by DIDEM TALI
Former fashion magazine editor Hulya Aslan, who now runs a consultancy for conservative brands PHOTO/Twitter
Since the relaxing of the hijab ban, Turkish businesses — and western labels — are waking up to the economic powers of veiled women
An Audrey Hepburn devotee with a soft spot for silk scarves and elegant dresses, Hülya Aslan could well be a contemporary version of her style icon. Aslan is a former editor of Alâ Dergi — a Turkish fashion magazine aimed at Muslim women — who now runs a consultancy for emerging conservative fashion brands. The 29-year-old epitomises a new, and increasingly prominent trend in Turkey: “Muslim chic”.
Aslan is a product of the upper-middle class of Islamic entrepreneurs who emerged when Turkey started to embrace neoliberal economic policies in the 1980s. These “Islamic Calvinists” or “Anatolian tigers” played a part in the Justice and Development (AKP) party’s success, and the 2013 overturning of the secular Turkish state’s ban on wearing the hijab in public institutions.
“It’s not that a type of Turkish hijabi woman who enjoys finer things in life didn’t exist before — she was always there, she has just gained confidence and become visible,” says Aslan. “But what didn’t exist until 2010 or so was a supply of Islamic fashion? .?.?.?Before the boom in the conservative clothing industry, if a woman wanted to look stylish, she basically had to go to a seamstress.”
As purchasing power, education levels and connectivity rise among Turkey’s conservative circles, hijabi women are increasingly recognised as a profitable demographic. Turkey leads the Islamic clothing market with an annual spending of $39.3bn, according to the 2014-15 State of the Global Islamic Economy report. And in July 2015, Fortune magazine described Muslim women as the “next big untapped fashion market”.
“Now the markets are dominated by the second-generation Anatolian tigers. And there are big differences between them and the first generation,” explains Ercan Uygur, an economics professor at Ankara University and president of the Turkish Economic Association. “The first generation were all about saving. The second generation is more cosmopolitan, educated and innovative. They enjoy spending, too. So mainstream and western brands have been tweaking their catalogues.”
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