Islamic Fashion Part 2- Background

Since I didn’t know anything about the topic, I figure it’s best to read up on its history.  As the name clearly states it, the clothing has all to do with the Islamic religion and the Muslim tradition- not the location, not the nationality or race

According to the Muslim tradition, “the honor of the family resides in the conduct of its women.”  “Honor depends on a woman remaining chaste; should she be violated in any way, the men of the family risk being seen as weak and perhaps even being ostracized. Thus, in order to be respected by men, and protected from them, in public a woman should not flout her looks.”  

Based on their Qu’ranic principle, women are to “dress modestly in public.”; that is the key.  How you define modestly varies from one region to the other.  But all in all, Muslim women cover all parts of the body except face and hands.  And for public, they mean in the eyes of not only men who are not the woman’s father or brothers, but also in the eyes of women who are not Muslims.  According to this, Muslim women must dress modestly whether they appear in front of men or non-Muslim women.  An interesting point indeed.

We have seen pictures of Muslim women in dark veils.  Most Muslim women today do not wear a full face veil, but wear a scarf called hijab around the head and under the chin.  There are several styles and reasons for wearing hijabs- some for religious purpose, but also as traditional clothing.

In the old days, wearing veils is only for royal family, and the rich.  Peasants, slaves and prostitutes are not allowed to wear veils.  In fact, they would be slashed if disobeyed.  So, actually veil wearing was a status symbol only for the rich and powerful. “For a woman to assume a protective veil and stay primarily within the house was a sign that her family had the means to enable her to do so.”

Later on when there was pressure for their community to adapt to the Western way of life, there was a pressure for the women to leave their veil and hijab behind for the modern clothing.  A number of Muslim women resist for various reasons: political reasons (you cannot make me abandon my veils if I don’t want to), the sudden banning of veils frightened some, a move against the evil of the West, etc.  As a compromise, hijab has been adopted by many as a middle grown.  Women can still move around outside their home wearing hijab and still fulfil their traditional/ religious requirements.

To make the matter even more complicated, the lower middle classes around the world tend to be defended in the face of change.  A number of rural women in Indonesia and the Philippines resist and feel threatened.  “Muslim women began to dress more conservatively as a way to assert who they were.”  Some took “part in veiled and silent demonstrations, or could even hide weapons under long robes.”  Modernization was seen as negative by many.  “Wearing hijab came to symbolize not the inferiority of the culture in comparison to western ways, but its uniqueness and superiority.”

Today there is a trend to revive and create Islamic movements.  Women continue to take up hijab as the modest covering.

The Islamic code of dress is observed both for men and women. As women are not to show any body parts except face and hands, the indecent part for men to show in public include the body from the navel to the knee.  So, designing men shorts for Muslim is not a good idea.

Women are not to wear any clothes made of thin and/ see-through fabric, or the light can go through.  Even hair net is prohibited.  Both men and women are not allowed any body-hugging clothes or show contours of the body.  Only loose-hanging clothes are allowed.  No spandex please.

For men, gold or silk  is not allowed either, as they are feminine in nature.  Again, silk shirt for men with gold trimming is out.

Enough as the background, next time we’ll get into the demand.  You’d be so impressed with the size and market potential.  Stay tuned.

References:

http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/essay-01.html, Historical Perspectives On Islamic Dress

http://www.inter-islam.org/Actions/clothing.htm, Islamic Clothing

Islamic Fashion Part 1- Why Should We Pay Attention?

I am doing a research project, out of personal interest, on Islamic fashion.  What I have found is so fascinating, that I decided to start a series of blog on the topic, in case anyone wants to read up on this later.

Although I spent years doing research in school and 10 years in the beginning of my working career, I have not done any during the past 20 years.  (No need to do the math and try to add my age.  Just say, I’ve been around.)  And man, things have changed!  With internet and google, looking up references and reading materials is just so easy.  There’s no need to move anywhere at all.  In fact, I first started reading up on this literally in bed with my iPad at 5.30 in the morning, before checking the morning news.  It’s just amazing.  Being able to speed read in English is also helpful, I guess. 

Back to the Islamic Fashion, why am I interested?  The way I figure, since Thailand is quite good at fashion design and apparel making and have been trying to get a niche in the global market for years.  Getting into a new market segment that has not been saturated should be a good thing to do.  I look around and find the Islamic fashion fills the ticket.  Not only the potential market is so big because of the huge population, it’s not well understood by most outsiders including the West and the Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese.  What more can we ask for?  A huge market, some with super rich spenders, not too many players!  Perfect.

Since my background on the topic, like most of you I presume, is virtually none, I decided to read up on history, culture, arts, market size, trends, etc.  Once I line up the topics, I figure if I can motivate myself to write what I find, and create a series of blogs.  Please note, these are not research papers by any means.   I do not offer completeness- just to answer my questions on the topic.  I try to provide the links I found though.  But, really, I found everything I based on entirely from google.com.  So, any of you can do it yourself any time.  No magic to it.  Just use the proper key words.  I use very straightforward ones like “Islamic fashion”, “Islamic fashion history”, “Islamic clothing market”, etc.  There are better ones, I’m sure.  You get the picture?

I’m quite impressed at what I found, normally in the first page of the search.  I more or less got 90% of what I was looking for.  Man, research can’t be easier.  Those were the days that we had to go to the library, looked up the cards and went to the shelves on various floors.  Start talking like an old timer, which I am.

Well, this is supposed to be an intro or a teaser.  We’ll get into the history of it in our next blog.  Stay tuned, if you like.  Or forget it,  Just don’t say I didn’t offer you the thrill to share into this fascinating topic with me.

Cheers.