani’s use of her Harajuku girls, one of the girls, Nakasone-Razalan, responded by defending Gwen and her own choice to be part of Gwen’s posse. Well, yes, racism is very complicated, isn’t it? How many white people are okay with the statement, “Every single white person is a vehement and vicious racist?” Find me five and I’ll buy them lunch. Well, the flip side of that argument is also not okay. The fact that these photos were shot by a Chinese photographer does little to change or erase the entire history and tradition and institution of Orientalism and imperialism and racism, which is also why any argument that starts with, “My best friend/fiance/wife/husband/stepbrother/cousin/blah blah is [insert X race/ethnicity] so I’m definitely not racist, and he/she doesn’t find it racist either!” is so profoundly pitiful.
I’m not presuming to know anything about the photographer for Shanghai Dreamers, but let me tell you that some of the saddest moments I’ve experienced were ones when I or someone I know tried to express frustration or anger at an instance of bigotry/racism/sexism/homophobia etc and a fellow woman/person of color/gay person/etc joins the conversation to say, “Actually, I wasn’t offended at all,” which is just as valid as someone saying that they did feel it was racist/sexist/homophobic/whatever, but when there’s someone who doesn’t want to feel like he/she is a racist/sexist/privileged ignoramus, inevitably such a comment leads to a complete discredit of the original spirit of the conversation, and it comforts the person who is terrified of seeing himself/herself as complicit in an unjust world–it allows that person to take a deep sigh of relief and think, “Ah, good. See? This woman, this person of color didn’t find the situation racist or sexist at all. That other woman/person of color was just being overly sensitive. I knew it. I knew I wasn’t a bad person.”
Maybe if we stop worrying about being bad people, we can actually begin to see what’s right in front of us–in this case, another instance of just how little the fashion world wants some of us to be seen.
With love and fury,
Jenny
Edit (Wednesday, 8/4/10): Holy bagels, I just wanted to say thank you thank you to everyone who has been supporting and commenting on this post. It means a lot, and I’m super excited that this post was syndicated by Jezebel today! I really appreciate some of the comments that bring up the issues of authorship and intent, and I haven’t even begun to sift through some of the comments on Jezebel, but a quick glance in between packing boxes of books (I’m moving in two days) reminded me that there’s still so much to explore and think about with regards to this Christian Dior campaign.
I should also note that when I refer to ‘Christian Dior,’ I am referring to the brand as a holistic entity, because I’m not entirely sure who the chief movers and shakers behind this campaign really are (John Galliano? Galliano’s creative team? Quentin Shih?) And my apologies for not making that clear and taking a lazy short cut. I think I accidentally used Christian Dior as the antecedent for a ‘he’ somewhere in the post, and that’s also just my sloppiness.
I reblogged this awesomeness because you are awesome and this essay/post/brilliant tirade is a much better articulated vision of what I’m saying EVERY DAY about my sexuality and women’s sexuality in general, in a way that is powerful and angry instead of limp and sad which is how it usually sounds when I try to talk about it. Thank you.
I love you.
[...] I’ve been catching up on my blog-reading, including Jenny Z. at Fashion for Writers and her critique of the new “Shanghai Dreamers” campaign from Dior, in which all the Asians…(in a not at all clever literal interpretation of “they all look the same,”) all the [...]
Um, fuck yeah.
This!
” “Ah, good. See? This woman, this person of color didn’t find the situation racist or sexist at all. That other woman/person of color was just being overly sensitive. I knew it. I knew I wasn’t a bad person.”
Maybe if we stop worrying about being bad people, we can actually begin to see what’s right in front of us–in this case, another instance of just how little the fashion world wants some of us to be seen.”
Oh Jenny, in the words of miss marilla cuthbert “you do beat all”.
xo
These adverts are totally gag worthy. As soon as I saw the pictures my first thought was “holy hell, what do the people at Dior think they are doing? This portrayal is just wrong on so many levels.” I can’t thank you enough for writing a beautifully thought out letter of sorts, you wrote down everything I would have said.
Oh wow, I love this post so so much. And the links you posted. And just everything.
