Hijab By Muslim Women

For centuries, clothing has played a significant role in the interpretation of people’s identity. It is an undeniable fact that people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds may dress differently, however their choices in clothing do not necessarily define or categorise who they are as a person. Stereotyping can have a negative influence on people’s self-esteem, and consequently, negatively affect how they identify and view themselves, unfortunately it is human nature to categorise people in order to identify them. For this case study I have chosen to concentrate on the “hijab” – the traditional headscarf worn by Muslim women, and the stereotypes associated with it.

Case Study:

From May 2012 till May 2013, the Powerhouse Museum

in Sydney, Australia exhibited a series of fashion designs and photographs by Muslim women and art groups titled Faith, Fashion, Fusion: Muslim Women’s Styles in Australia, through three sections. The first of these three, ‘The Business of Modest Fashion’, showcases fashion lines from multinational designers and retailers including Aheda Zanetti, Aida Zein, Eisha Saleh and Kath Fry, Fay Tellaoui, Hijab House, and Integrity Boutique. Here the fashion lines are colourful, fashionable, and liberating, showing a more contemporary side to traditional dress that most people would not associate with oppression, force, and more seriously, terrorism. The Second section, ‘Muslim Women in Profile’ shows the success of Australian Muslim women within different areas ranging from sports, to academics, through their biographies and stories, playing through out the area, emphasising that wearing the hijab is a personal decision that they willingly took.
The third, and final, section includes a more commercial style of displays, including Sartorialist inspired photographs, photographs by Australian fashion bloggers Mya Arifin and Darina Darusman-Gala, and interactive ‘selfie’-style photographs by Crooked Rib. In this final section of the exhibition, the photographs displayed not only address stereotypes about the hijab, but also stereotypes against any physical appearance. The most successful piece in this section, and the exhibition, “Are you what you wear?” invited viewers to a have their picture taken holding a card with something about them written on it that other’s would not know from their physical appearance.

Public Reception and Analysis:

Muslim women have never really been given the opportunity to identify themselves within the fashion industry based on the stereotypes that their “oppressed” dress leaves no room for personalising or self-expression.

In a review written by Mayowa Adeniyi, Faith, Fashion, Fusion has allowed Muslim women to show Australia that the hijab is not at all oppressive, and despite the limitations to what they can wear, it should not imply a ‘lack of style.’ (2013). In another review for Omniloquence, PhD candidate, Petra Mosmann claims that the exhibition “successfully challenges the public’s preconception of how Muslim women can dress”, however “liberation and oppression depends on the garments use, rather than its design” (2014). Apart from clothing’s’ use, it can be said that liberation and oppression are also dependent on the actions and behaviours of the person wearing the garment. Despite Faith, Fashion, Fusion’s, success in breaking the stereotypes through their display’s of fashionable and personalised dress, the use of non-Muslim women as models leaves room to question their apparent “non-oppressive life”. Founder of Hijab House, Tarik Houchar, claims that as a Muslim man, he finds it ‘unacceptable’ to use Muslim women as models for fashion shoots. This may have not been such a problem if the exhibition was to also address Muslim men’s clothing, which also has some limitations, although not as many as Muslim women. (Mosmann,

2014)

Theoretical Framework:

Being in the visual field of design, it seems only fitting to understand how people perceive things visually and in relation to other things, including themselves.

In understanding how people come to stereotype, through social psychology, specifically social identity theories, understanding how people perceive things may aid In tackling the problem visually. Being prejudice is not something that is embedded in us at birth, but a trait that is later acquired as we grow older. Defined by Allport, Prejudice is “an antipathy based on a faulty and inflexible generalization” (1949). When meeting someone for the first time, the first things to be noticed are many in number, making our understanding of them quite complicated. As a result, we inevitably categorize them into a group based on the first things we see, namely sex, race, and clothing (Allport, 1954). This being the case however, how has the hijab, for example, been associated with stereotypes such as not being educated, or able to speak English (Rashid, 2015)? According to studies conducted by Michael Savelkoul, countries that have a high Muslim population showed less disrespect for Muslims, compared to countries where the Muslim population was lower, and therefore exposure to the religion was little (2009). This in mind, it would seem that the main trigger when categorising or stereotyping is memory a notion that has been further justified through the research experiment conducted by Dovidio, Evans, and Tyler in 1989

where participants were presented with a categorisation, either black or white, followed by a description, such as clumsy or careful. Once they were shown, the experimenter would ask if the description could ever be true of the categorisation. Through this experiment, it was made clear that when the categorisation was followed by a description that related to a stereotype, the answers given were quicker than when they did not relate to any stereotypes.
Apart from relating stereotyping to memory, it also relates stereotyping both directly and indirectly to impressions. In other words, when meeting someone for the first time, previous experiences will have an important factor on your memory, and therefore your first impression will relate directly to your memory. If one has never met a Muslim, man or woman, their memories or thoughts will be based solely on what is portrayed in the media, which is mostly negative. As a result, our memories of Muslims will remain negative, when recalling past memories and making first impressions, based on the hijab.
Faith, Fashion, Fusion aims at showing western culture that wearing a hijab is not an act of force but an act of will, and by also showing Muslim women as academics, it can be seen clearly that they are educated. However, there is much room left for interpretation with regards to their oppression. Then again, since they are aware of the limitations, and still willingly wear the hijab, maybe its not oppression after all.