Models in designs by Calvin Thoo at the Islamic Fashion Festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
THERE
ARE SO MANY fashion weeks these days, from the Big Four (London, New
York, Paris and Milan) to Tokyo, Rio, Miami and Abu Dhabi, among others,
that I often think I could pass the year going from one to another, the
way John Cheever’s Swimmer stroked his way across the pools of the
suburbs.
But
even to a jaded observer, a fashion event took place last week that
seemed — well, not like the other ones: the Islamic Fashion Festival in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I was not the only one who found it confusing.
“Islamic fashion festival? Just doesn’t make sense,” one young Muslim girl tweeted.
But that, it turned out, was precisely the point.
Founded
nine years ago by Dato’ Raja Rezza Shah partly to combat received
stereotypes about Islam, the festival is part of a wider movement within
a slice of the Muslim world — most often Muslims living in minority
contexts, or non-Arab Muslim majority countries — that has seized on
fashion as a means to reshape the cultural narrative. Or at least how it
is seen.
As
Reina Lewis, a professor of cultural studies at the London College of
Fashion and the author of “Muslim Fashion: Contemporary Style Cultures,”
to be published in 2015, said in a phone call: “Every time there is a
moral panic in the West about Muslims as a civilizational Other, whether
it is about the jihadization of young men or whatever, it is
illustrated with a picture of women wearing the hijab or abaya, shrouded
in black.”
To
combat or replace a fashion image — even one that seems effectively an
anti-fashion image — what better tool than fashion itself? Clothing is,
after all, essentially a common language, and hence a potential shortcut
to global recognition.
Simply consider the words of the designer and blogger Dian Pelagi, whom The Jakarta Post
called “the unofficial poster girl for the introduction of Indonesian
Islamic fashion to the world” and who specializes in rainbow-tinted
tie-dyed chiffons and silks combined with African detailing that also
just happen to cover the head and body. “I think that if Islamic fashion
can gain traction in America, it will change people’s perceptions of
Islam and Islamic fashion,” she told that newspaper.
Similarly, the festival,
which began in 2006 and has grown into a thrice-yearly event (most
recently a four-day showcase for 26 designers from not only Malaysia but
also Singapore, Indonesia and Pakistan), has as its official goal: “To
build an updated visual and cultural reference from which Islam can be
related to the modern world through the creative arena of fashion
divorced from political, economic and social strife.”
This is not entirely altruistic. The Muslim clothing and footwear market was estimated by Thomson Reuters
at $224 billion globally in 2012 — 10.6 percent of total global
expenditure in the sector, and the second biggest market in the world
after the United States ($494 billion in 2012) — and the news agency
projects it to grow to $322 billion by 2018.
Clearly,
the ability to capture a chunk of that market is a meaningful lure, and
Malaysia is competing with Dubai and Indonesia for the position of
“capital of Islamic fashion,” Dr. Lewis said. (“Islamic fashion” being a
broad umbrella term also known as “Muslim fashion” or “Muslim modest
fashion” or sometimes simply “modest fashion,” depending on whom you
talk to and what country you are in.) Adding a positive spin to the
commercial imperative clearly adds to its allure.
“It’s part of national branding strategy and development,” Dr. Lewis said.
The
marketing opportunity, religious and national, and the chance to
position Malaysia as a leader in the field has probably not been lost on
the government. Datin Paduka Seri Rosmah Mansor, the wife of Prime
Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak, is the patron of the event. Still,
the commercial and promotional drivers should not negate the effort to
emphasize the shadings of gray (and pink and yellow and blue) involved.
At the bustling Souq Waqif in Doha,
Qatar, Fahad Al Obaidly, a fashion designer, likes to wear traditional
garments then add a modern twist.
“There
is this crisis where Islam has probably been given a bad name by
extremists, and I want to show modest dress does not have to mean
somber, or boring or so complicated,” said the designer Calvin Thoo, one
of the names who showed last week during the festival and who has been
participating in the event since the beginning. Mr. Thoo’s collection
featured not just long sleeves and skirts and high necks, but also
peplums, chiffon halters, beading on shoulders and arms and lace
cutaways, all in jewel tones.
Likewise,
his fellow festival participant, Nor Aini Shariff, the designer of a
line called Jarumas, focuses on what might be termed “haute batik.” And
over all, most of the clothes on display during the festival were marked
by their saturated colors, from jade to rose, sapphire, crimson and
white, as well as elaborate draping and headpieces. They were modest in
coverage, but not aesthetic ambition.
But
where the festival may differ most from traditional fashion
collections, as well as the competing fashion weeks of Dubai (founded in
2005) and Jakarta (founded in 2008), is that it was conceived not just
as a commercial venture, but also as an unofficial outreach program, and
has traveled to London, New York, Monaco and Singapore, among other
cities. In addition, each catwalk show is treated as a charitable
fund-raiser. (Each day benefits a different nonprofit organization, like
the breast cancer charity Pink Unity.)
The
festival is not alone, however, in seeing fashion as potentially more
than simply a way to make a statement about a silhouette. There is a
growing awareness in a diverse array of cultures and countries that it
may be a useful communications tool. Consider Colombia’s InexModa, which
has been part of an effort to change the national story from one of
drug-running to one of design, or Zambia’s fashion week, conceived to
move the conversation from poverty to creativity and pride.
Whether
such sartorial strategy will work is another question. In the case of
Islamic fashion, the festival organizers are, not surprisingly,
positive. (“I believe I.F.F. has managed to bring the message that Islam
does not equal to terrorism; an easy example is we are still invited
around the world,” Dato’ Rezza wrote via email.) Dr. Lewis is more
measured.
“I
don’t want to suggest this approach will end global friction or war,”
she said. “But alongside the depiction of Islam as a religion of peace
and universal values, the depiction of Islam as part of contemporary
consumer culture is an effective way to convey the message they live in
the same world as everyone else.”
I shop, therefore I am (like you). In its seeming innocuousness, it may be a more potent message than it sounds.
