Hijab Chic: How retailers are marketing to fashion-conscious Muslim women.

msn ^ | 11/7/05 | Asra Q. Nomani

[XR7]

"Full coverage," not your typical fashion show prerequisite, was the theme at a "fashion seminar" recently hosted by Nordstrom at the tony Tysons Corner Center mall in McLean, Va. The show, called "Interpreting Hot Trends for Veiled and Conservative Women," was perhaps the first high-fashion hijab event sponsored by corporate America. The target: well-heeled Muslim women living in the suburbs of Northern Virginia, where mansions and mosques are filled with rich Muslim immigrants, an increasing number of whom shop at Tysons Corner.

The Nordstrom show is part of a growing trend: Western retailers and designers are beginning to market directly to Muslim women. In 2000, for instance, European designers Yves Saint-Laurent and Jean-Paul Gaultier showed at the International Festival of African Fashion in Niger while ultraconservative Muslims paraded through the streets in protest of the "satanic" presentation...

If the Nordstrom event made one thing clear, it was that it's not easy to combine high fashion with religion. While one woman walked away with a long orange duster sweater, women on both sides of the figurative catwalk were grumbling unhappily. A Moroccan woman found a black polka-dotted top inappropriate because of its "three-quarter-length sleeves." Sleeves, according to the strictest standards of hijab, must extend to the wrists. A George Mason University law school student groused that a black Anne Klein skirt was "too short" because it hit the calves. A young scarved woman became frustrated that she wasn't able to find "an A-line skirt without a slit." And the Nordstrom cashiers mumbled to each other they weren't ringing up enough sales...

[freedomson]

What a lovely 9th century slave costume you have there!

[texas_mrs]

You've come a long way baby!

More like: You've got a long way to go, baby!

[Redleg Duke]

Are they saying that any woman showing her calf looks too much like a sheep or goat?

[Eastbound]

Hey, Wow! Not just another pretty faces!

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Yawn, I wonder what all the women in France will be wearing next year. /Sarcasm

[isrul]

Anything for a buck. Do they really think mahammedan "women" care about fashion? Regardless the amount of money, They're basically nothing more than breed sows, especially the ones who opt for the foolish costumes.

[GOP_1900AD]

Assimilate or leave. It's as simple as that (or, at least, it needs to be made as simple as that!)

[Titan Magroyne]

But I get to wear a fuschia tent, baby!

Does this color make me look fat?

[ApplegateRanch]

The target: well-heeled Muslim women living in the suburbs of Northern Virginia,

Well heeled, well toed, well fisted, well clubbed...I'll bet golf cleats really hurt.

[MEGoody]

Are they saying that any woman showing her calf looks too much like a sheep or goat?

Perhaps that's it.