When social media star and makeup artist Patrick Starrr decided to pay homage to fashion queen Solange, he probably didn't think that his post—with the caption "Peace. Love. Positivity."—would cause a kerfuffle. If anything, he looks great in his white jumpsuit and...
...an afro wig. The hair and outfit combination makes sense when you look at Patrick's inspiration, which was Solange on her wedding day:
But responses to these outfit tweets are rather mixed. On the one hand, there are folks who love Patrick's whole look and inspiration:
But other folks dropped into Patrick's mentions to point out that as a Filipino man, the use of the afro wig could be constituted as a sort of cultural appropriation, even when done in the name of accurate homage:
Patrick eventually posted an apology/explanation for his outfit:
"I want to apologize for offending anyone with my hairstyle last night. I wanted to celebrate a beautiful hairstyle inspired by Solange. I am not in any way claiming to be black. I am Filipino and accepting and I hope we can all celebrate beauty/diversity all together."
While it's clear that Patrick was only trying to pay a compliment to a favorite artist, it matters to see him engage with these kinds of culturally-specific critiques, rather than dismissing concerns or acting defensive from another perspective.
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From: Cosmopolitan US
