Final Report Summary - ISLAMICFASHION (Islamic fashion and the politics of belonging in contemporary Turkey)
Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, has long been described as being torn between 'Western' and 'Eastern' outlooks. It once embarked upon an ambitious project of voluntary Westernisation and today is bidding for EU membership. However, in the last decade, an Islamist-rooted party in power has shifted Turkey's foreign policy towards the non-EU neighbours. In addition, the religiously conservative elite has sought to impose its version of modernity on seculars and religious conservatives alike. These changes have prompted new reflections on belonging in Turkey and raised hopes for, or fears of, a more stable positioning between the ‘West’ and the ‘East’.
The Islamic fashion industry represents an almost ideal site for analysing these politics of belonging. The concept of Islamic fashion has been debated in relation to the dualities around which these politics are also articulated, such as un-veiling and Westernisation versus re-veiling and Islamicisation, the ‘West’ versus the ‘East’, modernity versus backwardness, fashion versus religion, Westernised dress versus Islamic dress, fashion versus Islamic fashion, or Islamic dress versus fashionable Islamic dress. In spite of these debates, the Islamic fashion industry is a thriving sector, which attracts both religious conservative and secular economic actors, and responds to and nourishes the demand for fashionable modest dress.
This project illuminates how these diverse actors deal with these conceptual controversies on a daily basis, and create and promote objects, images and ideas that objectify these politics of belonging.
The project has the following objectives: 1) to investigate constants and innovations in the design of fashionable Islamic garments; 2) to analyse debates about styles and trends in Islamic fashion; 3) to analyse the institutionalisation of Islamic fashion and the participation of secular and religious conservative economic actors; 4) to investigate practices of assembling fashionable Islamic outfits and ways of discussing fashion and fashionable outfits; and 5) to analyse arguments for and against the existence of Islamic fashion.
The fieldwork was carried out for 10 months in Istanbul, the researcher being affiliated to a prestigious local university, that is, Bogazici University. The research involved different qualitative methods of data collection: (participant) observation in designer’s workshops and showrooms, in shops and open-air markets, and at fashion photo shoots, fashion shows, and boutique openings; semi-structured interviews and casual conversations with key players in this industry (e.g. fashion designers, fashion editors, boutique owners, fashion magazine owners); visual and content analysis of lifestyle magazines, fashion blogs, media and social media outputs; and Internet research about modest clothing companies. In the second stage of this project, the researcher analysed her data, worked on publications and actively disseminated the outcomes of her fieldwork in invited talks in the UK and Turkey, conferences and workshops in the UK and EU. In addition, she participated to and organised research and reading groups in her host department, attended research seminars and introduced her research to a wider audience.
This research project reveals the complex intersections of politics, economics, ethics and aesthetics in the Islamic fashion industry. The development of Islamic fashion has generated material forms, stylistic innovations and sartorial practices that challenge ideological separations between modern/non-modern, Western and Eastern-influenced styles and practices. The main results of this project achieved so far are the followings: a detailed investigation of the development of Islamic fashion in Turkey; an innovative reading of the politics of belonging among the religiously conservatives through debates about the intersection of aesthetics and ethics in Islamic fashion; a reconceptualization of belonging beyond the dualities modernity/non-modernity and secularism/Islamism; a reconceptualization of gendered perspectives on entrepreneurship in a predominantly Muslim society through a focus on the presence of headscarf-wearing entrepreneurs in the Islamic fashion industry market; and a contribution to discussions on new subjectivities, youth and Islam in contemporary Turkey.
Relevant within and without the academia, the expected final result is a nuanced presentation of the intriguing phenomenon of Islamic fashion, as it has developed in Turkey especially in the last five years. This presentation will reveal the internal debates among the religious conservatives, in addition to the disputes between the seculars and the religious conservatives, about what it means to be modern yet pious, fashionable yet modest, conservative yet socially active woman in contemporary Turkey. It will also introduce Islamic fashion as a value project, which almost ideally supports the growing theoretical predisposition to consider value as a project of making, rather than simply something inherently material or immaterial. These results will be published in the form of an already contracted monograph at Bloomsbury Academic and minimum two articles in peer-reviewed journals. The wider societal implication of this project is illustrated in the following comments. One was prompted by a presentation of this project in Ankara: ‘we knew what the seculars thought about the headscarf-wearing women; we now learn how and why the religious conservative people distinguish between the different ways of veiling. We only saw the headscarf. You showed us the stylistic differences and the intersection of politics, aesthetics and ethics that they materialise’ (an approximate quotation). Another was prompted by my research: ‘we now see the headscarf-wearing women on the street, we talk about them because of you’ (one of the researcher’ neighbours in Istanbul, who defines herself as being a staunch secular). In brief, this research challenges existing perspectives on Islamic dress and their practitioners, and enriches our understanding of the politics of belonging in contemporary Turkey.
