Custom «Muslim Women and Fashion» Essay Paper

According to visibly Muslim article it indicates that fashion came up due to multicultural and transnational cultural development. However, their choice on styles has been greatly determined by religion both globally and locally and political forces. Their need for expressing their identities, concerns and perspectives has led them to embrace various hijab styles. In the queen of fashion article, the Versailles people have their tradition rules that regard to the clothing style. meanwhile the queen; Marie Antoinette refuses to wear the tradition attire which included whalebone corset and adopts other fashions which used to define her power and led to her been overthrown from power. Just as Marie many Muslim women have adopted other fashions to express their identities though many of which have led to them facing pressures from observers. They have abandoned the old hijab styles to new styles which can be termed as dressing revolution (Tarlo, 2010).

However, through navigation they have managed to face those pressures. Cultural diversity has led to the new hijab styles especially in the west where different Muslim women from various regions and cultures meet in the west urban areas. Various Hijab styles have various meanings and this contributes to the pressure exerted to the Muslim women as many people do not understand their significances. This article covers the different fashions that have been adopted by the Muslim women especially on the head scarfs which is a vital attire according to their faith.

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Fashions that have been adopted by the Muslim women

Fashion has been shown to have changed from the centuries during Marie Antoinette periods to the highly developed countries like Britain. Freedom has also enhanced Muslim women to wear the different hijab styles in the west as opposed to Versailles, France where Queen Marie was obliged to follow some rules (Weber, 2006).

Fashion which refers to the dressing code has greatly changed from the early centuries. Fashion transformation has been attributed by various things including technology and influence from other fashions. Muslim women have always had their dress code which has been maintained over the years which also defines their faith. However due to fashion transformations, the Muslim women have changed their dress styles to catch up with the fashion and to express their faith by wearing austere garments, head scarves with different colors or new Islamic fashion forms that are creative. This has not pleased most of the Muslim elders who believe that the real purpose of the dress code is been manipulated (National Museum Of The American Indian, 2007).

Muslim women basically wear a head scarf which is referred as the hijab and it is the most important attire among Muslim women.  Hijab wearing has greatly evolved but most women had stick to the old styles. This however has changed as there are more hijab styles which the women are opting to in the west. This can as well be a revolution in dress code among the Muslim women. This can be related to Marie Antoinette in the Queen of Fashion book that was a fashion icon in the early centuries in Versailles, France (Brooks, 2000).

She was ridiculed for her fashion choices which greatly contributed to the increased public hostility toward her. At first she was praised for her courage to take up other fashion but later she was torn apart for the same. She refused to wear the tradition whalebone corset and adopted pastoral Gaulle dress which was both controversial and famous at the age of fourteen.. She had taken fashion sincerely as she lacked more power as a queen as in her tradition a queen was a symbol for her husband reign and a breeder. Her hairstyle and dressing code is what was used to make statements about her and the power she had. Her style was mostly copied by aristocrats and prostitutes and therefore was blamed for decay of moral values in France.

She was also associated with financial bankruptcy as she got her clothes from foreign countries, insensitivity to the poor and introduction of class lines. However in Versailles they highly politicized and ritualized the daily dauphin's cheek rouging and disobedience to the set rules resulted to a severe punishment. This led to her been overthrown from power. She had influence on her spouse king Louise who never left her even after refusing to follow the tradition style of dressing. Her clothing styles were what her revolutionaries used to overthrow her as she continued to wear clothes that never depicted her as a queen. She however greatly contributed to fashion revolution in France (McAssey, 2011).

Adoption of different hijab styles among the Muslim women however has not resulted to any form of punishment or regulation as they have already influenced their spouses and has the freedom to try various styles. The Muslim women role according to their faith is to take care of the husband and get children. This is similar to the Versailles traditions in the Queen of Fashion publication. However their embrace to new hijab styles isn’t to show their power but it is based on their faith as Muslims and their identities expression.

Meanwhile there are women with Islamic faith who still wear the tradition attires but in the developed regions their clothing style has gathered both political and cultural associations and significance which has placed them in debates like religion role on public life, multiculturalism and integration and immigration (Bailey, 2003). This relates to the Visibly Muslim article written by Emma. In the article she questions why Muslim form of dressing tend to be looked at as repressive, retrograde and monotone while head scarf is mostly the outfit element that is conscious.

The book looks deep into the strategies used by the Muslim women especially in contemporary Britain on their identity and self-image after putting on the head scarfs. The publication however argues that sartorial choices are governed by political and religious powers even though each individual is free to experiment with different styles (McAssey, 2011). This force brings out the significant diversity the Muslim women spend in their clothes. Analysis on the hijab geographies shows how social spaces, which are different, can interfere with hijab available meanings and which are associated with them. For example a Muslim woman can be more eye-catching in a certain city part but inconspicuous in the other part. This brings up various meanings which cannot be controlled by the observer. This demonstrates how Muslim women face and go through the pressures which they face and termed as navigation in the article.

In one chapter different British Muslim women biographies are examined and include that of Humera Khan; a social activist, Rezia Wahid; a designer and Shazia Mirza; a comedian. Navigation styles of Muslim women in Britain are analyzed in other chapters. Ensemble term is used to describe a new identity of Muslim in Britain having been expressed from sartorial traditions, hybrid and multiple cultures, aesthetics and their outfits.

Fashion among Muslim women especially in the west has changed greatly due to more freedom which allows them to experiment with new styles as opposed to Queen Marie in Queen of Fashion article. Modesty and beauty has also contributed to adoption of new hijab styles as the market offers various styles due to technology advance. Formation of transnational cultures and multicultural spaces in urban areas has also contributed to development of new hijab styles according to Visibly Muslim publication. Muslim women embrace this fashion/design to be able to express their perspectives, identities and concerns which is clearly shown in Visibly Muslim book. This can also be related to queen Marie Antoinette who embraced fashion to depict her power as she had little power as a queen in Queen of Fashion article. However adoption of new styles among Muslim women has led them to face challenges as the observers do not understand the meaning for those changes in the visibly Muslim article. In the queen of fashions article however Marie Antoinette is overthrown from power because of adopting new fashion which was against the traditions (Tarlo, 2010).

Conclusion

Fashion among Muslim women especially in the west has really changed. Having new styles especially for their head scarfs has been attributed by their need to express their faith and for modesty and beauty. Each Muslim woman has their traditions way of dressing depending on the region she comes from. Having met in the urban areas in the west, the hijab styles have slowly evolved leading to the various hijab styles. However due to influence many of the youth Muslim women have embraced the fashion and relate it to their identity as a Muslim. The adoption of the new styles has had some impact to their lives as they are pressurized by other people who don't understand the significance of the styles (Tarlo, 2010).

Muslim women have the freedom to experiment with different styles but their choice is influenced by the religion and political powers. This fashion among the Muslim has led to debates like the role of fashion in religion. Freedom in the west has had effect on the Muslim hijab styles as there are no traditions to govern them as compared to other regions where tradition dressing is still maintained. Migration of women with Islamic faith into the west will continue enhancing fashion development and mostly that of hijab (Brooks, 2000).