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FASHION DESIGNER PAUL FRANK MAKES AMENDS FOR "POWWOW MONKEY" BY GETTING NATIVE DESIGNERS & BLOGGERS TO WORK FOR FREE
 So, Paul Frank is no longer appropriating Indian imagery.
He's moved up to appropriating Indian talent and labor.
You know, I thought initially that I was going to be able to write a positive piece about this situation: "Fashion Designer Makes Amends for Appropriation by Collaborating with Native Designers." Except, it turns out, not so much.
You may remember that last year Paul Frank came under fire from American Indian bloggers and activists (including people like navajo and myself here at Daily Kos) for launching his new line at Fashion Week with a racist minstrel show of a party, "DREAM catchin' with paul frank." For the invitation, he dressed up his trademark grinning monkey logo in a psychedelic warbonnet against a dreamcatcher backdrop (monkey in a warbonnet? oh, nothing racist there). It went downhill from there:
The designer's party planners most likely intended to celebrate native culture by dressing Frank's famous monkey mascot in a feather headdress and offering specialty cocktails with names like "Rain Dance Refresher," "Dream Catcher," and "Neon Teepee" to guests like Christina Milian, who posed in "war paint" with tomahawks and bows and arrows throughout the night. But, as the tipster who notified us of the event pointed out, that's "very much like celebrating African-American culture with a blackface party."
Here's how the Hollywood Reporter described the event: "Paul Frank celebrated Fashion's Night Out with a neon-Native American powwow theme. Glow-in-the-dark war-painted employees in feather headbands and bow and arrows invited guests to be photographed on a mini-runway holding prop tomahawks."
As to that first sentence, yeah, no. That's not "celebrating [N]ative culture." And Native culture pushed back.
Two of Frank's most vocal critics were Dr. Jessica Metcalfe, who runs the Native fashion blog Beyond Buckskin (and operates an NDN fashion boutique of the same name), and Adrienne Keene, founder of Native Appropriations, a fashion and pop culture watchdog blog for Indian issues and images. Ms. Metcalfe and Ms. Keene launched an awareness campaign that turned Frank's "DREAM catchin'" into a public relations nightmare. Mainstream pop-culture sites like Jezebel piled on, perhaps making it clear that he'd offended more than "just Indians." And to his credit, he ultimately removed hundreds of offensive party photos from his Facebook page and issued a public apology.
 Now comes word that, to make amends, Frank has entered into an agreement with Dr. Metcalfe, Ms. Keene, and four NDN designers to collaborate on a line of actual Native accessories. Great news, right?
Except for the part where the Indians are doing it for free.
Keene says that not only did she and Metcalfe volunteer their time as consultants on the collaboration, but so did the designers. "We...did this all for the experience and the awareness, no money was involved," she writes. That's...surprising, to put it mildly. Surely the artists should have gotten something for the use of their work? But as a precedent for apparel brands seeking to engage with Native American (or other minority groups) and their heritage respectfully, this has a lot of potential. "We are providing a model for appropriate ways to participate in 'culture'-based trends in the future," says Metcalfe.
Very generous of the Indian designers and consultants. And wholly unacceptable of Frank.
Mr. Frank: Come on. You're still trying to have it both ways. Do the right thing. Pay the consultants and the designers — and not a nominal amount, but the sort of fee you'd pay an equal in partnership on a new line. Because, you know, they may not have your fame, money, or name recognition, but when it comes to this particular subject for your line, they're the experts, and they stand to make you a whole lot of money. And they're your equals.
You can read Frank's press release, announcing the project, here.
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