Upon reading the title of this article, you may ask something along the lines of “Fashion!? There?” This could be because, unfortunately, news and media sources around the world continue to portray how women in the Middle East dress inaccurately or negatively. Last semester, I took an anthropology class called Cultures of the Middle East at GW (which I highly recommend!) which sort of opened my eyes to this dilemma. While veiling is a common practice here, it is not always the all-covering black burqa that the media often portrays.
After living in Egypt, Jordan, and visiting Turkey, I can say that fashion in all of these countries does exist. While veiling is definitely a prevalent practice in all of these places, many women do wear hijab but dress more stylishly than myself! On top of this, when veiling is present, it is nearly always based on the personal choice of the individual woman, often for religious beliefs or cultural traditions. As some western feminists think, veiling is not a form of confinement or oppression by men – it is often considered a form of “portable seclusion” from them (Abu-Lughod). It is important to remember in all of these countries, there is a debate going on among Muslim women and scholars as to how much veiling is necessary to adhere to Islam. While it would take hours to explain the reasons and theories behind veiling, just know that it ranges from the styles found in the picture above to no veiling at all. What people in America would consider fashion can be found all over the Middle East. Ok! Time to discuss some of the clothing styles I found in each country!
I came to Egypt prepared to dress like a potato sack – I brought almost no form-fitting clothes or anything shorter than elbow-length sleeves. I wanted to fit in, but apparently had not done my research. As soon as I arrived, I realized I brought all the wrong clothes. Many young Egyptian women around my age wore practically the same clothes I had left at home – skinny jeans, boots with leggings, dresses with stockings – all with a beautiful hijab pinned expertly, yet fashionably. On the top left is a picture of my friend Mona and me – she is wearing black skinny jeans, a warm pea coat (because January in Egypt is chilly), and one of the prettiest scarves. On the top right is my close Egyptian friend, Mariam. While her style can be considered slightly more conservative than Mona’s, Mariam wears some of the most fashionable outfits I have seen – she accessorizes perfectly, to the smallest detail, and her outfits are always so well planned out. To the bottom left is one of my Cairo program manager’s Salma (we were both sad in the picture as this was the day before evacuation). She does not wear hijab, but often dressed business casual and took us to some of the best stores in downtown Cairo (where I got my dress in this picture). Women of Egypt all dress differently based on their personal beliefs, but they’re always dressed beautifully!
Jordan is slightly trickier when discussing fashion. How women dress here depends not only on the personal beliefs of the woman, but her family background and her social status. Due to Jordan’s strong historical ties to tribes and its large population of Palestinians, dress can be more traditional. The neighborhood I live in, Swefieh, is mainly a wealthier area of Amman – I grocery shop in a giant Safeway with women in mini-skirts and much cleavage – but it is the exception. Many of the malls in Amman have western-style clothing, but generally women in Jordan do dress more conservatively than those in Egypt. Hijab is worn much more often than not, but instead of western attire, women often wear an ankle-length, non-form-fitting dress (the name escapes me right now). To the bottom right is a picture of our Jordanian Cooking lessons with our academic coordinator, Wafa. She almost always wears knee-length dresses or business skirts with stockings, and generally dresses business casual. She’s extremely sweet and her fashion is extremely classy.
Unfortunately, I did not remember to take too many pictures of some of the women when I was in Turkey. While I only saw mainly the city-life of Istanbul, I felt as though I got a pretty good feel for fashion there. In short, many of the women in Istanbul look like they’ve popped right out of an Urban Outfitters catalogue. It was freezing by the Black Sea the other week, yet many Turkish women wore sheer tights (with shorts!) or leggings with short dresses and boots. Turkish women who wore the hijab often dressed similarly to my friends Mona and Mariam from Egypt. From watching television, and from speaking with friends currently studying abroad there, women in Beirut, Lebanon apparently dress even more scandalously than those in Turkey. Along with this, I also read (confirmed by a friend who studies at the American University of Beirut) that around 1 in 3 young women in Lebanon have some type of plastic surgery.
From this, I hoped to show that fashion does exist in the Middle East and that women here are often more fashionable than those in the west. While I cannot speak from experience about other countries in the region, I do know that dress for women tends to be much more conservative in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and Kuwait. As an American visitor to the Middle East, there is no need to leave most of your wardrobe at home when coming to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, or Turkey! Skinny jeans, any type of shoes, scoop-neck tee shirts, etc. can be worn. Be sure to bring a scarf along with you should you wander into a more conservative neighborhood to cover any surprise cleavage, or hair if visiting a mosque. Veiling, although very personal to the woman wearing it, can be fashionable and doesn’t deserve any special or negative attention from western media.