The Islamic fashion industry represents an almost ideal site for analysing these politics of belonging. The concept of Islamic fashion has been debated in relation to the dualities around which these politics are also articulated, such as un-veiling and Westernisation versus re-veiling and Islamicisation, the ‘West’ versus the ‘East’, modernity versus backwardness, fashion versus religion, Westernised dress versus Islamic dress, fashion versus Islamic fashion, or Islamic dress versus fashionable Islamic dress. In spite of these debates, the Islamic fashion industry is a thriving sector, which attracts both religious conservative and secular economic actors, and responds to and nourishes the demand for fashionable modest dress.
This project illuminates how these diverse actors deal with these conceptual controversies on a daily basis, and create and promote objects, images and ideas that objectify these politics of belonging.
The project has the following objectives: 1) to investigate constants and innovations in the design of fashionable Islamic garments; 2) to analyse debates about styles and trends in Islamic fashion; 3) to analyse the institutionalisation of Islamic fashion and the participation of secular and religious conservative economic actors; 4) to investigate practices of assembling fashionable Islamic outfits and ways of discussing fashion and fashionable outfits; and 5) to analyse arguments for and against the existence of Islamic fashion.
The fieldwork was carried out for 10 months in Istanbul, the researcher being affiliated to a prestigious local university, that is, Bogazici University. The research involved different qualitative methods of data collection: (participant) observation in designer’s workshops and showrooms, in shops and open-air markets, and at fashion photo shoots, fashion shows, and boutique openings; semi-structured interviews and casual conversations with key players in this industry (e.g. fashion designers, fashion editors, boutique owners, fashion magazine owners); visual and content analysis of lifestyle magazines, fashion blogs, media and social media outputs; and Internet research about modest clothing companies. In the second stage of this project, the researcher analysed her data, worked on publications and actively disseminated the outcomes of her fieldwork in invited talks in the UK and Turkey, conferences and workshops in the UK and EU. In addition, she participated to and organised research and reading groups in her host department, attended research seminars and introduced her research to a wider audience.
This research project reveals the complex intersections of politics, economics, ethics and aesthetics in the Islamic fashion industry. The development of Islamic fashion has generated material forms, stylistic innovations and sartorial practices that challenge ideological separations between modern/non-modern, Western and Eastern-influenced styles and practices. The main results of this project achieved so far are the followings: a detailed investigation of the development of Islamic fashion in Turkey; an innovative reading of the politics of belonging among the religiously conservatives through debates about the intersection of aesthetics and ethics in Islamic fashion; a reconceptualization of belonging beyond the dualities modernity/non-modernity and secularism/Islamism; a reconceptualization of gendered perspectives on entrepreneurship in a predominantly Muslim society through a focus on the presence of headscarf-wearing entrepreneurs in the Islamic fashion industry market; and a contribution to discussions on new subjectivities, youth and Islam in contemporary Turkey.
Relevant within and without the academia, the expected final result is a nuanced presentation of the intriguing phenomenon of Islamic fashion, as it has developed in Turkey especially in the last five years. This presentation will reveal the internal debates among the religious conservatives, in addition to the disputes between the seculars and the religious conservatives, about what it means to be modern yet pious, fashionable yet modest, conservative yet socially active woman in contemporary Turkey. It will also introduce Islamic fashion as a value project, which almost ideally supports the growing theoretical predisposition to consider value as a project of making, rather than simply something inherently material or immaterial. These results will be published in the form of an already contracted monograph at Bloomsbury Academic and minimum two articles in peer-reviewed journals. The wider societal implication of this project is illustrated in the following comments. One was prompted by a presentation of this project in Ankara: ‘we knew what the seculars thought about the headscarf-wearing women; we now learn how and why the religious conservative people distinguish between the different ways of veiling. We only saw the headscarf. You showed us the stylistic differences and the intersection of politics, aesthetics and ethics that they materialise’ (an approximate quotation). Another was prompted by my research: ‘we now see the headscarf-wearing women on the street, we talk about them because of you’ (one of the researcher’ neighbours in Istanbul, who defines herself as being a staunch secular). In brief, this research challenges existing perspectives on Islamic dress and their practitioners, and enriches our understanding of the politics of belonging in contemporary Turkey.