Constructing and Representing the Islamic Consumer in Turkey

Sandikci, Ozlem., & Ger, Guliz. (2007). Constructing and
Representing

The
writing team of Dr. Ozlem Sandikci and Dr. Ger Guliz are both professors’ of
Bilkent University, the most highly respected university in Turkey. Together
and alone they have written a multitude of articles and books including their
joint publication Studying
Covered Turkish Women . In this article the duo attempt to argue that
that the modernization of Turkey now has marketers constructing advertising and
“other commercial imagery” devoted to consumers who dawn the ‘tesetturlu’
(traditional Islamic covered dress). They use this point to validate their
central argument that since the 1980’s the Islamic fashion industry operates
through a play on cultural difference’s and similarities of traditional and
modern tesetturlu women in demonstrating what is considered as good or bad
taste.

Sandikci
and Guliz claim that since the 1970s, the Islamic resurgence has begun to
become a major political and social force throughout the world. They go on to
claim that in Turkey particularly the role of “Islamic actors have gained
significant political and economic power”. They claim that since the 1970s not
only do older more traditional women cover their hair and were traditional
Islamic clothing, but since then the younger more urban women have begun to
adapt to Islamic dress and have even begun to contemporize the traditional
Islamic style of dress making it more fashionable.Sandikci and Guliz use this information to validate their
hypothesis by insisting that major fashion companies and producers for example
Tekbir Giyim (a prominent producer of traditional Islamic clothing), have begun
to adapt to more western styles of marketing. They validate this by giving
example of how traditional clothing companies have begun to have modern runway
shows, and marketing campaigns aimed at a younger more stylish audience.

The
article then begins to discuss the international influences placed on the
transformation from traditional tesetturlu to a more modern form of style. The
article begins to examine the branding of traditional Islamic dress, which is
often associated with westernization. Sandikci and Guliz also examine the
notion that by branding and revamping the clothing through mass media
advertisement campaigns the changing of the clothing styles begins to create a
debate within the society of what is considered to be in good taste. The
article essentially examines the shift from conventional black tesetturlu’s to
a wide spread alteration in the style, color and draping of the traditional
dress. This is corroborated when Sandikci and Guliz examine how the secular media
has begun to have negative portrayals of the traditional garment in favor of a
more modern, westernized style of the clothing,all of which supports their central argument.

Sandikci
and Guliz’s article presents a interesting perspective of how traditional
Islamic dress has begun to adapt to westernized standards of what is considers
as “good’ style. They validate their hypothesis by providing mass media
examples dating back to the 1970s, and then follow it up until the present
time. The article takes an unbiased perspective of what is to be considered
fashionable, and instead simply offers the secular media’s viewpoint of what is
considered fashionable in Turkeys high fashion society. Sandikci and Guliz do a
great job of presenting the information in a manner that not only validates
their hypothesis but also provides information sources for anyone interested to
follow further. Overall the presentation of the data and the countless sources
presented throughout their research makes this article standout as particularly
strong and worth a good read for anyone interested in looking into the
modernization of traditional Islamic dress.