Full Niqab in Full Daylight

This is what I saw crossing the street while stopping at a red light in downtown Toronto. Well, the one I saw was all in black, which was even more frightening.

It was shocking. A small, squat woman, dressed from head-to-toe in this garb. I have never seen anyone come out dressed in full niqab, as it is called, in full daylight in the city.

It shows a tremendous amount of confidence for her to walk out like this, probably the only one in the streets.

But not for long. If one dares to come out like this, there must be hundreds others getting ready to do so. Slowly, like the less intrusive hijab, this full-length dress is being introduced into our landscape.

Designer "hijabs"

Stylish Muslim Girl; Hermes designer style

In my article on Islamic imagery, I discuss a new magazine that is on the stands called "Muslim Girl Magazine."

The very first issue of this magazine showed a (real) Muslim girl with a head scarf-like hijab showing the stripes of the American flag. I suggested that this magazine, trying hard to popularize Muslim lifestyle and "fashion" to the rest of the world might already be winning some converts, at least in the fashion sense, of young girls wearing bandana-like wraps around their hair.

Well, designer stylists are also jumping in the fray. Dolce and Gabbana stated: “We wanted to revamp the headscarf...give it a new life and introduce it to a younger generation. Our aim was to give it a modern and cool twist."

There’s a lot of Islamic-style modesty going on in this “revival” of the headscarf. “Women wore headscarves in medieval times to maintain their modesty” says one design experts and continues that “sociologically, it's about escapism." Yes, the modesty of Muslim women to “escape” the dangerous fantasies of men.

Hermes has also admitted that they have a huge Muslim clientele. Although, they say that their headscarves are also about reviving the era of the Grace Kelly elegance.

Yes, but they chose an opportune moment to introduce their product when we’re inundated images of the hijab. One more way to make it acceptable.

Muslim Girl Magazine

Muslim Girl with her patriotic hijab; Western Girl trying new styles

Muslim Girl Magazine is now available as a glossy print in major book stores like Barnes and Nobles in the U.S. and Indigo/Chapters in Canada. It also has an online version.

Not only will our streets show an ever-increasing population of hijab and other Muslim fashion, but so will our newstands.

This is another major inroad into our landscape. No longer will the fashions of Vogue and Elle adorn our magazine shelves, but a new and alien image - of non-fashion becoming fashion - will start to compete for magazine shelves. How many variations of hijab styles will we see?

The launching issue of Muslim Girl had a real Muslim girl (as all the editions promise to do). What is extraoridanry about this issue is how the editors wanted to make it look like any other American girl's magazine, all through careful juxtapostitions of words and imagery.

A small American flag showing mainly the stars, with a glimpse of the stripes. These stripes are then continued in the hijab pattern the girl is wearing. The captions prominently say "Growing up American." Yes, as a Muslim Girl.

Now, Western Girls can join in all the fun that Muslim Girl describes through the fresh and airy articles. In fact, those bandana-headscarves can start the ball rolling.