Turkey: Islamic Women’s Magazine Sparks Debate over Role of Fashion in Islam

[rug]

November 18, 2011 - 2:04pm, by Constanze Letsch

The Turkish women’s magazine Âlâ first gained notice in the summer of 2011 by putting the most controversial piece of fabric in Turkey, the Islamic headscarf, on its cover. Four months later, Turkish secularists and traditional Muslims alike are still debating: Can fashion and Islam comfortably coexist?

The brainchild of advertising agency account executives Mehmet Volkan Atay and Burak Birer, Âlâ (Beautiful Lifestyle) targets Turkey’s growing number of observant Muslim women with a monthly selection of clothing advice, interviews with Muslim designers and businesswomen, travel tips and feature stories. It claims that its circulation has quadrupled to 40,000 copies since the first edition hit newsstands last July, and is widely reported by Turkish media already to have surpassed sales of Vogue and Elle.

But don’t tag it as an Islamic Vogue. Âlâ Art Director Esra Sezis asserts that that the notion of Islamic fashion contradicts the Islamic idea of women modestly covering their bodies. “ is only meant to be a helping guide for conservative women -- where can they shop, what clothes can they combine,’” Sezis said in an August 20 interview with the Turkish daily Sabah. “n short, there cannot be Islamic fashion; just details.”

In online social media forums, critics nonetheless claim that the glossy, high-end monthly tries to “westernize the idea of modest Islamic dress,” and tries to turn veiled women into the prototype of Vogue-reading, spend-thrift fashion victims; concepts contrary to Islamic ideals. The magazine features photos of both professional models and ordinary readers in Islamic garments.

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64542

[NMMNG]

1. "Can fashion and Islam comfortably coexist? "

I don't know. Exactly how many ways can one accessorize a burqa?

[rug]

2. These styles look like something you'd see in an expensive Western.

[Warpy]

3. Why the hell not?

The Quran specifies "modest" wear for women, usually meaning arms and legs covered, with or without a head scarf. That leaves a hell of a lot of latitude for fashion designers.

Those yards of black stuff are a tribal perversion, not necessarily Muslim.

[riderinthestorm]

4. Cover model is wearing make-up and showing off her "jewels" with skin tight clothing

both of them haram in Islam for pious Muslimahs.

This magazine is a crock of shit if its truly attempting to appeal to honest conservative religious Islamic women just by glancing at the cover picture alone.