Norway: The Norwegian Burka
Tonje Nordmo, Maria Kartveit and Cedric Stevens of the Norwegian fashion house Marked Moskva have come out with a Norwegian burka collection. I don't think they're clear themselves on what they want to show, but they did get a lot of attention. The Muslim women present at the show, wearing hijab and jeans, were not as impressed and were in fact quite upset, saying it was discriminatory and put Muslims in a bad light.
The fashion house had come out with provocative designs before. In the past they had a 'junkie clothing' line, inspired by the 'drug addicts on the street and their fantastic aesthetics.'
Why did they create a burka collection?
They want to create a new burka collection that show more of a person's personality and that is adapted to the Norwegian climate and lifestyle. This way Norwegian Muslims can do 'more Norwegian' things without feeling like outsiders. Such as wearing a jeans burka to go to a cafe.
They claim they got positive responses from Muslim girls, but they're not aiming only at Muslims.
Mariak Kartveit: There are certain advantages to a burka. We will make it possible for Norwegians to wear a burka. Only we sell burkas in Norway.
They say a burka gives one freedom, and is a supplement to the daily wardrobe. when one wants to hide, or has a bad hair day.
