Summer Walker accused of appropriating, sexualizing Hmong culture with provocative outfit

R&B artist Summer time Walker is struggling with backlash for donning an outfit to a overall performance at the Crypto.com Arena that repurposed a classic Hmong necklace called a xuav for a revealing two-piece. 

Hundreds of years back, the Hmong persons were being enslaved by the Chinese and compelled to use necklaces for identification. Right after their independence, they intended a necklace referred to as a xuav, this means “chain,” in remembrance of the hardships of their earlier. These days, xuavs are worn all through traditional celebrations as a poignant symbol of the Hmong id. 

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Several users of the Hmong neighborhood took to social media to voice their frustrations towards Walker and her designer’s alleged appropriation and sexualization of a sacred cultural accent.

The designer of the outfit, who recognized as staying of “South Asian and Indian” descent, has because apologized for not crediting Hmong tradition in the design of Walker’s outfit.

“We didn’t necessarily mean to offend anybody and certainly we ought to have place the correct captions and hashtags,” they responded in an Instagram immediate message on the account of their style and design enterprise Laurel Road to an indignant netizen. “We have considering that eliminated the put up because we do not desire to interact in more negativity.”

Nonetheless, some remained outraged above Walker and her designer’s alleged deficiency of cultural awareness.

This is not the first time that Walker’s steps have drawn the ire of the Asian American local community. In 2020, Walker was accused of perpetuating xenophobic narratives throughout the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic when she posted a 2-12 months-old video depicting Chinese civilians and misleadingly captioned “spreading the coronavirus to the community,” which has since been deleted.  

Characteristic Image through @summerwalker (still left) and Jessica Yang (correct)