"Cherokee chic" = generic hippie look

Summer Fashion Trend:  Cherokee Chic

By luluscoutureThis summer, get ready to make like Pocahontas in bohemian Native American-inspired fashion. Clothing is layered and rustic; accessories embellished and feathered; all wrapped together with the pride of true Americana spirit. Not since the nineties has the mid-west played such a chief role in fashion. Where last year was crisp stars ‘n’ stripes and high school spirit, this year is all about home-spun crafts, leather and Navajo prints. It’s not an easy look to pull off without looking like costume, but when done correctly this is the ultimate youthful and eclectic summer look.

On the runways designers reinvented the rich style of the Native Americans--the result effortlessly decadent. Anna Sui’s girls were nomad personified in hippie casual crochet separates, denim and ethnic jewellery. Ever ethnic Etro gave the look a more graphic, tribal twist; with intense prints and colours on floppy silhouettes.Comment:  As far as I can tell, these fashions have nothing to do with the Cherokee. I presume the writer called them Cherokee because it made the title alliterative.

I love the irony of the line "when done correctly this is the ultimate youthful and eclectic summer look"--put in boldface in the original. Nothing about these fashions strikes me as "done correctly."

The writer basically tells us what we're seeing: "nomad personified in hippie casual crochet separates, denim and ethnic jewellery." In other words, generic hippie apparel mislabeled as generic Indian fashion. The exact opposite of fashion specifically based on Cherokee elements.

These fashions ignore the differences between hundreds of Native cultures. They ignore Native cultures altogether in favor of tired, clicheéd Native stereotypes. In short, this look is done incorrectly, not correctly. Oops.

For more on Native-themed fashion, see Designer Fantasizes About "Eternal America" and Native Fashions in Vogue.