Page 305 - Communication Theory and Research

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290 Communication Theory & Research

TESETTÜRDE
HAYRUN NISA

GiYiM

• Abaye • Bluz
• Harmane • Elbise
• Manto • Çamasir
¸
• Gömlek • Etek
• Pardesu • Çorap
Tel: 354 24 58
• Esarp • Ipek Esarp
¸
¸
Çarsi Camii Pasaji No: 7
¸
Pendik/ISTANBUL Turgut Yurtgan
FIGURE 21.1

represent the practice of veiling in the best way … we do not intend to reduce the
practice of veiling to an instrument of fashion. Indeed, our aim is to use fashion
as an instrument of tesettür. That is to say, we are trying to orient the masses to
practise tesettür’ (Yeni Bizim Aile, July 1992: 9–11).
The second phase of the fashion for veiling is characterized by the concern with
creating marketing strategies such as brands and images. Photographs of models
are used in the majority of the advertisements and the images are reinforced by
texts which invite the consumers to be different from others. But this difference is
closely linked with an appurtenance of a community, which is the intersection of
religion and fashion. As it is widely accepted that the construction of identity is a
complex and ongoing negotiation, while one uses all the material and cultural
determinants to locate oneself in a suitable/desirable location, one also uses items
of consumption such as clothing, popular music, leisure-time activities. Through
the advertisements for the fashion for veiling, the women of Islamic communities
are invited to relocate their identities in terms of differentiation from women who
practise veiling as tradition and those who do not practise veiling.

Analysis

Eight fashion catalogues for the year 1998–9 for some of the major Islamic cloth-
ing companies in Turkey such as Tekbir Clothing, Sitare Clothing, the Setre
Collection and Hilye Textiles were also analysed to identify their characteristics
and similarities. We particularly focused on the cover pages of the catalogues