Tag: Beauty

Beauty and the Burka

The burka described by Wikipedia as, ‘an enveloping outer garment worn by women is some Islamic traditions.’  In Britain, the burka is a symbol of female fundamentalism that’s generally split into two equally un-compelling camps.

 

  1. a form of sexist male oppression, worn by downtrodden Muslim women with no voice.

 

 

  1. Worn by raving female fundamentalists who reject western values and the sexualisation of Western fashion.

 

 

Can these powerful pieces of clothing ever be fashionable? Up to a point yes, it can.

In the oil rich Arab gulf states vibrant colour it appears is the new black. Let’s face it black doesn’t allow them to express their individuality. Exclusive Parisian fashion houses are increasingly jumping on the burka bandwagon. Modesty and luxury apparently do mix. The likes of Dior and Burberry have targeting the lucrative Gulf State market, burkas have been given a makeover, opulent silk, gold trimming and millions of Swarovski crystals glitter on the streets of Dubai and Jeddah. Some Muslim women have an appetite for fashion and a budget to match. Move over New York and Shoreditch, there’s a new breed of fashionistas out there to rival Japans famous Harajuku girls, it’s called Islamic chic.

 

 

No one disputes how politically sensitive the burka is, feminist factions argue the merits of a women’s right to choose what she wears, verses the burka as an oppressive symbol of male domination and religious suppression. Through war, religious unrest and political oppression women have always wanted stand out from the crowd, and it appears there are ways to pimp this enveloping outer garment.  It would seem that fundamentalist fashion is on the up.

 

Would I make this up?

Listen up people… Many of you who buy makeup will most definitely have heard of and most probably used MAC the high-end high street brand with attitude, celeb endorsement and philanthropic credentials. The likes of Ru Paul and Rihanna have lent their names to their charitable causes. MAC sells a rainbow range of eye shadows, lipsticks plush brushes in slick roller bag kits and their own brand of perfumes. Personally, I like MAC, their products have breadth, style, texture and as many colours a girl could want. Their clever branding, sleek packaging, cool staff appeals to the Goth and the girl next door alike. Their noir clothed sales assistants are well trained, helpful and able to pursued me to part with my meagre student grant!  I believe most are wannabe makeup artists, which means that they know a thing about skin tone, face shapes and what eye shadow colour really will suit a certain customer.

 

The down side? Yes, there is one… MAC is expensive, with mascaras priced at around £20 (blink blink!) it’s not the most ideal place to shop for students. Even if a fraction of that money does go to worthy causes.

Here I turn to Topshop, who launched a makeup range a few years ago. Topshop makeup is roughly half the price of MAC. But what about quality you ask? We’ll here the skinny, both makeup ranges are made by the same manufacture, meaning pretty much the same quality product.

 

So why are people still shopping at MAC if that is the case?

Well there are a few reasons I can think of:

MAC’s excellent branding – with their minimalist interiors, hip staff, Matt black packaging and kaleidoscope of lippy and eye shadow colours – it’s cool to be part of ‘team MAC’.

 

And well many people also like to stick to what they know!

My verdict – don’t be a sheep – it’s pays to shop around. Get away from the heard mentality. After a week after purchase, the packaging will have been long ago discarded, the glamorous assistant a dim and distant memory, the lid will be missing from your lippy and it will be rolling around at the bottom of your (likely) over stuffed makeup bag.