Forging New Identities
Written in German, published in German and English (translated by Iain Reynolds) in the printed issue of form 274, Nov/Dec 2017.
Hijab and white Nike Air Force sneakers are not mutually exclusive, that’s the message being sent out by the contributors of the Modest Route Instagram account, by Frankfurt-based 21-year-old Amira Haruna and her Ami Coco blog, and by numerous other young women. These women are looking at today’s globalised world and are developing their own identities, without being slaves to lifestyle magazines, fashion chains, custodians of tradition, preachers or anyone else who might try and tell them what they can or cannot wear. Within fashion itself, a number of young designers have broken through with work that aims to give these women yet more scope for self-expression. How is that work helping women to develop their own identities and how are its creators positioning themselves as designers?