I’m currently re-studying my modern art history course and have once again come to a painful racist part. Painful because my favourite artists participated in it without questioning their motifs, and painful because it’s once again intertwined with misogyny and even more painful because not one essay in my course is calling out the obvious racism and sexism. There’s this one trend called ‘primitivism’ in which all the artists gladly paint women who are clearly being objectified by laying their naked with a luring look and enlarged ass, and are only an image to be experimented with. They are called ‘primitive prostitutes’ and they are painted from the notion that all non-Western women are vicious and wild creatures ready to devour men with their dangerous sexuality. Matisse, who is by the way sadly one of my fave artists of all time, painted The Blue Nude and said about the subject ‘if I ever met a women like that on the street, I’d run away screaming’.
But of course these paintings are not hurtful because they are Art. You can’t say anything negative about it, because it is Art. These white, middle-class men were GENIUSES, they were Artists and cannot be blamed for anything, especially not racism or sexism.
Also? Paul Gauguin? He made a career out of saying that non-Western cultures are primitive, simple, wild, free etc. and all the supposed greatest artists of today followed him without seeing anything wrong with all of this. (And also he is sorta not really talented at all?)
Though you could argue these were ‘other times’, these men were ignorant etc. that’s just bullshit, anyone can see the obvious racism and sexism. And it pisses me off that not one person in art history books mentions it.
And what’s so upsetting is that this isn’t a thing from the past at all. It’s still happening today and it’s still being excused by saying ‘oh, it’s just art’. While, nothing is ‘just art’. Art has always and will always express the zeitgeist, and it painfully and obviously shows how these archaic notions are still inherent in today’s society.
Delurking to say this was a fucking incredible post.
1. I totally agree with this sentiment. Those adverts are crap.
2. If you want to include disability and ableism in your analysis of culture, it might be helpful to not use the word “lame” in your title. Here is an explanation of why, in case it’s not immediately obvious.
http://disabledfeminists.com/2009/10/12/ableist-word-profile-lame/
warmly,
someone that now and again needs a cane.
Thank you so much for the link to the post! It’s super smart and I really appreciate any challenge to be more thoughtful in my language use, especially when it comes to the coded power structures of language. I do want to include disability and ableism in my meager attempts at cultural critique, and am so grateful for awesome readers like you who help point me in the right direction. love, Jenny
Well, see, what’s interesting to me is not so much how offensive these pictures are, but WHY they decided to use them to target a CHINESE audience. I mean, this isn’t a typical fashion rag “Slummin’ in the Third World” location editorial (you know the type) – this campaign is meant to appeal to an elite demographic of Chinese consumers, people who are flush with money and confident of their place in the world. Whatever dubious payoff the “all look the same” joke would have to us (us being Westerners in general and Asian-Americans in particular) would be absolutely meaningless to Chinese locals, a people whose sense of divine providence and exceptionalism is rivaled only by Americans.
So, either their creative directorship is SPECTACULARLY tone-deaf, or these are a set of deliberate choices meant to, what, *shame* Dior’s prospective customers into buying its stuff? “This is what you were (short, conformist, Chinese), and this is what we are (tall, individualistic, Western). Come join us!” I mean, they very well could have used Asian models for the standouts, and the message would have been celebratory (“look how far you’ve come!”) instead of demeaning, but they didn’t. The intended effect is, to me, almost like that famous, widely-circulated photo (and I know this is a stretch, but it was the first thing that came to mind, even before Gwen and her Harajuku minstrel show) of MacArthur and Hirohito standing together in postwar occupied Japan, and how that read to the Japanese.
However, I do know what kind of group photography these ads are meant to reference – large-scale b/w photos that you took with your entire college/danwei/cadre.
Taking a cynical view, I can try to offer an explanation for why these adverts, as offensive as they are, might appeal to a Chinese Christian Dior customer.
1. While it’s true that the Chinese have a sense of national racial superiority, a large segment of society, in which Dior customers probably fall, aspire to Western, rather than Chinese, standards of beauty. Girls in Shanghai want to be taller, whiter, thinner and to look like their counterparts in New York, Paris or London.
2. Dior’s Chinese customers, the ones who can afford to buy special Shanghai-edition handbags etc, buy into the brand as a way of setting themselves apart from other Chinese. They want to be the woman one-and-a-half times taller than the other anonymous women on the streets. This advert would strike directly at the heart of that, suggesting that they can indeed be superwomen and that they can distinguish themselves by buying the brand.
So, yes, it’s pretty low stuff. But not dumb, imho.
Ugh. This is just one of my many problems with the fashion industry. Not only is it incredibly racist, but it’s also hypocritical. I mean, how can an industry that emphasizes everyone looking exactly the same (cough, Prada and its models, cough) call any ethnicity identical? Maybe it’s because their tunnel vision only sees the people who look similar and therefore fit their stereotype of what a certain ethnicity is supposed to look like?
