Visibly Muslim: Fashion, Politics, Faith

by Emma Tarlo

Muslims in Britain and cosmopolitan cities throughout the West are increasingly choosing to express their identity and faith through dress, whether by wearing colourful headscarves, austere black garments or creative new forms of Islamic fashion. Why is dress such an important issue for Muslims? Why is it such a major topic of media interest and international concern?

This timely and important book cuts through media stereotypes of Muslim appearances, providing intimate insights into what clothes mean to the people who design and wear them. It examines how different ideas of fashion, politics, faith, freedom, beauty, modesty and cultural diversity are articulated by young British Muslims as they seek out clothes which best express their identities, perspectives and concerns. It also explores the wider social and political effects of their clothing choices on the development of transnational cultural formations and multicultural urban spaces.

Based on contemporary ethnographic research, the book is an essential read for students and scholars of religion, sociology, cultural studies, anthropology and fashion as well as anyone interested in cultural diversity and the changing face of cosmopolitan cities throughout the world.

Genres: Fashion, Nonfiction, Anthropology, Religion, Islam, Feminism, Politics

320 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 2010

Reviews

[Malcolm · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is little that is more contested in our contemporary world than Muslim women, little more contested about Muslim women than their bodies and in respect of their bodies little more that excites the passions of public discussions than what they wear. To a very large extent, these are debates about Muslim women that are notable for the silence of Muslim women: for some, that is a sign of what the debate is really about – Muslim women’s public exclusion – while at the same time those women may be talked over, ignored or held up as examples of false consciousness (often by a political right that has also attacked the left for its deployment of ideas of false class consciousness…. but that is a different story). Very often, a vital factor in this critique of Muslim women’s clothes is that they are, as Emma Tarlo observes in this outstanding ethnography, visibly Muslim.

The other thing that I often observe in the Muslim women’s clothing debate is the assumption that ‘they’ are all the same: those who cover are ‘bad’ separatist Muslim, those who don’t good, secularish, integrators. Yet as I write that I conjure up the faces of three good friends between whom I could not separate devoutness or faith – one who covers fairly comprehensively, one who has never worn a headscarf outside specific religious events but is modestly and stylishly dressed, and one who has recently given up head covering (having worn scarfs, hats or other headcovering for several years) and is also both very modest and extremely stylish in a range of clothing styles: between them they puncture those simplistic associations of garb, morality and faith. One of the many things this book does so well is unravel this diversity of garb, and puncture the equation between how and the extent to which a woman covers her head and her ‘devoutness’ or not. The focus is on women who cover, on those who are visibly Muslim.

A good ethnography will do two things well: first it will take its readers inside a group or situation in a way that allows us to see, as much as possible, from the inside and from the point of view of participants (what Clifford Geertz called; ‘the ‘natives’ point of view’), and second it will analyse and explain that group/situation in terms derived on the one hand from its own internal outlooks – i.e., language and concepts the participants use – and also using terms and concepts external to the group/situation – i.e., from the ethnographer’s world/point of view. This is the delicate balance struck by the participant-observer. Tarlo does both excellently. This is a book where the voices of women who cover are clear, loud and diverse, but it is also a book where those voices are subject to critical analysis and critique, where the diversity of cultures and politics of hijab are explored and unravelled, where commerce meets identity meets politics meets cultures that are both the same and different, where similarity is not confused with sameness and where local contextualisation gives voice to women who cover but whose paths to covering are as diverse and distinct as there are women telling the story of their path….. The ‘natives’ speak, and their points of view are manifold as is their visibility.

Not that ‘giving voice’ is all that straightforward; it risks being seen as patronising with the heroic researcher(s) providing opportunities for the marginalised that they cannot build for themselves – it is often, properly, seen as a form of neo-colonialism. When this is placed alongside the key aspect of the dress that makes women ‘visibly Muslim’, forms of body covering linked to modesty (hijab), the question of giving voice can become more problematic – especially when we consider debates around hijab of the voice. As is the case with any anthropologist, it seems Tarlo had to carefully negotiate her way into relationships of trust with her participants (or, in anthropology-speak, informants). On top of this, it is a widespread taken for granted in research that we will offer our participants full anonymity, yet many of the women here, and not only the public figures, appear under their own names, albeit in some cases first name only. Furthermore, many are photographed, including some whose first name only we have. This is a testament to the trust that exists between researcher and participant.

The book is well structured moving from a series of ‘biographies in dress’ of public figures – the comedian Shazia Mirza, the fabric artist Rezia Wahid and policy advisor Humera Khan, whose stories show the diversity of reasons underpinning the wearing of ‘Islamic’ clothing, or not wearing it as the case may be – through spatial relations associated with hijab through questions of style, politics, commerce and fashion. Doing so takes us well beyond the moral panic of the invisible woman in the street or the woman coerced to cover, although admittedly that latter group would be extremely difficult to get access to, especially for an non-Muslim, not because of issues of Islam but because of issues of control and seclusion, as may be seen in many other settings.

Several of the participants are converts. The women of the hip hop crew Poetic Pilgrimage took a long journey through clothing styles before they settled on a look that worked, recognising their Afro-Caribbean heritage, the street style and conventions of being visibly Muslim. The writer and publisher Zarina Saley, whose father was Muslim, came to the faith as a young adult and like many talks of having to learn ways of being and looking Muslim as an adult: this comes with a confidence and trust that allowed her to be photographed demonstrating several different ways of tying her hijab (and all praise to Bloomsbury for the two full colour photographic sections). Elsewhere Tarlo takes us into some of the UK’s hijab/niqab controversies, once again allowing a diverse set of views from within Muslim communities to be heard: these are not voices we often hear outside those worlds, not because they are not present but often because they are not newsworthy.

