Fusion Muslim chic hits Europe's streets

[Al-khiyal]

Clad in skinny jeans, wrap dresses and carefully sculpted headscarves, a generation of young Muslim women is making its mark on Europe's urban street culture, and influencing mainstream fashion.

The daughters of migrants to Europe from Turkey or the Maghreb, these girls say they are as conscious of style as of Islamic dress codes - and want to fuse contemporary chic with elements of their religious and ethnic background.

"H&M and all the French stores have taken our fashion," said Mahika, a 24-year-old from Paris. She sees Muslim influences in the current trend of wearing dresses over jeans, and layering sweaters and tops.

Shopping for clothes has become simpler, she said: young Muslim women are now able to dress entirely from mainstream outlets if they choose.

Many of her peers agree, although a Hennes & Mauritz spokeswoman said Muslim fashion has not specifically inspired their collections.

"I find it very easy to dress. You find all kinds of things in town. It is about combinations and it has got easier since you see the influence of our fashion in general fashion," said 20-year-old Bushra Sayed, a student from Rotterdam.

"I am a Muslim but I am also a person who is interested in fashion and I want to combine all these things," she adds.

Bushra wears a dark brown scarf wrapped tightly around her head and neck, a dark blue shirt, a figure-hugging grey tweed waistcoat and matching knee-length skirt over jeans.

Bushra's look is a world away from the black voluminous robes and long scarves worn by more traditional Muslim women, which completely hide the contours of the body.

"For me it is important to cover my body, except the hands, feet and face. And within that I can wear whatever I want, but it should not be too tight and short," she said.

"My mother, friends, and relatives are very enthusiastic and I did not have to fight at all for my own style."

Muslim Glossy

Bushra is among five women to put together MSLM, a new glossy fashion magazine in Dutch, French and English, aimed at style-conscious young Muslims offering tips, for example on new ways of covering the hair - with baseball caps, hoods or chunky knitted scarves.

The title of the English, Dutch and French language magazine - which the women call a "zero issue" or one-off for now - is a play on the Dutch word for female Muslim, Moslima, and the clothing sizes medium-small-large-medium.

"An increasing group of young women is exploring the boundaries of being veiled and seductive... they compensate the veil with figure-hugging apparel, expressive make-up and higher heels," Dutch stylist Isis Vandrager told the magazine.

The women have also organised a fashion exhibition in Rotterdam alongside the magazine, displaying outfits made by Dutch designers with Islamic dress codes in mind.

One dummy in the exhibition wears a black halter-neck dress, while its back, arms and legs are concealed by a black-lace cat suit worn beneath.

"I see Muslim girls dress in very tight-fitting clothes these days so I thought 'why not make a cat suit?'," smiled Dutch designer Mada van Gaans.

Also on show are jeans by Italian clothing maker Al Quds, designed specifically for Muslims, with a baggy cut and multiple pockets, making it easier to kneel for prayer and store watches, rings or other jewellery when performing ablutions.

"It's not just Muslims who are buying our jeans now. It's a good fashion product, first of all. That means the spectrum of our audience is growing," brand manager Susanna Cavalli said in a telephone interview from Italy.

Wider influence?

The women behind MSLM and the show believe European Muslim street style might even one day influence women in the Middle East - but not yet.

"There are Turkish girls here who wear these scarves which are just so out there and striking - but they don't wear them when they go home," said Natasa Heydra, of MSLM.

In fact, the number of young women at the clothing fair of an annual conference of French Muslims in Paris shows interest in fashion trends from the Middle East and in traditional dress is still very high.

"It's both to help women dress according to Islam's rules, and also to meet a demand," said Asmaa Buhallut on the aim of the clothing show.

In France, a country which fiercely upholds its secular identity and which banned the veil in schools, there are not so many Muslim designers, she added: brands and designers from abroad use the event to reach the French Muslim public.

The array of bright coloured clothing on display also gives women a source of inspiration.

"What's trendy are bright, vibrant colours, light fabrics, and in general, ensembles, mostly pants," said 18-year-old Nassima, of Tunisian origin.

Stallholder Ouslghozi Jkrom, selling traditional dresses and inexpensive veils, agreed.

"Popular styles this year have beadwork and the colour is orange," she said. "Really, anything flashy."

Fusion Muslim chic hits Europe's streets

[Al-khiyal]

MSLM

In the shops: April 20 2007
Price: € 10
For sale at your local bookshop and a.o. MAMA, Sprmrkt, Foam, Blendstore, Colette (Paris).
Distribution NL: Idea Books
You can order this magazine via your local bookstore by ISBN/EAN 978-90-8690-079-4

[Al-khiyal]

Video: The launch of MSLM

[Al-khiyal]

MSLM Blog

[Al-khiyal]

Friday 27 April 2007 - 9 Rabi' al-Akhar 1428 -- How do I combine my value of modest dress with my human desire to be fashionable? A little voice in my head pipes up and says “I want to be fashionable!” I don’t want to be eyed up for my vital statistics, but I do want to be noticed for my style. Are faith and fashion compatible?

Picture a Muslim and you probably imagine a rather stern looking long-bearded uncle with a dour expression, or a jilbab-swathed niqab-covered woman. Their clothes will sway modestly in a range of whites or blacks that the colour-naming people at Dulux would be proud of: Unnoticeable Noir or Inconspicuous Ebony for the dark ladies’ attire, Nearly New White or Pious Purity for the men’s dazzling jalabiyas.

The climax of this style of dress is in Makkah, during the hajj season. I am mesmerised during this period when I watch the swirls of black and white circulate around the Ka’bah, the House of God and the focus of Muslim prayer. There is an elegance to the complementary balance of the two colours, the yin and yang of the male and female. I myself have stood admiring the unfussy clothing of men and women in such mosques, clothing which is equally loose and modest for both genders. I revel there in the simplicity of the fashion which has poise and grace and lends itself to furthering the spiritual quest.

Back in the mundane world, visiting friends and family, going out to work, participating in community affairs, there is a little voice in my head pipes up and says “I want to wear colour!” or, more surprisingly, “I want to be fashionable!” I don’t want to look ugly, I want to be aesthetic. I don’t want to be eyed up for my vital statistics, but I do want to be noticed for my style. How do I combine my value of modest dress with my human desire to be fashionable? Are faith and fashion incompatible?

The hijab is certainly not immune to trends. There are square headscarves, long ones and circular ones to name but a few. They come in all colours and fabrics. There is even fashion to be observed in black scarves. They come in two-tone, with embroidery, tassels, diamonds, lace. Selecting the right black scarf for the right occasion from the enormous noir collections of some Muslim women is an art form. Long cloaks are the same: they come in different textiles, different cuts, buttoned, sleeved, sheer with lining.

Watching women comparing their latest modest cloaks and scarves is an endearing revelation of the glory of humanity. Even the strict unemotional guidelines of black jilbabs, hijabs and niqabs are joyously brought to life by the most modest and particular of women under the God-given healthy desire of human beings to be individuals.

There is a simple human joy in taking pride in what you wear. Human beings were designed to be clothed. In the Islamic tradition, one of God’s names is Jamaal, beauty, and He loves beauty. Why would He then not love beautiful (modest) dress? Ali ibn Abi Talib, the son-in-law of the Prophet, takes his young servant to the market one day insisting that the servant buys a nice shirt. Young people should be nicely dressed, he explains. Out in the Middle East, dashing young men buy their tailored jalabiyas, from Armani.

I flick through some fashion magazines looking for ideas of how I can fuse the parameters of modest dress with style. I take a promenade round the shops, enjoying my window-shopping as much as the next British woman. This summer looks promising, lots of knee-length floaty dresses that I can team up with a pair of trousers, and a long sleeve t-shirt underneath if required.

Some of the prints are big and loud – will they attract too much attention? Some of the dresses look a bit clingy, perhaps making my curves a bit too obvious? Where lies the happy fusion between my spiritual search for modesty and my human desire for aesthetics and individuality?

The fashion industry wants to expose every insulting bump of my cellulite and every delicious curve with its post-modern lycra look. “The bumps and curves are mine all mine!” I cry. Neither should be up for public scrutiny. They are for me to know and you to mind your own business. I want to reclaim the mystery of being a woman, I want to assert the feminine glamour and grace that are my God-given due.

The little voice in my head tells me that the fashion industry sucks. A pox upon the limited choice it offers me and its bittersweet style dictatorship!
Fashion as fascism? I’m too hooked to the idea of being fashionable to think such a heretical thought. Nonetheless, I sigh helplessly at the black and white choices I’m offered: stylish and skimpy; modest and frumpy; androgynous and depressed. Black jilbab or black mini-skirt? It is a false dichotomy this black or black choice. The perils of black, I’ll be writing more about this on my blog.

The glossy women’s magazines are the soft gentle face of the fashion police. They create the rules on how to dress and then enforce compliance. The Tehran police in Iran was less subtle. It recently commissioned local designers to come up with ‘trendy’ outer wear for women. The aim was to give women choices of Islamic dress while remaining within the letter of the law.

The rule-makers are missing the point. They may be able to govern clothing with their laws. But fashion, like faith, is an expression of the spirit.

Can I be fashionable and Muslim?

[Al-khiyal]

Shelina Zahra Janmohamed