Cultural appropriation: Mexico's minister of culture challenges fashion chains like Zara

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Cultural heritage: Indigenous women of the Mexican Otomi voks group create traditional floral designs

Photo: PEDRO PARDO / AFP

Alejandra Frausto Guerrero was able to record a stage victory in her fight for justice last November: The French fashion brand Isabel Marant sent the Mexican culture minister a letter of apology: Should the house of Isabel Marant, and thus its founder, show a lack of respect for the Purépecha community or Mexico have, it said in the letter, offer "our most sincere apology". Among other things, it was about a wool poncho, which was decorated with clearly indigenous patterns of the ethnic group living in the state of Michoacán.

Since she was appointed by Mexico's left-wing pragmatic President Obrador in 2018, Frausto Guerrero has sent letters to international fashion chains, including Michael Kors, Carolina Herrera and Mango, to be more considerate when designing their mass-produced goods when dealing with floral patterns or geometric shapes cultural products of one or more of Mexico's numerous indigenous groups.

Now Frausto Guerrero has again written an armored letter, this time to the Spanish chain Zara, which is also known and popular in Germany, as well as the US brands Anthropologie and Patowl. As examples of the unsolicited use and appropriation of indigenous patterns, she mentioned a midi dress with so-called Huipil flowers embroidered with so-called Huipil flowers by Zara, but also embroidered shorts and printed T-shirts with elements from the culture of the Mixtec and Zapotec peoples.

In the letter, which was sent on May 13, Frausto Guerrero called for a public declaration by the three companies for the appropriation of the "common property" of various indigenous peoples and proposals for their compensation, said her ministry on Friday. Frausto advocates fair trade and equal treatment of indigenous creatives, entrepreneurs and designers.

So it's not just about the moral claim to prevent cultural appropriation for the purpose of marketing with cheap mass fashion or expensive designer pieces, but also about money: the Mexican authors of the floral and line patterns, which are often handcrafted, should also have their share in international business of indigenous art. The traditional Huipils, for example, writes the politician and lawyer, are woven by women in Colorado, Oaxaca in the hip loom and reflect the symbols of the ancestors, "which are connected to the environment, the history and the cosmovision of the community." The production of these patterns takes at least a month.

Designs by the Mixe people from Santa María Tlahuitoltepec, also in the state of Oaxaca, which Frausto Guerrero identified on shorts from the Anthropologie brand, are a »manifestation of their identity, their history and their relationship to the environment« and symbolize, for example, mountains, water or Paths. “They are the product of the creativity of this people, which they pass on from generation to generation; its bearers wear it with pride, as the deepest expression of their culture. "

Frausto Guerrero wants to make these stories visible and invokes relevant UN resolutions on the protection of cultural rights and heirs.

For them it is a question of "ethical consideration", insisted on the "protection of the rights of indigenous peoples" and discussed it publicly, she writes.

Her letters are "part of the measures that the Mexican Ministry of Culture has taken to protect the cultural heritage of the indigenous communities in order to prevent national and transnational corporations from plagiarizing their identity elements."

So far there has been no reaction from Zara, Anthropologie or Patowl.

bor / AFP