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Introduction: (Re-)Claiming Bodies Through Fashion and Style—Gendered Configurations in Muslim Contexts

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(Re-)Claiming Bodies Through Fashion and Style

Part of the book series: New Directions in Islam ((NDI))

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Abstract

Muslim attire is very diverse and differs in colors, styles, and cuts according to the regional, cultural, socio-political, and religious backgrounds of the wearers. Variations in style are especially obvious when it comes to females—women and girls alike. Through their clothing, Muslim females negotiate concepts and interpretations of Islam and equally constitute their intersectionally interwoven position in the world. Malay Muslim women from Malaysia, for example, have appropriated the abaya, the long black Arabian cloak for females, over recent years as a result of increasing pilgrimage journeys to Mecca and Medina (Thimm 2015, 2018). Emirati women prefer to wear a light-colored trench coat-like “travel abaya” once they have traveled to European countries. Muslim women in the Netherlands wear the veil in order to resist racist hostilities toward Muslims (Moors 2009). Designers in Dubai have created a brand new abaya that allows UV radiation to pass through the material in order to solve the problem of vitamin D deficiency in the Gulf states due to their coverings. “Muslimah wear” (clothing particularly targeting Muslim women) has become better and better integrated into the international fashion industry.

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  1. University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Viola Thimm

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  1. Viola Thimm
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    Viola Thimm

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Thimm, V. (2021). Introduction: (Re-)Claiming Bodies Through Fashion and Style—Gendered Configurations in Muslim Contexts. In: Thimm, V. (eds) (Re-)Claiming Bodies Through Fashion and Style. New Directions in Islam. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71941-8_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71941-8_1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

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