Why Kim Kardashian’s Plaits Are Cultural Appropriation Clickbait

The Kardashians have been quiet for a little while, after the drama of Khloe/Tristan and Jordyn Woods storyline, it seems to have been pretty blissful over in Calabasas. But with a new season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians on the horizon (March 28th if you care), it's time to stir up some controversy and get all eyes back on family.

Kim Kardashian attended Yeezy's Paris Fashion Week show wearing a blue and beige Yeezy outfit and a long plaited hairstyle commonly worn by black people with a much thicker hair texture than Kim. The models in the show, her daughter North and niece Penelope all wore the style too, but sister Kourtney chose not to.

Cue furious tweets about Kim missing the mark, yet again. 'Seeing non-black women wearing historically black hairstyles like its some fun trend is appropriation' wrote one user. 'And what’s worse is when they change the name to make it their own. Remember when Kim Kardashian called African banku knots “space buns.”'

If this story sounds familiar to you, it's because this isn't the first time Kim has sparked outrage with her hair.

Back in 2018, Kim prompted cries of cultural appropriation after posting a series of pictures of her hair in braids with white beads adorning the ends – also known as Fulani braids.

Kim posted six images with the hairstyle, some with a top on, some with a top off, and one on the phone with the caption; ‘Hi, can I get zero fucks please, thanks’

She also posted a video on Snapchat to reveal the new hairstyle, calling them ‘Bo Derek braids’.

She was referencing American actress Bo Derek, who had similar braids in the 1979 film 10, a film that made her into a sex symbol.

As Kim surely predicted, people took to social media to call her out for her new hairstyle, which is a copy of a hairstyle worn first by black women, (not Bo Derek.)

Even Lindsey Lohan was confused by the images, commenting on Perez Hilton’s picture of Kim’s new hair saying: ‘I am confused’, to which Kim replied: ‘@linsaylohan you know what’s confusing…your sudden foreign accent’

Yikes.

We’re calling this cultural appropriation clickbait

What I think we’re seeing here is another attempt by Kim Kardashian to make some headlines with a new look.

She knows if she posts pictures like this; either nude, with a controversial new hairstyle (or both), people will comment, write about it, share it with their friends, and copy it.

And what more could an influencer what?

This is a woman who makes very good money from her social media presence, so the more comments likes and shares she gets – the better.

The issues here is that she refuses to credit black women. She is wearing a hairstyle that black women are called ‘ghetto’ and ‘unprofessional’ for wearing, but when she wears it it’s ‘edgy’ and ‘chic’

It’s the same cycle: a celebrity appropriates another culture, people from that culture get outraged, media outlets write stories about it. Hence the term cultural appropriation clickbait.

Who profits at the end of all this? The celebrity and the media outlets.

What is cultural appropriation? And why is it bad?

For anyone who is confused about this term, the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as: ‘The unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society. “his dreadlocks were widely criticized as another example of cultural appropriation”’

By wearing braids and not acknowledging the history of the hairstyle, and instead referencing Bo Derek, Kim is erasing the originators of the style from the narrative, and instead claiming it as her own.

Braids are an absolutely beautiful way to style hair, so it’s no surprise it’s popular, but let’s not forget where the style came from, lest we credit the wrong person and have people thinking Bo Derek was the first person to braid her hair.

Follow Phoebe on Twitter @PhoebeParke

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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.