Summer Black, of course. No New Yorker needs persuading about wearing black in the summer―is there any other color?―but apparently London women need help, or at least encouragement to believe that black is still the new black. Hence the reassurance by style mavens that it’s more than OK to dress all in black this summer, despite the heat wave (a blip compared to New York weather), and despite all the advice to go floral and, well, summery. To wear black is to aim for “cool girl Scandinavian.” I have no idea what the “cool girl Scandavian” look is (the sartorial version of Scandanavian noir?), but there is plenty of black in London.
A recent trip with a visiting American teenager to Harrods had lots of black on display. (The fabled store is now owned by the father of Dodi, the boyfriend of Princess Diana, who died with her sixteen years ago; there’s a memorial shrine to the couple on the lowest floor of the store)
But the black that caught more than my eye was the number of women dressed entirely in black, shopping.
It was hard for me not to stare as I tried to try to make sense of the contrast between these women covered head to toe in black, with only a slit for their eyes, and the display of gorgeous luxury items for which the store is famous. What, I wondered, were they shopping for? And what were they wearing under the burkas (or burqas as it’s often spelled here)? In London burkas and headscarves are omnipresent and, for the time being at least, the fact of women covering their faces is not moving forward as a political issue. It has, however, been raised by conservatives.
The same is not true in France, where the question of the scarf (le voile) and face covering is a hotly debated and fiercely argued question.
In France the rationale for banning the wearing of the headscarf is part of the secularist legislation banning all “ostentatious” religious symbols from the cross to the yarmulke–and the anti-headscarf position is largely supported by many well-known French feminists. But given all the other political and economic issues associated with the large Muslim population in France, the question of the headscarf is rarely just a matter of opinion. It has become a lightning rod for protest, often accompanied by violence on both sides―protesters and police.
In the summer of 2003 I was in London for the astounding heat wave that caused many deaths here and in Europe. I found myself more than puzzled, horrified really, to see many Muslim families in Kensington Gardens where the men were sitting on the grass in open-necked shirtsleeves, and the women tented in black tending to the children running around freely.
Surely, the acceptance of cultural difference has its limits? Or am I just depressingly Western?
I've lived in the Middle East for 8 years (and am not Muslim). My perspective on this has changed - also having been raised in a South Asian culture - what I know about veiling is that these women are like nuns to the world. And they reveal themselves to only one man or their female relatives.
It is the opposite of Western culture - the best parts of life are living inside, in private, rather than in public.
I've been to this particular Harrods and those are probably not burqas (worn in Iraq) but Abayas (worn in the Arabian Gulf) with niqab, a face veil which shows only the eyes.
The choice of who to show your face, hair, or body to is in the hands of these women. When they are at their parties or weddings, it is like being part of the Oscars. They buy everything in that store and don't need male approval to enjoy them as gatherings are female only.
Much more liberating than the Western compulsion to wear beauty products, diet, have surgery, to catch another man.
True, men in burqas--why not?
I confess I struggle when I see women dressed that way, feeling that nothing but sexual repression could result in such dress in very hot weather -- if they were so effective in circulating heat, why wouldn't the men be wearing them too? Of course it is always delicate to judge customs unique to another culture from the standpoint of your own, and when I see women in this country wearing five inch heels, or subjecting themselves to surgery to achieve a certain standard of beauty, and the parading of preteen girls in highly sexualized poses, I don't feel that much better.
Well, as for the Orthodox men, at least they are choosing the sartorial burden...whereas...
Enough for an open website!
burden...
I'd say more but not on an open website!
Nancy, Yes, in the summer I do not envy those men in their black suits with the black hats, and especially those who dress up for the Sabbath in knee length black robes with black fur hats. And then some of them wear their wool tallitot (prayer shawls) on top of everything so they they don't have to carry them on the Sabbath.
Thank you for both these important pieces of information. I feel oddly relieved, a bit foolish,
to know that the air is circulating under the burqas.
That the women are dressed stylishly under the black, I do not doubt.
As for the detail of male orthodox dress, I confess I had not thought of that...
There was an interesting article in Scientific American (about a zillion years ago, before burqas and hijabs were common on European and American streets) that examined the airflow inside the robe type garments worn in desert countries. The main point was, because warm air rises, there is a flow of air inside a robe or burqa: the air comes in around the feet and as it is warmed by the body it rises and moves out around the neck and head, helping to keep the wearer cooler. Because black absorbs heat from the sun, black robes are more efficient at this than white ones are. Well, there had to be reason people still dress this way after thousands of years.
And under that burqa, some of those women are dressed in more up to the minute fashion than most of the rest of us.
I don't think you are depressingly Western. But heavy dark clothing in warm weather certainly raises lots of questions. Perhaps people in sub-sahara Africa regard European clothing preferences as bizarre. I live in Jerusalem, Israel where the very religious wear copious clothing irrespective of heat. Interestingly enough, the men tend to be slightly more covered than the women, wearing suits, ties, and large heavy hats, in addition to religious undergarments, all year round.