EXCLUSIVE: Urban Outfitters Criticized for Featuring Black Hair-Inspired Style on White Model
A white model wears a tightly fitted decorative head covering beside a Black model in Urban Outfitters’ “More the Merrier” holiday campaign, drawing criticism over the retailer’s use of a style critics trace to Black hair-care and fashion traditions.
By Rob Redding
Editor & Publisher
NEW YORK, Nov. 6, 2026, 1 a.m. - Urban Outfitters is facing criticism over cultural appropriation after marketing a tightly fitted headcovering on a white model, sparking renewed discussion about the origins of streetwear trends rooted in Black hair care and fashion.
The accessory shares a direct design lineage with wave caps, stocking caps, and hair nets, which are utilitarian items historically used in Black hair care to maintain styles like silk presses and waves. Over decades, Black fashion culture transformed these functional protective pieces into high-fashion statements.
The style reached a commercial peak in the late 1990s and early 2000s, popularized by Black hip-hop and R&B icons including Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige, Lil' Kim, and Alicia Keys. These artists regularly featured beaded skullies, rhinestoned caps, and metallic crochet headpieces in music videos and on red carpets, establishing the look as a staple of Y2K fashion.
The mainstream retailers package these designs without context or credit, they pull directly from Black hair and streetwear archives while erasing the cultural history behind the trend.