Abstract
Clothing serves many functions for humans across the globe, from identifying with a specific group to protecting oneself from the elements. In the Arabian Gulf region female Islamic clothing has recently been a source of both fascination and repulsion for those unfamiliar with traditional and more fundamentalist Islamic interpretations of appropriate women’s clothing. In keeping with Kaiser, Nagasawa and Hutton’s reinterpretation of Symbolic Interactionism as it applies to fashion at both the global and local levels the ambivalence relating to these garments and the symbolic ambiguities inherent in their constant renegotiation are investigated.
As scholars living and conducting research in both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman, the rapid changes in social coding as expressed though women's outer clothing was quite notable and gave rise to a desire to further investigate the implications behind these. Contemporary Saudi Arabian and Omani women are surrounded by the fashion styles, social mores and taboos, and musical influences of their global neighbours subtly influencing the ways in which they express their national, religious and tribal identities. Do their emerging fashion ethics reflect their changing societal positions and, if so, what markers can be distinctly identified as preceding or antedating these changes? This paper identifies rising indicators and reflects on the underlying societal influences propelling these stylistic and cultural expressions.
Key Words: representation, symbolic interactionism, Gulf Arab Women, Islamic Fashion, negotiated meaning, social