The Stitched up Series: Thinking critically about Fashion

[the_future_modernes]

An oldish article (2010) but brings up point relevant to today, yes?

Stitched Up Part 1 | Fashion from production to consumption

In the first part of a new series, Tansy Hoskins examines who shapes what we wear, tracking the power of the fashion industry.

“A mild interest in the length of hem lines doesn’t necessarily disqualify you from reading Das Kapital and agreeing with every word.” [1]

Dismiss fashion as trivial and you dismiss the issues of workers rights, globalisation, the environment, cultural representation, identity construction and body image to name but a few.

From anti-Bush t-shirts to £10,000 dresses, the bits of cloth we put on our bodies all have history and meaning. Wear a hijab or the niqab and you’ll be attacked by Jack Straw and outlawed by the French Government. Wear a miniskirt and some courts will say that you are to blame for being raped. Since polyester is made from oil, fashion has even taken us to war.

This article is the first of five examining the impact fashion has on our lives. It considers who is controlling what we wear; fashion during production, distribution and consumption and the controlling power of the fashion industry. MORE

Stitched Up Part 2 | Fashion and the Recession

This second article in the Stitched Up series looks at whether the fashion industry changed as a result of the recession. With supermodels announcing: “You’re going to be a little more sensible with how you use your money” things looked serious. Even US Vogue editor Anna Wintour became a Recessionista when she was snapped wearing the same turquoise Oscar de la Renta dress to no fewer than four public events over summer 2009. Was this the end for fashion? Were we facing Crashion? MORE

If you must read one of these; Read this one:

Stitched Up part 3 | Who pays the price for what we wear?

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Stitched Up Part 4 | Fashion Fascism?

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Stitched Up Part 5 | An Ideal Fashion

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Thoughts? Things she got right? Things she left out? Things she got wrong? Ideas on how to work on sweatshop exploitation? etc?

Fighting back against the anti-Muslim religious bodily covering laws & broader Isamophobia in Europe

[the_future_modernes]

via andrewducker Refusal to unveil scuppers French refusal-to-unveil trial:Blind justice finds itself in a blind alley

A burqa-clad woman yesterday rather brilliantly exposed a fatal flaw in France's ban on the traditional Muslim garb when she attended court to face a charge of "covering her face in a public place", and then simply refused to take off her burqa for the hearing.

The 31-year-old mum, identified only by her first name Hind, was arrested in Meaux back in May after travelling from Paris for an anti-ban protest. She and fellow defendant Najet were summoned to appear before the local court, and the former took the chance to mount a protest scuppering the proceedings.

While Najet stayed at home since she "knew she would be stopped from entering", as the Telegraph puts it, Hind rolled up to be told by police commissioner Philippe Tireloque: "For the hearing to go ahead, you must remove the veil. Justice must be administered in a calm atmosphere."

Hind replied: "I'll keep my veil on at all times. It's non-negotiable. The law forbids me from expressing myself, and indeed from defending myself. It forces me to dress a certain way, when all I want to do is live according to my religion."
Since cops are under "strict orders" not to remove burqas, the authorities had no choice but to cancel the hearing and send Hind on her way. MORE

Jun 3 Kenza Drider: I Will Go To Jail for the Right to Wear The Veil

SHE is France's most outspoken critic of the proposed burka ban - and she would rather go to PRISON than remove her face veil.

Kenza Drider, 30, says she had been wearing the niqab for 11 years with no problem.

But now, thanks to the debate stirred up by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, she finds herself bombarded with HATE-FILLED insults.

On one occasion, she was even lunged at by a knife-wielding maniac who then tried to run her over in front of her petrified kids.

French-born Kenza blasts the French authorities as "anti-Islam" and says it is now "almost a crime" to be a Muslim in her country.

But she defiantly told The Sun: "I am prepared to go to the European Court of Human Rights and I will fight for my liberty. What is the state going to do - send a policeman to my front door to give me a ticket every time I go out?

"Frankly I would rather go to prison than take off the face veil.

"Are they going to put a woman in prison because of a scrap of material? It's ridiculous and makes the country I love look stupid."

MORE

(May 25th) Hundreds gather to take on Islamophobia

Sanum Ghafoor reports on the anti-Islamophobia conference organised by the Enough Coalition, and explains why the initiative is so important.


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April 11, 2011 France: Defying the Burqa Ban

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A 21st century Freedom Ride

Chris Nineham explains the rationale for the recent conference on Islamophobia,["Confronting Anti-Muslim Hatred in Britain and Europe"] the dangers of this new racism and the Freedom Ride that aims to challenge racist French law.

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ETA: French Couple Sues Over Burqa Ban


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