God. I’d love to work in the fashion industry, but I know they’d put me in a situation like this photographer. And I’m not going to be used to help them justify anything.
“I don’t think for a moment that my mom or my dad or my aunts or my uncles would recognize themselves in your stupid fucking photos.”
Yes.
You are amazing, articulate, wise and hilarious–another smash success, Jenny.
xoxo,
Gina
Oh my God. Well done.
I was totally unaware of the ad campaign, and want to thank you for the post! I usually come cuz you two are cute and smart and have funky clothes senses and then this post was a pissed off master-blast that just hit it ding-ding-ding…. (have you thought about crossposting it at Racialicious? It would fit exactly there…)
This ad campaign reminds me in some ways of Italian fascist art leading up to WW2. I don’t know exactly why; the photos riff off those turn of the last century school photos, so it’s a bit earlier, but the color scheme and the stylization really make me think Mussolini.
Thanks again!
Damn Girl! This is an amazing blogpost, seriously intellectual. Also, I am glad to hear that you are getting angry! Because we should be, and I’m glad that you are getting your opinion heard!
Julia
[...] subliminal message that you are not for me. Is it only okay to be non-white if I allow myself to be stereotyped and used as a background piece for your models? Or is it only okay to be black if I’m painted [...]
BRAVO!
Really awesome article.
I appreciate your point, and how you put it, but I don’t agree with your interpretation of these photos. Mostly, I think you’re downplaying the photographer Quentin Shih’s artistic authorship. I don’t mean to write off the “all look same”/yellow peril concerns, because I certainly believe those are serious issues. But I think in this case, the artist is in a way subverting, or trying to subvert, those attitudes. These images read to me as conscious of the Westernized gaze.
For example, I can’t say that I know for certain, but I think Shih actually does know what era he — not “Christian Dior” (Also, you do know that Christian Dior is dead and has been for over 50 years, right? The head designer is John Galliano.) — is referencing when he talks about his inspiration for the work. Some googling reveals that he was born in China in 1975, so it seems likely that he has experienced the effects of the Cultural Revolution, at least indirectly through his parents/family.
Here are some links on his last “collaboration” with Dior: http://www.ionorchard.com/ion-art/exhibitions/243-dior-quentin, http://www.style.com/stylefile/2009/10/fine-china-quentin-shih-debuts-at-south-coast-plaza/, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/alltherage/2009/10/beijing-photographer-quentin-shihs-christian-dior-exhibit-at-south-coast-plaza.html, http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/connecting-the-world-through. From the LA Times blog post: “Shih’s work frequently juxtaposes images of working-class China with hallmarks of affluence plucked from Western culture.” The My Modern Met link has a quote from Shih about the two worlds (China and “fashion?”) finding each other mysterious and strange. I think it’s a separate question as to whether his depiction of such othering (especially in the context of display in the Shanghai boutique) therefore glamorizes or promotes it.
It seems like what’s particularly problematic about the Shanghai Dreamers series is that it’s being showcased in the stores, to be read as advertising as opposed to fine art. I think that’s complicated because most people attribute authorial intentions to images in an advertising campaign which they wouldn’t if the same photographs were seen hanging in a museum or art gallery. On the other hand, I think that is what distinguishes great fashion photography from the merely competent.
Here are some examples of similar, previous work, which doesn’t use the repetition theme: http://www.eyemazingeditions.com/photographers/quentin-shih/29/3 And here are his photographs of Du Juan for Vogue China, which also clearly quote from CCP propaganda: http://www.touchpuppet.com/2010/06/12/du-juan-by-quentin-shih/
Yeah, in a gallery setting, these photos wouldn’t look out of place next to all the other iron-laden pomo pieces that are the bread-and-butter of contemporary Chinese artists, but they’re best considered in context, imo.
As storefront ads peddling luxury goods to a specific subset of consumers, they serve a purpose beyond the artistic, and what’s more seem to be deliberating thumbing their nose at the modern narrative of Shanghai, by crudely depicting a truism that’s frequently held by expats and Westerners.
(“You guys think you’re so cosmopolitan and urbane, eh? With your money and your precious Expo? Well, this is what Dior thinks of you, ha! Now buy our stuff, parvenu peasants.”)
