Faith and fashion

Photographer: Nadia Lee Cohen

I was most intrigued to learn of a research project at the London School of Fashion about Fashion and Faith led by Professor Reina Lewis, looking at how religion and faith influence fashion, that is, what  people choose to wear to express their religious or spiritual identity.
That fashion is worth of academic scrutiny is something we have all known for quite a longtime. From  Baudrillard, who identified fashion as fetishistic (i.e. fashion itself is a fetish), onwards, fashion has been scrutinised by cultural theorists. (Incidentally, I titled this blog after Baudrillard, I am sure you guessed it).
Why so? Because in our society we are meant to wear clothing and the clothes we wear have a lot to do with how we project ourselves, with our identity . Even those of us who say that fashion means nothing to them, still wear clothes, and make a statement through their being 'anti-fashion'. As an art model, I go as far as saying that I 'wear' my nudity and make a statement through it - I am not a naturist.  But now I am digressing.
Professor Lewis has examined 'modest fashion', the kind of clothing that (mostly) women wear to show their religious affiliation to Islam or Christianity or Judaism. I would like to direct you to a very illuminating podcast of a recent event where Reina Lewis and invited guests discussed "why and how fashion has become central to the expression of personal faith, spirituality, and ethics for women from many different faiths and for women who see themselves as secular".
 I would like to respond to Reina's challenging question by drawing on my personal memories and experience.

Photo taken at Coworth Hotel Fashion show

The expression of how one situates oneself with regard to faith or spirituality, through clothing, has  been a concern of mine, as indeed of everyone else.  Back in my twenties I became enamoured of Indian spirituality and embraced it, in an inevitably diluted form. I wore long skirts 'made in India', let my hair grow long and wild, used no make up, and my love of colour was expressed through scarves, of which I would wear a different one everyday. My attire, to me, was indicative of living an alternative lifestyle in which yoga, listening to Indian music and discussing the nature of the self were of great relevance. Through my clothing I articulated my preferences and when encountering people with a similar attire it would work as a signal that we might be on the same wavelength. Sometimes this was true, some other times it was not. But the clothing acted as and was a signifier.

Photo taken at Coworth Hotel fashion show

Much later, the alternative look packed well away, I happened to travel in Southeast Asia. Wandering through the department stores in Indonesian cities revealed to me the existence of a specific fashion for Indonesian women who cared about making a statement about their Islamic faith. It was a revelation to me. Elegant hijabs, of different materials, different daytime and evening attires, all modest in terms of being able to cover up the body and yet expressing  playfulness in the way fabrics were combined.

Indeed fashion is a way to express how one positions oneself in relation to faith, ethics and secularism.
Take ethics: the fabrics we wear, where the clothes were made, do matter. Organic cotton is a choice for some. Not shopping at Primark is another choice. Why? Because the clothes are cheap due to the fact they rely on children and women to make them, at less than a dollar a day.
There is more that can be said, this is only a start. Thank you Reina for raising the issue.

(All photos modelled by Alex B)