Sunday, 04 January 2009

  • Misconceptions About Muslim Women and Fashion

    Guest blog submitted by garlicface

    Islam is on a roll. I guess a positive thing coming out of all this media hype that Islam is getting is that it heightens people's awareness of it. People have this misconception that all Muslim women look like ninjas, wear niqabs to not show their faces, and dark coloured abayas. That is sooo entirely wrong.

    There are even Catholics that wear a headscarf.

     

    Ruqaya Al Ghasara is from Bahrain and ran in the Beijing Olympics. She ran the 200 m.

    Everytime I go to Egypt, I'm amazed. It seems there are more and more muhajjabat (ladies that cover their hair). If they took it off, they'd look just like every other North American and European girl... except without tight clothes and cleavage. (Although I -have- seen a TON of girls wearing skinny jeans. But, most of them wear a short dress or a tunic top over it. That butt has to hide. ;])

    So with people wanting to be stylish and modest at the same time (which seems to be hard in the states), there's a rise in Islamic fashions designers. Samaher Mohammed of Dearborn, MI, Nzinga Knight of New York, NY, Mejsa Chaaroui, Iman Aldebebe and Karolina Brock. All three from Sweden.  There's more, but I've forgotten their names. Maybe soon, instead of hair salons, we'll see hijab salons?

    There are so many styles for headscarves. Some people claim that some of the Egyptian ways aren't modest enough, and that they're too flashy.

    So far, these are all mostly Egyptian styles. The kind that doesnt actually cover the neck itself, and is covered by a turtleneck or something else is what they call "the Spanish style", though.

    These are alternatives to the 'spanish style' and the kinds that don't cover neck and chest, etc.


    There's lots of ways to wear the scarf. Which is what sets their style apart from everyone else because, otherwise, they dress just the same, as I see it.
     


    (These are in Egypt).



    And what girl doesn't imagine a princess wedding dress, yeah? Wedding dresses!! I only started looking these up because I adored my cousin-in-law's wedding dress. It was perfect. Even for a non-veiled woman. Maybe even just someone who wanted to be modest. It would have been perfect.

    Hers was white,  but here are some coloured ones. I have yet to see a bride wearing a colored dress, but that might be a good idea? The bride wears a color, and everyone else wears black or white or something.

    There's even a "Pink Hijab Day" for Breast Cancer Awareness.



    I don't know. Do these girls look like a threat to you? Threateningly stylish maybe. (That's the best joke I've made all day.)

    What do you think of these styles and the wish to dress more modestly?

Related Posts

Comments (268)

  • LostInTheLyrics@xanga

    This is an awesome post!
  • Kristenmomof3@xanga

    great post.
  • misswonderj@xanga

    THANK YOU.
    I was born in Egypt, and people always ask me stupid questions about the fashion there. I find that too many people follow stereotypes instead of looking for themselves.

    Bravo!

  • anonymous

    Modestly= beautiful.

    I've always liked those styles. They are able to look beautiful while covering up rather than showing more skin.

    I've always adored those headscarves and layering... XP
  • just_the_average_jane@xanga

    So pretty!  I've always wondered --is it offensive for non-religious people to wear head scarves occasionally?  I mean, some of these looks are gorgeous!  I don't want to seem like I'm trivializing somebody's beliefs by borrowing their style for mere fashion purposes though; what's the proper etiquette in this case? 
  • LadyLibellule@xanga

    It's fine if you want to do that, but it shouldn't be imposed on anyone who doesn't want to cover up.  I've heard of places in Europe (I think it was in France) where even some non-Muslim women were wearing headscarves out of fear.
  • Southeast_Beauty@xanga

    Thanks so much for creating this post and shedding light to some aspects of Muslim fashion. =)


    I appreciate it.
  • hahahahana3@xanga

    awesome post.
    i'm muslim, and even thought i dont wear the head scarf, a lot of my friends do and i know they get crap for it all the time. thanks for shedding light on it for everying :]
  • girl_lost_in_the_dark@xanga

    I think head scarves are very cute. I often wear them just as a fashion statement. Great post!
  • Ampbreia@xanga

    While I don't care for the first 8 styles pictured and a few of the others, the rest are beautiful and all of them show a certain individuality that I didn't see much of when I lived in Iran right after the revolution there.  There, the women wore almost uniformly nunnish drabs... except for the ones that were dressed in black chadur like walking Death. 


    It was stifling!  No personal expression allowed and the Basenji cracking down on women for anything too brightly covered, showing a strand of hair, or not sufficiently modest for their taste.  The busy bodies had night sticks for beating the women they disapproved of!  They scrubbed makeup off women's faces with brillo pads if they thought it too obvious.  They still do I hear. 


