Take It Off: Designers Exalt the Controversial Burka

Edited by Kirby Marzec

The recent glamorized burka has really got me questioning the ethics of today’s designers. We don’t see sequined Orthodox Jewish prayer shawls flapping down the catwalk and we certainly don’t see Sikh inspired rabbit-fur turbans on the cover of Vogue. No, that would be sacrilegious. So, why on earth are fashion designers exploiting an Islamic tradition as something that can be jazzed up with jewels or modernized with ski-goggles? 

And if pimping out religious and cultural symbols isn’t bad enough, the fact that a burka is a sign of women’s oppression in Islam picks up the slack. Since when is it right to glorify something that persecutes women worldwide? 

This isn’t fashion. This is a cotton prison.

 

 

Thanks for the images Popgloss!