Dolce & Gabbana Goes Islamic- Creates Luxury Hijab Line

You know Dolce & Gabanna, the Italian uber-expensive luxury clothing line- they've now created a luxury hijab and abaya collection. For all those wealthy Arabs who refuse to take in any of their co-religionist refugees from Syria and surrounding areas. According to Vogue:

The line will likely prove good news for D&G’s 2016 revenue as well. According to a report by Thomson Reuters, Muslim shoppers spent $266 billion on clothing and footwear in 2013 and are expected to spend $484 billion by 2019.

From CBC:

According to a piece published by Fortune in July, Muslim women spent $266 billion US globally on clothing and footwear in 2013 alone – a figure that is expected to almost double by 2019.

Another report cited by Forbes shows that in the Middle East specifically, sales of personal luxury goods hit $8.7 billion US in 2015, up from $6.8 billion US in 2014.

"Women from wealthy oil states have long expressed their flair for fashion with pricey handbags and shoes, visible when worn with an abaya and hijab," writes Clare O'Connor in the Forbes piece. "Many of these women are already consumers of designer apparel, often wearing brands including Dolce & Gabbana head-to-toe underneath their modest abayas, viewable in the privacy of their homes or among other women."

The outfits are actually quite chic, and the prices probably exorbitant.

But isn't the whole purpose of Muslim modesty NOT to stand out?

As for dolce & Gabbana, dhimmis or after the Arab big bucks?

Bizarre Fancy Hijabs Worn In London- More Hypocrisy

Iranian photographer Sara Shamsavari took a bunch of photos of the varying, eclectic styles of hijab that London women sport to cover their hair. The photos are part of an exhibit to celebrate International Women's Day.

Now, the whole purpose of donning the Islamic veil is supposedly for reasons of modesty, and to ensure that a woman does not attract undue attention to herself, even though the verses that are referred to in the Quran don't really mention anything about covering the hair, neck and ears:

And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what must ordinarily appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers, or their brothers' sons or their sisters' sons, or their women or the servants whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex, and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O you Believers, turn you all together towards Allah, that you may attain Bliss. (Quran 24:31).

 O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them (when they go abroad). That will be better, so that they may be recognized and not annoyed. Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful. (Quran 33:59)

No actual mention of covering the head, which is probably why there are some Muslim clerics who have concluded that it is not an Islamic duty to wear a hijab. But there are some Muslimahs (like the women Shamsavari photographed below) who insist on wearing such outrageously wild veils, the whole purpose of not attracting attention is rendered totally moot.

Okay, the first one looks like a Muslim version of a graduation cap and gown, but the other two are kind of pretty in a bizarre way. But all three would definitely prompt stares, which is what I assumed they were trying to avoid.  They definitely call more attention to themselves than if they were to remove the veil and just dress modestly.

They're not the only ones dressing Islamic trendy, they actually have hijab high-fashion shows, with even more elaborate hijabs ready for all those fashion-conscious, hypocritical hijabis.

What's the point?

Hypocrisy of Hijab High-Fashion

I believe that most women who don the hijab, niqab or burqa are either forced to by their men-folk, or they wear them out of some skewed quasi-religious/feminist ideology that compels them to make a political statement, of sorts, out of their Islamic garb: I am Muslim, Hear Me Roar.  For others it's a litmus test for their supposed 'piety', as if you can't be a moral person without covering your head.

There are also those Muslims (and many of them female) who claim that women are obliged to dress modestly because they don't want to tempt men, who I suppose have absolutely no control over their sexual instincts if they are aroused by a woman's ponytail.

Islam commands women to cover their bodies so as not to trouble men who are weak and unable to resist temptation. In Islam, men and women are commanded to dress modestly and not appear "naked" in public, even in all male and female situations.

By covering their bodies from head to toe these women feel they are not calling attention to themselves, and therefore saving men from committing fitnah by lusting after them. This might very well be true in Arab lands where the hijab/abayas etc are the norm, but in Western countries where it's more of an oddity than anything else, they stand out like sore thumbs, which would seem to defeat the purpose.

According to Islam, men are supposed to dress modestly as well, but unless they are wearing a Thobe (tunic) or shemagh (head dress) Muslim men are usually dressed in Western clothing (often jeans and t-shirts), and unless they are accompanied by their hijab or burqa-wearing wives, there's no way you would identify them as Muslim. One reminder of  gender inequality  in Islam, and its inherent hypocrisy.

Ironically, the resurgence of interest in the hijab came after 9/11, but not satisfied with the dull colors and styles that typify modest Islamic clothing, Muslim women who wear the hijab, niqab or burqa (for whatever reason) are now clamoring to prettify their outfits, and Islamic high-fashion has emerged.

In Australia, an exhibit - Faith, fashion, fusion: Muslim women's style in Australia- has just opened at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, which features the latest styles and trends for modest women's clothing. Some of the outfits are actually quite attractive, but many are as form-fitting simply longer versions of their Western counterparts.  Designers have brought color and style to the normally drab garments, but fail to see the utter hypocrisy in trying to look fashionable while trying to maintain a semblance of so-called modesty. Now, not only are they drawing attention to themselves by wearing a veil, they are attracting even more attention by making themselves look trendy.

ABC Australia video of the 'faith, fashion, fusion' event.