    As a woman, I found that all very offensive and couldn't wait to get away from it.  I still cringe when I see the sort of hijab I was used to in Iran.  It just reads "Opression" to me and a burst of anger runs through me at the sight.  Logic chases it off, but it's always there for a few minutes at least.  But if she's with a man, of course, the anger just turns toward him and isn't likely to go away unless he can somehow prove he's not a monster forcing that hijab on her.


    All of which is to say, I feel that women should be free to dress the way that makes them happy and the men (and women) who don't agree with that can go plug themselves into a hornet's nest.  That, and it's very nice to see that modesty, even Islamic modesty, doesn't have be boring or ugly after all.  The affectation of clothing is, after all, an important matter of personal expression that a heavy portion of our self-confidence and personal appeal to others has a great deal to do with. 

  • PlainXJane@xanga

    I've always thought they look cool. :) 
  • seventeenisntforever@xanga

    My best friends are Muslim, and one of them is a hijabi and she is SO CUTE and has the best fashion sense, her scarves are colorful and happy! And my other friends who don't wear hijabs dress very modestly but I borrow their clothes because they're INCREDIBLY stylish...my best friend owns most of Sarah Jessica Parker's line of clothes.
    I don't understand who started this rumor that Muslim women can't dress modestly and be cute and fashionable because anyone that thinks that should come hang out with my and my group.
  • szafar7981@xanga

    THANKS for sharing a post on this!  I'm a Muslim and even though I don't cover my head, I think that it's incredibly refreshing to see women leaning more towards modesty.   

  • phuck_diz_shiz@xanga

    great post
    its an eye opener for me :)
  • whatkerisaid@xanga

    Muslim fashion is actually seemingly stylish. Most of the women in those pictures are very beautiful. I can't deny that this post is very eye opening. I loved it! However, I just can't bring myself to be offended in the event that someone tells me I look like a ninja. Granted, I'm not Muslim, but I dig ninjas. 
  • StrawberryShy@xanga

    Modesty requires the ability to not "show off" and not to make a statement...these head scarves do exactly just that.

    You can't be "modest" and still want to be noticed and wanted.

    Sorry but this whole post is a little strange.

  • choosingausernameishard@xanga

    i converted to christianity.
    i didn't like being muslim; i disagreed with the religion so much.
    it's not just your head women also have to cover their legs...even when it's 90 degrees out my aunt will not allow my cousin to roll up her jeans to reveal her ankles. modesty is good, but that is so unnecessary and over-the-top. it's FORCED on you, or else "you're a bad muslim and you will meet with shaitan" (shaitan is satan; it's pronounced differently in islam)
    there are 218302 other reasons why i can't stand the religion, but to each their own. it's the second largest in the world i think.
  • Pieces_of_a_Melody@xanga

    This was a really interesting post! Thanks for banishing my misconceptions! Anyways, modesty is beautiful, I think. It leaves a little mystery.

  • ENDSILENCE@xanga

    This was a very intriguing post. I enjoyed reading about the variation of styles that can be worn and the wedding dresses were beautiful
  • charmont7@xanga

    Wow, thanks for the great post. I'm a Muslim myself and I'm being stereotyped because I'm wearing hijab. Where I'm staying right now, the Muslim community is small and women wearing hijab are rare.
    Sometimes children would run away from me thinking I'm a threat to them. Others would just stare at me.
    I also think that hijab is a fashion statement. I get angry when I saw wives wear black all over, showing only their eyes while the men wear short pants. Why the discrimination?
    One of the local here asked me if I only have black hijab. At that time I was wearing black and white dress so I matched it with a black hijab. I told her that I have colourful stock of hijab and I matched it with the fashion I'm wearing for the day.
    I think shading the light on this topic will be a very good thing.
  • happylildeadgirl@xanga

    They are indeed a very beautiful and artistic batch of accesseries that you posted on there.
    And I admit I don't know to terribly much of the muslim religion except for the basics. but the idea of being ableto be as expressive as you are with this is great.
  • Ailean@xanga

    Not all Westerners (and/or non-Muslims) dress in tight clothes and showing cleavage.  You can be modest without wearing a hijab and long-sleeves, too.
  • NightCometh@xanga

    I would hate that amount of legalism!
  • NightCometh@xanga

    @Ailean@xanga - How true!  Biblical Christians have long valued modesty.
  • pillowpixies@xanga

    I think that the head scarves are beautiful, and that dressing modestly is, as well; So long as it's not forced upon a person.

  • Choose Identity

  • Give eProps (?)

  • New! You can now edit your comments for 15 minutes after submitting.

About the Author

Tags

Who recommended?

Minis

Who gave the eProps?

2 eProps from:

1 eProp from:

0 eProps from: