Islam, Faith, and Fashion: the Islamic Fashion Industry in Turkey

199 Pages·2017·4.116 MB·English

by  Magdalena Crăciun

Islam, FaIth,
and FashIon
dress and Fashion Research
Series Editor: Joanne B. Eicher, Regents' Professor,
University of Minnesota, USA
Advisory Board
Vandana Bhandari, National Institute of Fashion Technology, India
Steeve Buckridge, Grand Valley State University, USA
Hazel Clark, Parsons The New School of Design New York, USA
Peter McNeil, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Toby Slade, University of Tokyo, Japan
Bobbie Sumberg, International Museum of Folk Art Santa Fe, USA
Emma Tarlo, Goldsmiths University of London, UK
Lou Taylor, University of Brighton, UK
Karen Tranberg Hansen, Northwestern University, USA
Feng Zhao, The Silk Museum Hangzhou, China
The bold Dress and Fashion Research series is an outlet for high-quality,
in-depth scholarly research on previously overlooked topics and new
approaches. Showcasing challenging and courageous work on fashion and
dress, each book in this interdisciplinary series focuses on a specific theme
or area of the world that has been hitherto under-researched, instigating
new debates and bringing new information and analysis to the fore.
Dedicated to publishing the best research from leading scholars and
innovative rising stars, the works will be grounded in fashion studies,
history, anthropology, sociology, and gender studies.
ISSN: 2053-3926
Previously published in the Series
Angela M. Jansen, Moroccan Fashion
Angela M. Janson and Jennifer Craik, eds., Modern Fashion Traditions
Heike Jenss, Fashioning Memory
Paul Jobling, Advertising Menswear
Maria Mackinney-Valentin, Fashioning Identity
Forthcoming in the Series
Nancy Fischer, Kathryn Reiley, and Hayley Bush, Dressing in Vintage
Elizabeth Kutesko, Fashioning Brazil
Kate Strasdin, Inside the Royal Wardrobe
Islam, FaIth,
and FashIon
the Islamic Fashion Industry
in turkey
magdalena CRăCIun
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Bloomsbury Academic
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BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published 2017
© Magdalena Crăciun, 2017
Magdalena Crăciun has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988, to be identified as Author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, record-
ing, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing
from the publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining
from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or
the author.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-1-4742-3437-5
ePDF: 978-1-4742-3438-2
ePub: 978-1-4742-3439-9
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Series: Dress and Fashion Research
Series cover design: Untitled
Cover Image © FILIZ YETIM KÜÇÜKGENÇAY
Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
table oF Contents
List of Illustrations vi
Acknowledgments vii
1 Introduction 1
2 The veiling debates: Islamic dress, Islamist headscarves,
and Islamic fashion 25
3 A sector with flexible boundaries 47
4 Headscarf-wearing fashion professionals 65
5 Fashionable garments 95
6 Fashion images 131
7 Becoming fashion professionals 149
8 Conclusion 173
Bibliography 179
Index 187
lIst oF IllustRatIons
Figure 1 The “classic” wrapping style. Copyright: Ahu
BAS¸ KOÇ 97
Figure 2 The “Arab” wrapping style. Copyright: Ahu
BAS¸ KOÇ 98
Figure 3 Everyday aesthetics. Copyright: S¸ eyma ALAN
CIVAN 99
Figure 4 Everyday aesthetics. Copyright: Gul Begin Aida
MUSTAFA 105
Figure 5 Engagement outfit. Copyright: Ahu BAS¸ KOSÇ 108
Figure 6 Festive aesthetics. Copyright: Kübra BIRIKTIR 112
Figure 7 Festive aesthetics. Copyright: Filiz YETIM
KÜÇÜKGENÇAY 113
Figure 8 Festive aesthetics. Copyright: Filiz YETIM
KÜÇÜKGENÇAY 114
Figure 9 E veryday aesthetics. Copyright: Ahu BAS¸ KOÇ 117
Figure 10 E veryday aesthetics. Copyright: Gul Begin Aida
MUSTAFA 118
Figure 11 E veryday aesthetics. Copyright: Ahu BAS¸ KOÇ 132
Figure 12 E veryday aesthetics. Copyright: Ahu BAS¸ KOÇ 133
aCKnoWledgments
I am greatly indebted to the fashion professionals I spent time with in Istanbul.
Although I cannot mention their names here, I hope they know how much I value
their willingness to share their opinions and experiences with me.
Throughout my shorter and longer stays in Istanbul, I benefited from the
generous support of my friends. I thank Ali Cem Gülmen, Altuğ Yanardağ, Su
Deniz, Gurur Altun, Meral Bahtiyar Aydıner, Ufuk Aydıner, Alper Cengiz, Natali
Çetinoğlu, Cem Kurter, Yeliz Inci Balkaya, Mihtat Balkaya, Nermin Mollaoğlu,
Mehmet Demirtaş, Tuğba Yaşar, Ozkan Uner, Roni Avigidor, and Elcin Gurer for
their friendship. Meltem Maralcan Gülmen offered the joy of sisterhood without
suspicion, for which I remain grateful beyond words.
During my second stay at University College London as Marie Curie Fellow,
I benefited from the continuous support of my mentor, Susanne Kuechler, and
from the collegiality of other members of the Department of Anthropology,
especially Haidy Geismar and Allen Abramson. Paul Carter-Bowman, Martin
O'Connor, and Pascale Searle helped me navigate the complicated paths of
administration. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude.
The Department of Sociology at Bosphorus University offered affiliation
in Istanbul, and I would like to thank Zafer Yenal for being so welcoming and
supportive.
I am especially indebted to Daniel Miller, who read the manuscript in its entirety.
I am grateful to my Turkish friends, Sertaç Sehlikoglu and Besim Can Zırh, for
their feedback on my work, Ştefan Lipan for helping me to write better stories,
and Janine Su for spending time searching for the best words and formulations
and improving my English.
I was fortunate to work with Bloomsbury Academic, and I would like to
thank Hannah Crump, Ariadne Godwin, Frances Arnold, and Pari Thomson for
their commitment to this project. My special thanks also go to the anonymous
reviewers for their expertise and time.
Finally, I thank my family in Romania for thinking of me while I was away in
Istanbul and London.
viii aCKnoWledgments
Research and writing was funded by the People Programme (Marie Curie
Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-
2013) under Research Executive Agency (REA) Grant Agreement No. 327169.
The book manuscript was revised during April 2016, the month I was a
visiting researcher at Berlin Graduate School of Muslim Cultures and Societies,
Free University of Berlin.
1
IntRoduCtIon
hidden dynamics in an Islamic
fashion show
“You do know there is a fashion show this afternoon, don’t you?” Ebru asks.
I nod in agreement. I first read about it in an Islamic fashion magazine, where
it was being publicized as the “first online Hijab Fashion Show in the World”
(Dünyanın ilk online tesettür defilesi1). Curious, I avidly started following the
organizer—an online retailing company advertising its products as “Islamically
appropriate garments” (tesettür giyim)—on Instagram. The event was being
presented as a unique opportunity to discover the newest creations of “famous
designers.” I tried but eventually failed to secure an invitation. All morning I have
been waiting for the right moment to ask Ebru if she could help me get in; I try
to make my voice sound casual and enquire, “Do you really think they’ll have
so many people, especially foreigners, watching the show online?” Ebru shrugs
her shoulders. She is preoccupied with something else. She explains that the
retailer has entrusted an Islamic fashion magazine with compiling the guest list.
Consequently, she, who works for a competing fashion magazine, has not been
invited either. The best way to solve this problem is to directly contact the hosting
company. In her usual confident voice, she calls the company, explains that she
is a fashion editor interested in the show, and asks for the address. She also
adds that a foreign journalist will accompany her, explaining to me later that it is
better to introduce me like this. About an hour and a half later, we have arrived
at the front of the venue. Upon seeing a fashionably dressed headscarf-wearing
woman, a harried usher apparently sees no reason to consult the guest list or
1These are the company’s own original Turkish wording and English translation of the slogans used to
advertise this event locally and internationally. As will soon be explained, the preferred English term in
this book is Islamic fashion, and not Hijab Fashion, as appears in the above-quoted slogan. Moreover,
as will soon become evident, the translation of the Turkish term tesettür defilesi through the English
term Hijab Fashion Show is not exactly straightforward. Two years later, in 2016, the same retailing
company organized another fashion event, this time calling it Muhafazakâr Moda Haftası in Turkish and
Modest Fashion Week in English.