STELLA MCCARTNEY CULTURAL APPROPRIATION OR APPRECIATION

Stella McCartney incorporated some African Print/Ankara in her SS18 collection and there has been a lot of controversy about it, folks are accusing her of cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation is basically adopting elements of another person's culture without respecting or acknowledging its meaning or using it in context. Honestly, it is pretty confusing...
I ran a poll on Instagram and around 65% of people said she appropriated African culture by featuring the prints on the runway without using black models.

Here are some of the comments

When I saw the collection, I honestly felt 'some kind of way', not sure why though. I am a huge fan of African prints and these dresses and patterns are very common in the African community but the prints are originally Dutch wax and are created in Holland so in theory, they are not African but why does it feel weird seeing it on the runway?

There are cool brands like Olótu (www.olotu.co.uk) a British/Nigerian menswear brand heavily features African prints in a westernised context, they don't seem to get as much backlash as Stella Mccartney. Maybe it is because they acknowledge the history and inspiration behind the print.

I believe the world is becoming a global melting pot with creativity and inspirations coming from a plethora of sources. Stella did a great job with the collection "appropriation" or not and as a fellow creative I appreciate her work.  Could she have acknowledged the African-ess of these pieces? Yes!! Whether or not the Africans are the original owners, because they have adopted theses prints and embedded it into their culture they could be acknowledged. #Justsayin