The years-old debate about designing fashion for Muslim women who follow strict dress codes has reignited in France, raising the question of just what role, if any, European design houses have in a political debate.Italian designers Dolce & Gabbana are no strangers to controversy: Nearly every collection they showcase on the runways of Milan leaves tongues wagging. Last year, the talk was about the runway presentation, as models in various states of dishevelment carried children with them on the catwalk. In years past, the gossip centered around the hyper-sexualization of models dressed in their barely-there garments.
A new collection released in January 2016 via Style.com in Arabia, however, has sparked a raging debate in France that hasn't yet abated. The controversy centers around their first-ever collection of hijabs and abayas - the head scarf and free-flowing ankle-reaching garments worn by more conservative Muslim women.
Along with Dolce & Gabbana, a growing number of Western brands, such as H&M and Uniqlo, are
| Muslim women have never had problems buying western clothing: they only had to live in the west and be liberated enough from their fathers, husbands, brothers and male cousins so as not to be in fear of their lives... |
| Debate the role if you wish but never doubt the influence... |
| It's certainly not to market comfortable, affordable clothing... |
Following Rossignol's remarks, philosopher Elisabeth Badinter, one of France's most prominent feminist voices, even called for a boycott of these brands.
| It must be 'twice a day' for a stopped clock... |
In 2014, a decade-old law prohibiting the wearing in public schools of "conspicuous religious symbols," including the hijab, the head scarf worn by some Muslim women, was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights.
At the same time these laws were being put into place, big name fashion brands from Europe and North America began offering garments specifically marketed to appeal to the more traditional Muslim women who follow stricter dress codes. DKNY, Tommy Hilfiger and Oscar de la Renta have released special Ramadan collections to markets in the Middle East. Others have created more modest versions of their standard wares, with lower hemlines and longer sleeves.
It's no secret in the fashion industry that the Middle East holds huge capital potential. | If only one can re-educate all the men who live there not to murder their women... |
| As I was saying, the women are perfectly capable of buying the stuff. It's the wearing of it that's a problem... |
| I'm really surprised that the designers haven't done something with abayas and burqas, but there's only so much you can do with basic black... |
Still, the debate seems to be raging most fiercely in France, home to an estimated five million Muslims. Pierre Bergé, co-founder of the luxury design house Yves Saint Laurent, told Europe 1 radio station that brands which market to Muslim women this way were exploiting a misogynist system and "contributing to the enslavement of women."
Yet in Germany, rarely a peep has been heard in media outlets, aside from the occasional report focusing on the French debate. Gerd Müller-Thomkins, managing director of the Deutsches Mode Institut in Cologne, says that there is good reason for this.
| For one, the Germans are afraid... |
"In Germany, we are playing with ethnic fashion, yes. Playing with multiculti patterns and shapes, but designers are doing this as a way to
"In the end, though," he said, "designers want to serve the market and to do so with clients at a high level. It's all about money."
Though that may be true, Pierre Bergé had harsh words for those designers out to get a greater slice of the pie in this way. "Designers are there to make women more beautiful, to give them their freedom, not to collaborate with this dictatorship which imposes this abominable thing by which we hide women and make them live a hidden life," Bergé said. "Renounce the money and have some principles."
| Heh, right. Fashion designers renounce money. Sure, right after the politicians do... |