High fashion glossy mags are believed to have their fingers on the pulse of emerging fashion, beauty and lifestyle trends. So it’s almost laughable to see the cornrows with slicked down baby hairs I rocked as a kid being positioned as the “hottest new trend” in 2014 – proving how out of touch mainstream magazines are with their diverse readership as well as the history behind these cultural mainstays they’re reporting as new.
Columbusing is a term referring to anything that is said be invented or discovered by a mainly white audience when, in fact, it has existed far before that. Everything from music to fashion to hair trends, unique to a particular ethnic experience, somehow surfaces in the mainstream and suddenly it’s “all the rage.”
In celebration of Columbus Day – which falls on October 13 this year – and the cultural jacking Forefather of this nation, let’s take a look at the most obviously Columbused trends of the year.
1. Timberlands
In the latest case of “but we’ve been rocking these for years,” Elle Magazine can be added to the list of publications that created a culturally out-of-touch and un-researched piece on an urban style that dates far back to pre-mainstream discovery. Since celebrities like Gwen Stefani, Carolyn Delevingne and Rihanna have all been photographed rocking Timberlands, Elle declared in an article that they are now “in.” Yes – although you’ve probably been rocking them since an adolescent and all of your favorite rappers from Jay-Z to Wu Tang clan have sported these since the 90′s, they are NOW in.
Image: Elle
2. Baby Hair
While we’re on the subject of hair, let’s talk about Lucky Magazine‘s latest snafu with regard to baby hair, or as they’ve christened it, “slicked down tendrils.” Lucky Magazine’s social media team covered Mercedes Benz Fashion Week and tweeted a photo of DKNY models sporting what’s known by most of us as baby hair. Lucky put their proverbial foot in their mouths with the misnomer for this 90′s born style and subsequently, social media had a field day with the magazine while setting the record straight on where the trend really came from.
3. Bantu Knots
There’s something about bold, expressive forms of hairstyles that white people just can’t resist stealing. This year at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, Marc Jacobs donned his models in singular bantu knots styled in a mohawk formation for the Spring 2015 Marc by Marc Jacobs collection. Of course, fashion bloggers and editors latched onto this “discovered” hairstyle for dear life, neglecting to research the fact that these “hair nubbins” (as Buzzfeed mistakenly called them) are actually bantu knots – and are absolutely NOT something they own nor invented.
Image: Paper Magazine
4. Cornrows
Marie Claire found itself in the middle of a Black Twitter firestorm after tweeting a picture of Kendall Jenner wearing her hair partially cornrowed and praising the style as being “bold” and “epic.” Epic? Let’s just go ahead and ignore the millions of Black Women that have been rocking cornrows since the beginning of time, or that African hair braiding has long been a thriving industry. Judging from the hail of furious responses, I’m guessing Marie Claire will be much more tactful with their words next time.
5. Big Booties
Vogue Magazine is widely known as one of the most respected and highly regarded fashion magazines in the world, but even the “fashion bible” can fall victim to an error in bad judgement. A headline titled, “We’re officially in the Era of the Big Booty,” was not well received – particularly in the African-American community, since Black women have determinedly embraced the hips, curves and voluptuous posteriors mainstream society once hated. Vogue writer Patricia Garcia credits cultural phenoms J. Lo, Miley Cyrus, Iggy Azalea and Kim Kardashian to booties becoming a “thing.” Hello Beautiful’s Danielle Young said it best: “ What Garcia did in this article was blatantly say that a Black woman’s beauty, from our thick curves to our juicy lips…none of that ever mattered…until a White girl got her hands on it.”
6. Twerking
You can’t talk cultural appropriation without bringing up Miley Cyrus’ eye-roll inducing fascination with twerking. This southern style of rump shaking has been around for over a decade, dating back to the Ying Yang song “Whistle While You Twerk” recorded over 13 years ago. New Orleans bred bounce artist Big Freedia is said to be the godfather of twerk. But thanks to Miley Cyrus and her twerk-filled antics in the “We Can’t Stop” video, America has seen the light and now Vine is filled with bored, obnoxious Suburban girls twerking to the latest popular hip-hop songs. Columbusing at its finest.