Okay, so I’m stretching it, but I hope you see what I mean about keeping the audience in mind. There’s a note of cynicism and contempt here that, to me, can’t exactly be read as subverting the gaze of the Other, even though these photos clearly express a hyper-consciousness of it. To me, they read as being complicit, of shaming its audience instead of sharing a wink and a nod with them.
Still, it’s great to bring up authorship and intention, because I feel that’s one the pieces that’s missing from Jenny’s post. Well, that, and how the local Chinese /Chinese bloggers are engaging with or responding to them. Because we can’t just assume that the photographer is, what, a passive receptacle for racism? Maybe he’s making a critique of the systemic repression that happened in China and is still going on today (albeit in a very commercialized venue.) Maybe he’s making that critique and has internalized the racism of his Western lords and masters (well, you know, so to speak).
As an aside, just from skimming the links, I find Shih’s body of work a little derivative (the kitsch fiend in me likes all the references to the agitprop plays though!)
*irony*
This is reminiscent of the Frank Chin / Maxine Hong Kingston debate over artist responsibility when artistic discretion means the bending of historical facts or the authenticity of folklores (let’s assume no debate over the word “authenticity” here) in a manner that may likely be construed as subversion of a cultural heritage.
I hope that writers like Kingston can modify the Fa Mulan story from the way it might have been told in China so that she can apply the modification to her own story. Similarly, I hope that Shih here may be entitled to mix around 1920s-esque Shanghai styles with Cultural Revolution points of view and the historical impact of white missionaries in central China to create high fashion art.
I’m with you 100% on the imperialist undertones and how these depictions in their sociopolitical context will do more harm than good, and after such a cost benefit analysis, should allow Dior and Shih to reach the conclusion that it would be better to simply pull this campaign completely, especially considering how big Dior is in the East Asian markets right now.
Speaking of that… any news on how Chinese nationals are taking this campaign? I’m curious to hear how China is reacting to this, since they’ve been known to turn their backs completely and boycott Western products or celebrities for disgraces against China, e.g., Sharon Stone.
Gwen came out with this years ago, and didn’t really notice but wow, after googling some images, and Cho’s response to the debacle, I am surprised no one said a word. If this came about now, bloggers would have a fit over it, i know i would. This is also why I read your blog- I was completely unaware of the Shanghai video via Chanel.
Good day,
While I feel that the fashion industry in general is mostly a waste of everyone’s time, effort, and money, I understand that it helps shape our understanding of culture and norms and is thus somewhat important.
however, I feel like your argument could be stronger. These instances of “fashion’s enduring predilection for using people of color as background and/or props” you mention do seem deplorable. But I question whether it really conditions peoples’ mentalities regarding minorities. Without some kind of actual content analysis whereby you analyze a large number of ads and show that minorities are in the background far more often than whites, you are merely arguing from anecdote.
This is not to dispute that minorities are discriminated against in general and in fashion. But I don’t feel convinced that they are specifically discriminated against by being props in the background of images any more than white people are props in the background of images. On the other hand, a higher proportion of minorities’ overall appearances in images may be as background figures/props. But what this lacks (and admittedly I did not read the entirety of all the blogs linked to so maybe someone has actually done this analysis) is some kind of quantification.
I’m not sure starting your rebuttal with a patronizing disclaimer is really the way to enter the ring, friend.
Good day,
Mordicai
♥
I’ve always liked a lot of Quentin Shih’s work, especially The Departing Youths and Citizens Of The State, and I’m reluctant to think that someone who seems to otherwise have such a sense of nuance re: China’s complicated relationship with the West would be tone-deaf to the obvious imperialistic reading of his photography. And like Sylvia said up there, if it had been in a gallery I’d think the discomfort would’ve been part of the intended effect.
But I think the house of Dior’s use/commissioning of the image as advertising is problematic, or maybe irresponsible (or maybe just tone-deaf). Advertising puts it in a different context entirely. This isn’t someone looking uncomfortably at a tall ~individual~ white woman in a sea of undifferentiated small Asian women and thinking critically about what that represents, as one might be encouraged to do at a gallery. Fashion advertising has typically tried to sell people an uncritical fantasy, and it gets kinda gross to think that someone is looking at this and uncritically imagining the fantasy of being the white woman in a crowd of backgrounded Asians who all look alike.
Totally agree.
