Culture Isn’t a Mood Board
Culture is not a colour palette. It is not a costume. And it is definitely not a seasonal trend.
Yet time and time again, fashion treats culture like a mood board — something to borrow, remix, and discard once it stops selling. Inspiration is not the issue. The issue is extraction without understanding.
When fashion gets culture wrong, it does not just miss the mark — it erases meaning.
Without Context, It’s Just Decoration
Too often, cultural elements are lifted for aesthetics while the people and stories behind them are ignored. Symbols get stripped of history. Language gets softened. Meaning gets diluted until it is “safe” enough to sell.
What is left looks beautiful — and feels empty.
Culture is lived. It is layered. It carries humour, struggle, pride, contradiction, and history at the same time. When those layers are removed, honest representation becomes shallow — and people feel it immediately.
Why It Lands So Hard
For communities that have spent years being misunderstood, misrepresented, or overlooked, seeing culture flattened into a trend is not flattering — it is exhausting.
It sends a message:
We like the look, but not the lived experience.
And that disconnect matters. Culture is not just what people wear — it is how they survive, communicate, and see themselves reflected in the world.
Influence vs Exploitation
There is a difference between being inspired by culture and exploiting it.
Influence comes with respect. Exploitation comes with shortcuts.
Respect means listening. It means understanding context. It means knowing when something is not yours to simplify or sell. Exploitation takes the surface, ignores the substance, and moves on once the trend fades.
People always notice. Eventually.
Honest Representation Builds Trust
When culture is represented honestly, it builds trust. It creates connection. It allows people to see themselves without distortion or performance.
Honest representation does not need permission. It does not need a disclaimer. It simply exists — confidently and unapologetically.
That is why it matters who tells the story, how it is told, and who benefits from it.
Choosing Better Isn’t Complicated
Fashion does not need to stop engaging with culture. It needs to engage better.
That means giving credit where it is due, creating space for lived voices, avoiding stereotypes and shortcuts, and understanding that culture is not universal or interchangeable.
Doing it right is not about perfection. It is about intention.
Why We Do It Differently
At MAJORES, culture is not something we borrow — it is something we live. The humour, the honesty, the edge: it comes from experience, not observation.
We do not clean it up to make it easier to digest. We do not soften it for trends. We do not translate it for comfort.
Because culture does not need to be “fixed” to be fashionable.
It Matters Because People Matter
When fashion gets culture right, people feel seen. When it gets it wrong, people feel erased. And that difference is everything.
MAJORES
Rooted In Lineage. Defined By Craft.™
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