9392: Forever 21 Forever Clueless…?

From The Huffington Post…

Forever 21 Sells Faux Native American Items in Their Columbus Day Sale

By Rachel Kane

Trust me.

When I opened up Forever 21’s online catalog this morning I did not expect to be hit in the face with a big, fatty irony stick. Then again, no one expects the big, fatty irony stick.

Now, I’ve not so secretly disliked this whole “tribal” and native trend where hipsters slap on replicas of sacred prayer beads, medicine bags and all manner of clothing depicting Native Americans (or American Indians, if you prefer) in the most stereotypical form possible, and Forever 21 has been at the very forefront of promoting this trend.

Take this top [depicted above] for example, marked down from $14.90 as part of the Columbus Day sale.

Maybe you didn’t catch that ... AS PART OF THE COLUMBUS DAY SALE.


This neon abomination is also marked down as a way of celebrating the Spanish explorer and colonizer who is most (accurately or not) famous for inciting the genocide of an entire people, the same people who just happen to have inspired this … “look.”

Now, I’m fully prepared to admit this could very well be me being overly sensitive or overly bitchy or overly whatever, but it just seems like someone over at Forever 21 could have given the items in their Columbus Day sale a little more thought. Maybe they coulda done a once-over, you know, just to make sure no styles influenced by the people directly negatively affected by the reason for the sale were included IN THE SALE.

What do YOU think? Is Forever 21’s Columbus Day sale of native inspired clothes in poor taste or are they justified in wanting to present a wide variety of trends during this weekend?

You know what I think.

Forever 21, WTF?