Hey Angie,
I agree–I think that Quentin has a pretty impeccable and surprising eye. I love The Departing Youths and I love his last collaboration with Dior, Stranger in a Glass Box, I think it was called? So many of these comments are absolutely absolutely right to bring up the issue of authorship, intent, and context. I think you and Sylvia are absolutely right about the shifting contexts and signifiers that this ad campaign would hold if it had been in an art gallery, particularly in an art gallery with other contemporary Chinese artists.
Something I’m still struggling with and unclear about is how much meddling Dior (I mean JOHN GALLIANO) did. Seeing, oh I don’t know, the last ten years of what Galliano has sent out on the runway, both under his own name, and for Dior, it’s clear that Galliano is obsessed with the ‘Orient’ whether that be China, Japan, some antiquated idea of ‘Persia’ or the Middle East and at times, Africa and tribalism in general, and furthermore, that he’s completely unreflective and unwilling to interrogate his obsession. His idea of the East is always pure fantasy–pure fantasy in terms of his predilection for not distinguishing via the time-space continuum when taking ‘inspiration’ from the East (is he talking about Japan or China? What era is he referencing? Is he talking about China as imagined by 19th century Victorians or China as it truly was in the 19th century? Does he realize Africa is not a country–it’s a continent with many, many, many disparate cultures and histories? Does anyone in the fashion world realize this?)
I read in an interview with Shih that it was entirely Shih’s idea. I’ve also read comments by native Chinese people who don’t feel offended by the ad campaign. I don’t think anyone in my family in China or even my parents who have lived in America for 20 years would be familiar with the stereotype of ‘all looks the same.’ I don’t know why Asians of my generation are hyper aware of this and Asians in Asia, first generation Asians are not aware or bothered at all. All of these considerations come together in a way that is a true mindfuck. So was it a coincidence that Galliano chose to work with Shih who came up with an idea for an ad campaign that fit in perfectly with Galliano’s obsession with appropriating Asian culture for this designs (and always putting white or the occasional black model in these exotic, lush, oriental designs on the runway)?
I believe that Quentin’s work is sensitive and complicated and layered and that had this artwork not been made for an old European house of design whose head designer has always had an uber-gross relationship with the East in his designs, I, and maybe many others, would have never felt the sense of outrage and disbelief at these images. But the fashion world has long been tied to Orientalism–the commodification of the East, the eccentricity and exoticism of the east, the use of the East as a backdrop, images of the East always taking place in the past to indicate the lack of progress (while the West is modern and forward thinking.)
I guess I’m just noting how frustratingly entrenched Orientalism is–centuries of unequal exchange, Western dominance, who is allowed to be native and exotic and who is allowed to be avant garde and exciting, continuing to now. And how I can’t even begin to unpack what that means in the ways in which we all participate in it, and just the importance of continual interrogation and vigilance and a willingness to not excuse but also to be compassionate. And maybe my vigilance in the form of pure what-the-fuckery shielded me from having more compassion for Shih and his artistic vision and the context it now exists in.
(Hope to goodness, there aren’t too many grammatical errors and typos, but I’m rushing so there probably are. Sorry!)
Jenny, I’m absolutely fascinated by your post and the ensuing debate in the comments section.
Re: “I don’t think anyone in my family in China or even my parents who have lived in America for 20 years would be familiar with the stereotype of ‘all looks the same.’ I don’t know why Asians of my generation are hyper aware of this and Asians in Asia, first generation Asians are not aware or bothered at all.”
This is something that caught me off-guard when I first moved to Taiwan. In hindsight, it is completely naive that I assumed people who grew up as part of a racial majority would have the same understanding of discrimination and racism that I do, but I was genuinely startled when I realized that many people here don’t understand concepts like “you all look the same,” “Asian fetish” or “white privilege.” I had to break it down for them: what these things are, how they are grounded in a long history of institutionalized racism and, finally, why they are hurtful. In doing so (and in defending myself against people who don’t think these things are “such a big deal”), I began to understand the impact racism in all its permutations (from being told I should wear eyeliner so I’ll look “even more exotic” to being mistaken for my co-worker who weighed 20 pounds less than me and had a completely different haircut to having slurs screamed at me on the street) has had on all aspects of my identity. It’s difficult to accept. I would like to believe that I have an autonomous sense of self that hasn’t been shaped by people who dehumanize me, but that isn’t true.
My gut instinct when I look at the Dior campaign is similar to yours — outrage informed by my firsthand experience with racism, as well as my understanding of Orientalism. On the other hand, I can also understand why this would not offend an Asian audience and why they would be attracted to it. Another thing I realized when I read the above comments is that if these were art pieces independently created by Quentin Shih to express his artistic POV and not to sell expensive dresses, I would actually enjoy looking at the photos and pondering their meaning. The context being what it is, however, I’m stuck slamming my head into my desk.
