Islamic Fashion Scape

Abstract

The emergence of Islamic fashion designers and collections in the West can at one level be understood as part of a wider process whereby Muslim dress practices are undergoing new re-configurations in a global market. This chapter traces the emergence of Islamic fashion design in Britain, examining the origins and ethos of particular brands and introducing some of the different ways the ‘Islamic’ is visualized and given material form. It considers the relationship between Islamic and mainstream fashions as well as examining the particularity of Islamic fashion in the global market. The chapter suggests that whilst newly emerging ‘Islamic fashions’ catering to Muslims in the West draw on developments in Islamic fashion elsewhere around the world, they are borne out of a particular set of historical and trans-cultural circumstances and concerns which render them distinctive.