Modern Egyptian Women's Fashion, Consumerism and Faith: Discourses and Representations

This book discusses Egyptian Muslim women’s dress as the social, political and ideological signifier of the changing attitudes towards Western modernity. It employs women’s clothing styles as a feminist act that provides rich insights into the power and limits of legal regulations and hegemonic discourses in constructing gendered and cultural borders in the modern Egyptian public sphere. Furthermore, through highlighting marginalized but significant models and historical moments of cultural exchange between Muslim and Western cultures through female dress, the book tells a third story beyond the binary model of an assumed modest oppressed traditional Muslim woman vis-à-vis consumer emancipated modern Western woman in mainstream Western discourse and literary representation. Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures Part I Universal Theories and Local Contexts, Then and Now 1 Introduction Muslim Women’s Dress, Colonial/Post-Colonial His-Story and Representation Muslim Women’s Dress and Decolonizing Fashion Knowledge Representation/Re-presentation Representation and Discourse Outline of the Book References 2 Modernity, Fashion and Agency Modernity, Dressing Fashionably and Oriental Dress Modernity, Fashion and Female Bodies Faith, Post-Colonial Muslim Identity, Feminism and Agency References 3 Muslim Women, Faith and Appearance Before Western Modernity Between Theory and Practice Muslim Women in Western Discourse and Imagination Medieval Muslim Women, the Veil and Harem Between Theory and Practice Mernissi and the Private/Public Divide Theory: A Feminist Reading Medieval Egyptian Women’s Clothing Style and Body Practices References Part II Dressing Modern Egyptian Women, Faith, Fashion and Class 4 Modern Egyptian Women Between Islamic Identity and Western Fashion Modern European Dress and Muslim Egyptian Women Egyptian Women and the Birth of Modern Egypt Dressing Modern Egyptian Women and Representation Unveiling the Modern Egyptian Woman: Huda Shaarawi and the Demise of the Harem System Malak Hifni Nassef: An Alternative Modern Feminist Voice Urban Working-Class Women: Female Subjectivity and Modern “Traditional” Dress References 5 Post-Colonial Modern Egyptian Woman’s Model, Nationalism and Democracy Doria Shafik: A Revolutionary Elegant Feminist A Contested Modern Egyptian Ambassador Shafik, Nationlism and Modern Egyptian Woman Ambivalent Modern Feminist Discourse: A Feminist Nationalist Model from Below References 6 Post-Colonial Egyptian Women and Fashion: Patriarchy and Consumerism The Islamic Revival and the Comeback of the Dying Veil: Modernity, Modesty and Patriarchal Society Sadat’s Open Door Policy: Consumerism, Feminism, and Fashion Egyptian Women’s Appearance Between Religion, Market and State “Cool” Preachers and Fashionable “Islamic” Dress References 7 Revolution, Egyptian Women’s Bodies and Representation Beyond Traditional Media Revolution and Women’s Role in the Public Sphere: An Ambiguous Social and Political Context Women's Bodies and Revolution in Question Social Media, Revolution and Egyptian Women's Fashions Social Media and the Stylish Egyptian Woman: A Look at the Other Side of the Walk References Part III Post-Colonial Muslim Women and Dress in Literature: Representations beyond a Normative Model 8 “Othering” of Muslim Woman in Western Theory and Representation Representing Muslim Women from Wanton Infidel to the Oppressed Enslaved “Other” Muslim Women and Religion in Mainstream Post-Colonial Literary Texts Modern Headscarf Wearers in Post-Colonial Texts: Towards an Inclusive Representation References 9 Universal Modernity and a Fashionable Egyptian Woman in Lyrics Alley (2010) Muslim Women in Leila Aboulela’s Narrative Fashionable Unveiled Egyptian Women and Emancipation References 10 Fashionable Devout Egyptian Woman in Bird Summons (2019): Rethinking Post-Colonial Hybrid Identity Post-Colonial Fashionable Egyptian Woman in the West Between Emancipation and Belonging Muslim Women Between Orientalization and Decolonization Egyptian Muslim Woman in the British Diaspora and the Challenge of the Concept of “Third Space” Towards a Multicultural Society References Index