Anyway, I know I’m very late to this conversation, but just wanted to add my two cents!
So excited to see your post on Jezebel! /hugs
Big hugs right back! You and Minh-ha write the kind of articles I aspire to write. There’s so much I left out and rushed!
yay for your brilliant post, yay for your fabulous blog, and yay YOU for the syndication!!!!! xo
Thank you Minh-ha! You’re my fashion critiquing idol…
it’s art, don’t take it personally .. though i know that is not possible for you
Yes, everyone’s reaction to art should be totally impersonal. I mean I never understood why any African American would ever feel uncomfortable watching D.W. Griffith’s ‘Birth of a Nation.’ Just because it glorifies white supremacy and advocated for the heroism of the KKK? Or why did anyone ever cry during ‘Schindler’s List?’ Just because they were personally affected? Some people, me included, just take things too personally.
Thanks for the insight, dude.
Congratulations on writing a brilliant post and having it picked up by Jezebel!
Geezus this is truly embarassing. There’s nothing I can say that won’t be rehashing what others have said but seriously. I was kind of OK with Harajuku Girls because I figured that they were supposed to be her girlfriends, hanging out but then there’s this line from “Rich Girl”: “I dress them wicked, I give them names…” and I’m like, so they’re your little dollies? Gross.
[...] Blair Grocery, a school in New Orleans’s Lower 9th Ward. • Jenny of Fashion for Writers rants about the blatant Orientalism in Dior’s new ad campaign, “Shanghai Dreamers.” • [...]
Wow, these ads are horrible and your response expressed the horrible-ness so articulately.
But…can you remove the word lame from the header? It is ableist.
Well said! I hadn’t seen these images until now, and like you I find them quite disturbing.
This smart-as-hell, thought-provoking article is why I keep coming back to this blog over the plethora of other fashion blogs. Thank you for articulating the issues so well and continuing to refine your work – it’s an inspiration.
Lydia x
Thank you so much!
I love you for this.
Mad love, right back at ya.
I love you for this. And of course, because your blog is incredible
This article was featured over at ChickenSoupForTheDorky soul and I’m so glad I clicked on the link.
That was wonderfully well said.
-Julie
[...] Fall 2010 collection, and the infamous Shanghai campaign that’s been blogged about here and here. The clothes and the supermodels look splendid but seem to send the message that [...]
Wouldn’t seem as if the western woman is the minority. In this case, the minority is praised and individualized. The project is based in Shanghai, ironically following Chanel’s Shanghai campaign which predominately consisted of Chinese women in the runway show. Unfortunately not everything can be integrated and I believe many people are over analyzing the intent of these ‘artists’. On the other hand, the oriental culture has been used as an accessory to the higher fashion (western clientele).
Subsequently, more than half the apparel market is produced in China and Japan. What is it, 70%? I am seventeen years old and have little to no knowledge in the ‘business’ part of the fashionable, yes, fashionable industry. What uproars occur when Dior collections are influenced by African cultures? Very vibrant, and rich in culture. But it isn’t overemphasized with a plethora of imported African models.
Imagine yourself during the editing process of these photos, one model (the girl or boy who look like a part of any other working class Asian,) is reproduced into a staged collection. Look at the positioning of the elegantly dressed white woman, she isn’t in the center suggesting dominance, she is on the far left, the far right. Just another person, in a society that is very different, celebrating her differences. But being overly decadent, garish, is suggestively pompous; just like every culture in the world.
When something is different, an uproar occurs, someone will have something negative to say. Yet we are blind to it in our own neighborhoods and don’t realize it until it hits a mass market. It’s the intent of the people with the fat wallets, not the intent of the people with a particular skin color.
[...] some debate about whether the Christian Dior ad campaign Shanghai Dreamers is racist. It depicts tall white models against a background of “identical maoist [...]
I commented on this article on Jezebel but I didn’t realize that you had your own blog.
THANK YOU
THANK YOU
THANK YOU
much loves.
[...] giveths the devil his due), read more commentary about the “Shanghai Dreamers” campaign from Jenny Z. of Fashion For Writers, Madeleine O’Dea of ArtInfo China, or Tom Lasseter of China Rises. Lasseter’s piece [...]