Building a New “World Fashion”: Islamic Dress in the Twenty-first Century

Abstract

AISYAH, Siti Dewi. The Role of Social Media for the Modest Fashion Movement in Indonesia, Master Degree Thesis, Ankara, 2017 Islamic Modest Fashion has become one of the emerging creative industries. It is said that social media has making a role in its development. From designers, hijabi bloggers and then instagrammers, many women are often seen posting their everyday outfits through social media. They want to combine their faith with cutting-edge fashion trend. Muslim consumers have become a potential targeted market due to the increasing of women wearing hijab. Muslim consumers are projected to spend $327 billion on clothing by 2019. Indonesia, as the biggest Muslim majority country, has targeted to be the Center of Islamic Modest Fashion in the world as its national branding by 2020. This study will examine how social media especially blog and Instagram can lead the movement of Islamic Modest Fashion in Indonesia, how it also brings consumer culture to hijab and as the result it triggers Indonesia to brand itself. This study will illustrate how all the elements of fashion industry in Indonesia including the designers, bloggers, instagrammers and also Indonesian Agency for Creative Economy (BEKRAF) work together to make Indonesia the center of Islamic Modest Fashion. This research will be conducted through in-depth interviews with designers, bloggers, instagrammers and agency officials. Besides indepth interviews, this research will investigate pictures posted on Instagram through semiotic analysis in the context of the Islamic Modest Fashion trend. This research will also contain a literature review of a diverse group of studies on topics related to the study. This research will be examined through several theoretical frameworks including the study of social media, creative industry and consumer culture. Fashion and consumer culture are also two main topics because fashion furthermore leads to the consumer culture. The possible benefit of this research is to be a reference literature of Islamic Modest Fashion especially in an Indonesian context.

Between Fashion and Tesettür

“…The global growth of "an Islamic consumer sector, which explicitly forges links between religiosity and fashion, encouraging Muslims to be both covered and fashionable, modest and beautiful," has been the focus of a small but growing literature (Moors and Tarlo 2007, 138; see also Kılıçbay and Binark 2002;Sandıkcı and Ger 2002;2005;Balasescu 2003;Abaza 2007;Akou 2007;Jones 2007;Gökarıksel and Secor 2009). This literature has produced a rich analysis of the emergence of Islamic fashion in a variety of contexts, paying special attention to women's engagements with piety and fashion through their everyday practices of dress.…”

Making Economics of Piety: Fashion, Lifestyle and Identity in Pop-Islamism Turn

“…As I mentioned above that Muslim fashion is considered as promising and profitable business, it was supported by the Muslim fashion devotee from around the world (Akou, 2007;Hendar et al, 2018;Meamber et al, 2017;Rahman et al, 2017). Since religion is still being the important part of their life, so this industry will stay on its track even bigger because people nowadays are more consumptive and it is utilized by the producers to put a prestige in this fashion industry.…”

Fashion and Faith: Islamic Dress and Identity in The Netherlands

“…In this context, Akou (Akou 2007) comments on the concepts of "ethnic dress" and "world fashion" along with the common perception that there is only one world fashion system dominated by the West. Although Paris is no longer the center of fashion, names such as Chanel, Dior, Vogue and Elle are still prominent in the minds of scholars and consumers alike.…”