this and other examples of rap style or urban clothes being taken by non-traditional users is just what gwen did.

its just more evident because she devoted an entire line to it and walks up and down the red carpet with the 4 harajuku dancers as if they were her pets

gwen may not have intentionally set out to suck the girls souls or culture dry..she might really think she is allowing the rest of the U.S. into the delight she has found

Over the years, I have heard many erroneous things about Gwen Stefani, meant to tear her down. Few were based in fact. Like many people, I found her L.A.M.B. troupe to be in questionable taste. But a lot of the criticism levelled at her is just inaccurate in one way or another.

A big thing that bugs me is that everyone who is quick to condemn Gwen for “using” these girls (or to praise her for “naming the album after them”) is also doing something problematic. In the first case, WHO GIVES ANYONE ELSE THE RIGHT TO SPEAK FOR THE FOUR OF THEM? Maybe they feel oppressed… maybe they’re having fun. We don’t know. In the second case, L.A.M.B. is the name of the fashion brand that Gwen started way before she ever made/finished the album. I have a L.A.M.B./LeSportsac bag that predates the cd’s release by quite some time. The name L.A.M.B. was extended to the album (which honestly kind of pissed me off, because I now have an expensiveish bag that’s an advert for an album I don’t particularly like and that is now attached to all sorts of racial issues I normally stay out of). The girls were hired to play characters based on the “Love, Angel, Music, Baby” concept that is basically Gwen’s brand. The album was certainly not named after them.

I can’t think of a single back-up singer/dancer who is paid to have a unique personality, regardless of their ethnicity or the ethnicity of whoever the frontperson is. There are backup musicians who receive significant individual acknowledgment (Gail Ann Dorsey, who plays bass guitar for David Bowie, comes to mind), but not many. This situation is only loaded because the girls are noticeably of a different race than Gwen (meaning, if all her backup dancers were black, there wouldn’t be an outcry). The consternation is caused, I think, more because a point is made of their “Japaneseness” than because of the mere fact that they are of Asian descent.

More than one person has brought up, in the thread, that the Japanese are major cultural appropriators. Harajuku culture is simply not that unique or non-western. Even EGL and its offspring are based on European historical styles. Vivienne Westwood is hugely popular in Tokyo. It’s not the same kind of defensible position that people had when mehndi became popular in the US – or when Gwen Stefani popularized bindi.

So, I’ve been really uncomfortable with the implications of the whole “Gwen’s Japanese Dolls” controversy. It has turned me off of her work. But I also think the reaction has been overblown and ill-considered, illogical and based on false information, and on that idea that others have a right to speak for the girls, when in fact your own right is even less than that of Gwen (who is at least paying their salaries). There are better battles to fight and more serious instances of racism to consider. Other than that, what Ciel says: this is a blip that will not have much influence on American culture, any more than Madonna performing “Vogue” in 1780s attire at the MTV Music Awards caused an outcry because she trivialized either the suffering of the French masses prior to the Revolution or the massacre of the French aristocracy during the revolution. (It didn’t, and that’s my point. Too much power and intent and malice is ascribed to Gwen. At worst this is an ill-considered stumble, and it isn’t meant to hurt anyone.)

3/31/2006
Future of Kawaii

We’ve spectulated before on the spread of kawaii as an aesthetic sensibility. Others are thinking about i [...]

And there’s no business like show business.

I don’t think there’s much else to say. Gwen Stefani has successfully marketed the image of Harajuku – good for her. The Harajuku girls have gained international fame – good for them. To me, it seems like a win-win deal. As for their impact on the Western view of Asians, I don’t think there’s much to be concerned about. When most people listen to Stefani, they listen for the sake of the music. The Harajuku girls rate only a mere notice and nothing more. They don’t seem to be having that huge of an influence on the American stereotype of Asia, from what I’ve seen around me.

and…

…

i was just wondering, are those girls really japanese? they don’t look japanese to me.

Even if she completely bastardizes every culture in the world, people would just form new ones. Its not the end of the world. It’s not oppression.

Those pooooooor girls must cry the entire ride home in their brand new BMWs.

If you think you’re view is more important than anyone else’s, you’re simply never going to learn. Nobody’s opinion matters. Not mine. Not yours. Our opinions only apply to how we live our own lives.

PS:You can’t exactly say she pronounces ‘Harajuku’ wrong considering the majority of you fans don’t as well. Unless you are japanese, or have lived in japan, it is extremely difficult to all of a sudden pick up the accent. I know the majority of you jap fans believe you pronounce things better than everyone else, but you honestly don’t. And telling her to say it correctly would be similar to telling a japanese person to speak with an american accent. Not the easiest thing in the world, mind you. It took me a good fifteen years to learn how to speak without an accent or a lisp. Telling Gwen Stefani to learn japanese and the entire culture before she sings one measly song is completely ridiculous to even make an argument about it.
And I don’t understand why, but someone posted earlier on how white men think of asian girls as an accessory, stereotype, and slut. I hope that comment by Sakai was a joke. Because it was. I highly doubt my boyfriend went out with me for any of those reasons, granted, yes, he does believe me to be an attractive accessory, as I do him, but not in the same manner as she speaks of. Sakai also said that ‘white people in general just try too hard to be like other races’ This may be true, however that’s how the world revolves. Every person, place, and country needs inspiration from one another; otherwise we would never evolve or develop.

Wakako