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Fashion for Veiling in Contemporary Turkey 291

due to their function of drawing consumers’ attention (McCracken, 1993: 14–15).
Additionally, visual codes, the use of space, mise-en-scène, the use of brand names,
different models, introductory texts and slogans are analysed.
The brand names of the companies are generally linked to a foreign word, either
English or French, and some are completely in English, like Mode Ziynet, the
Hilye Collection, High Generation, and The Fashion of Woman to 2000 Years [sic].
The use of foreign words implies that Islamic clothing companies regard fashion
as a western practice following general Turkish marketing trends. It is common
in Turkey to name products and companies by foreign words in order to render
customers a symbolic gratification that creates an illusion of a reinforcement of
their social status. This branding strategy indicates that the ideal customer will be
affiliated with the symbolic value derived from the consumption. As David Chaney
(1996) puts it, the customer through the brands of the goods reveals taste and
cultural capital. The brand no longer indicates the material nature of the object; it
is rather a sign of the social nature of the object (Bourdieu, 1993).
Jennifer Craick argues that in non-western cultures clothing is seen both as a
necessity to cover the body and an expression of spirituality, religiosity within
the art form (Craick, 1994: 18). She claims that in non-western cultures the term
‘fashion’ is rarely referred to; as a consequence western researchers consider the
clothing in those cultures to be timeless and unchanging (Craick, 1994: 19).
Contrary to this argument, we reveal that a fashion for veiling exists, and the
accentuation of the brand name with western words provides customers with a
symbolic modernity even though they prefer to remain within the limits of
Islamic principles.
Two styles of veiling appear in these catalogues. The first style is derived from
the experience of political Islam, in which the face is covered in a different style
from the traditional headscarfs. The second style shows the variety of new models
of veiling throughout the products presented in the catalogues. It is sometimes
possible to see a part of the hair and the skirts may be shorter than normal. For
instance, in a page in a Hilye catalogue (see Figure 21.2), the product presented is
relatively modern in style. The model is posing in a traditional street, she is using
a mobile phone indicating the offer of a modern lifestyle to women who veil.
When the customer sees this, the preferred reading might be an articulation of a
‘naive’ religious practice as a way of life within the modern consumer society.
While in the first two meanings of veiling that we previously discussed, namely
the pure and the political meanings, the woman’s body is concealed, the images in
these catalogues expose the woman’s body. Thus, women are not only invited to
consume, but they also become objects of consumption. Furthermore, the texts of
the fashion catalogues invite customers to purchase quality and sophistication.
7
For instance in Setre Tesettur’s 1998 Spring–Summer catalogue, the definition of
fashion is expressed thus: ‘an expectation of uniqueness’, supplied by Setre
Tesettur through its clothes and promise of quality. The company claims that ‘Setre
introduces women to quality and to elegance’. In the same catalogue the word
‘Setre’ is described as ‘a limitless world where dreams come true within the borders
of veiling’. Ironically, the emphasis on the dreamlike characteristic of the practice
of veiling as opposed to the customers’ religious expectations reveals the ‘hybrid
meaning’ of the practice in which Islamic codes lose their original context.