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In my first year at Evergreen, when I was frequently involved in the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition’s student group activities, one of the documentaries we viewed was Yellow Apparel: When the Coolie Becomes Cool.

It’s been a favorite view of mine for a while. I think that it’s just a great documentary. It was produced in 2000, so it covers the major commodification of Asian styles/items/symbols in American fashion that was highly present in the 90′s. It deals with the question, is it appropriation? The documentary shows multiple perspectives of the issues at hand, and rather than resolving the issue, the film mainly highlights the situation.

Unlike my previous posts have been, this documentary takes a look at Eastern fashions utilized in the West, as opposed to Eastern fashions being Westernized.

I think that everyone in the Asian field of cultural studies should view this film at least once.