Alongside these case and aspects, she explores the world of commerce – through case studies of Whitechapel’s Arabiannites boutique and the on-line Hijab Shop. In the former the focus is on Yasmin Arif, designer and shop owner whose work is (to my eyes at least) quite ‘middle of the road’: the ‘ordinary’ is good in this setting, where the focus of public debate is so often presented as about extremes. In the case of the Hijab Shop, the focus is on Wahid Rahman – ‘the man behind the website’ – an entrepreneur, not designer, who brings his industry knowledge from work with the Arcadia Group (think Top Shop) to this business. There is here a closer focus on a single product, the ‘capster’ that allows women to take part in performance sport while still maintaining their hijab commitments: this is the product of work by a secular Dutch woman, Cindy van den Bremen, and the result of her family interest in sport and physical activity and a final year design school project. This case is a fascinating study in global business, the blending of concerns of faith and of human rights. The book closes with consideration of Islamic fashion – of both stylish design for Muslim dressers and Islamic influences in contemporary fashion.

This book, for me, hits the mark on several fronts. It does what a good ethnography should do with insider voices and insider and outsider analytical codes to show diversity in what might appear from the outside to be sameness (paying attention to hijab styles, designs and use should make it blindingly obvious to many, quickly, that this is anything but ‘same’ but it doesn’t seem to be recognised) as well as point to the often intense debates within Muslim communities about clothing and body covering. It also puts the practice dressing in a ‘visibly Muslim’ manner wider political, cultural and commercial contexts extremely well to show an intersecting network of global flows of material and cultures that make up the context in which women dress. It points to lines of demarcation that relate to age, to class, to ethnicity, to location and to pathways into and through being Muslim that have shaped the way a group of women become ‘visibly Muslim’ to show clearly that although there is much they have in common, there is also much that marks them as distinct from one another.

This is the best ethnography I have read in years: I’m singing its praises to all who will listen.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about Islamic dress, you need to read this book. Tarlo gives several accounts from women in London on what it means to dress Islamically and be "visible" Muslims by doing so, and how the post 9/11 culture has effected their lifestyles and their faith as well as their dress. Read it.

[Nachida · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read, however, wished the author discussed differences in Islamic fashions based on socio-economic conditions as well.

[WORN Fashion Journal]

I’ve never been religious, but wrangling my political convictions and a love for clothing taught me the vicissitudes of negotiating two value systems that are seemingly at odds while attempting to craft an image that reflects my beliefs and is aesthetically pleasing (to me, at least). It is this tension that drives Visibly Muslim: Fashion, Politics, Faith, which looks at Muslim women who cover in contemporary England through a series of ethnographic profiles highlighting the diversity of their practices and perspectives. Anthropologist Emma Tarlo attends at length to how individual women reconcile visibly displaying their faith with the desire to dress fashionably and self-expressively.

Tarlo describes in great detail how her subjects adapt and negotiate signifiers of both Islam and style in order to craft their own looks, and she repeatedly emphasizes the great creativity of Muslim dress in the West. Noting that some of her subjects have more than 500 hijabs, she argues that the headscarf serves as “a new form of Muslim personal art” that in many cases “provides the aesthetic focal point of a young girl’s appearance.”

Because her account is so grounded in individuals, she mostly addresses hijabi practices as strategies that enable the women to craft the appearances they desire. Thus, she dedicates a lot of time to what her interviewees’ clothing habits mean to them and how they came to decide whether and how to cover. This entails considerable detail into the minutiae of covering choices, for example how tight clothing should be or whether to hide or display one’s neck or wrists.

Which brings us to one of the more politically fraught themes of the book, how different hijabi styles communicate to other Muslims. Men are largely absent from her account, which is, after all, primarily a study of women who display their faith sartorially. But one chapter attends to a group called Hizb ut-Tahrir, describing the strict guidelines for covering the group recommends for its adherents and its critiques of the women who cover less stringently. Tarlo uses her discussion of the group to introduce one of the book’s more interesting tangents: the paradoxical tension inherent in thinking the hijab as a form of fashion at all. The point of hijab, of course, is to remain modest, following the Qu’ranic injunction for a women to hide her beauty. But how, then, do women draw the line between immodesty and fashion? Tarlo effectively points to the difficulties of reconciling the desire to conform to Muslim doctrine by not being too showy with the desire to appear fashionable where they meet, in the hijab that effectively signifies, in the West, the desire to visibly display one’s faith.

This book is primarily intended for an academic audience, and unless you’re really interested in the subject matter you might not take that much from it. I occasionally found the lengthy ethnographies in the first half of the book boring, although her case studies of political organizations and businesses were more gratifying, to this reader at least. Ultimately, Tarlo effectively addresses a weighty issue in a way that respects the autonomy and individuality of those it depicts. (reviewed by Emily Raine)

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another boook that I found in the new books section in the Boston Public Library - thank you BPL for highlighting good books there! About women wearning traditionally Muslim dress in London, both hajib and naqib. As someone who has lived around a Muslim community in the Greater Boston area, the stories feel familiar and insightful.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has a very academic tone -- reads more like a thesis paper than anything else. Good info, thorough, in-depth look at what it means to be "visibly Muslim" in contemporary London.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book on visibility, perception, and style.