Moroccan Fashion: Design, tradition and modernity 9781472524676, 9781474235228, 9781472589187

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MOROCCAN FASHION

Dress and Fashion Research Series Editor: Joanne B. Eicher, Regents’ Professor, University of Minnesota, USA Advisory Board: Vandana Bhandari, National Institute of Fashion Technology, India Steeve Buckridge, Grand Valley State University, USA Hazel Clark, Parsons The New School of Design New York, USA Peter McNeil, University of Technology Sydney, Australia Toby Slade, University of Tokyo, Japan Bobbie Sumberg, International Museum of Folk Art Santa Fe, USA Emma Tarlo, Goldsmiths University of London, UK Lou Taylor, University of Brighton, UK Karen Tranberg Hansen, Northwestern University, USA Feng Zhao, The Silk Museum Hangzhou, China The bold Dress and Fashion Research series is an outlet for high-­quality, in-­depth scholarly research on previously overlooked topics and new approaches. Showcasing challenging and courageous work on fashion and dress, each book in this interdisciplinary series focusses on a specific theme or area of the world that has been hitherto under-­researched, instigating new debates and bringing new information and analysis to the fore. Dedicated to publishing the best research from leading scholars and innovative rising stars, the works will be grounded in fashion studies, history, anthropology, sociology, and gender studies. ISSN: 2053-3926 Previously published in the series Paul Jobling Advertising Menswear

MOROCCAN FASHION Design, tradition and modernity

M. ANGELA JANSEN

Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc LON DON • OX F O R D • N E W YO R K • N E W D E L H I • SY DN EY

Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square London WC1B 3DP UK

1385 Broadway New York NY 10018 USA

www.bloomsbury.com BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2015 Paperback edition first published 2016 © M. Angela Jansen, 2015 Cover image: Design and copyright © Fadila El Gadi presented during FCFW 2012. M. Angela Jansen has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: HB: 978-1-4725-2467-6 PB: 978-1-4742-8522-3 ePDF: 978-1-4725-8918-7 ePub: 978-1-4725-8919-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jansen, M. Angela. Moroccan fashion : design, tradition and modernity / M. Angela Jansen. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4725-2467-6 (hardback) – ISBN 978-1-4725-8919-4 (epub) – ISBN 978-1-4725-8918-7 (epdf) 1. Clothing and dress–Morocco. 2. Fashion–Morocco. I. Title. GT1582.J36 2015 391.00964–dc23 2014036561 Series: Dress and Fashion Research Typeset by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India Printed and bound in Great Britain

CONTENTS

List of plates  vii Acknowledgements  viii

1 Introduction  1 Eurocentricity in fashion studies  2 Fashion, tradition and modernity  7 The Moroccan case study  11

2 Moroccan fashion as tradition  15 Moroccan fashion and politics  16 Moroccan fashion and emancipation  21 Moroccan fashion and Islam  27

3 Three generations of Moroccan fashion designers  33 The power of the 1960s  34 Generation Caftan  40 The misfits of the Moroccan fashion industry  46

4 Moroccan lifestyle media  53 Moroccan fashion in the press  54 Moroccan fashion in the ether  61 Moroccan fashion in cyberspace  67

5 The impact of foreign fashion brands  73 Moroccan fashion and economics  74 The commodification of Moroccan fashion  80 New markets  85

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CONTENTS

6 The consumption of Moroccan fashion  91 Constructing identity  92 Defining Moroccan fashion  98 Consuming Moroccan fashion  105

7 Conclusion  113 The dynamics of Moroccan fashion  114 The slippery concept of authenticity  118 National fashion identities  121 Transcription of Arabic  125 Glossary  127 Notes  129 Bibliography  135 Index  143

PLATES

1

Lady wearing a caftan in Fez in the mid-1930s

2 A Moroccan bride in the 1950s wearing the characteristic wedding dress from Fez 3

Zina Guessous’ boutique Kenz in the Royal Mansour Hotel in Casablanca, featuring an example of her mini qeft·an

4

Fashion show by Maison Fadéla at the Moroccan embassy in Teheran in 1970

5

Design by Tamy Tazi from the 1970s

6

Design by Karim Tassi presented during the special edition of the fashion event Caftan in Paris in 2006

7

Design by Noureddine Amir presented during the fashion event Caftan in 2002

8

Design by Amina Agueznay from her ‘plastic bag’ collection in 2012

9

Design by Salima Abdel Wahab, 2012

10 Cover of Version Homme, November 2002 11 Cover of L’Officiel Maroc, April 2012, n. 22 12 Design by Simohamed Lakhdar presented during the fashion event Caftan in 2008 13 Design by Said Mahrouf presented during the fashion event FestiMode Casablanca Fashion Week in 2010 14 Design by Sofia El Arabi from her collection Berberism for her online fashion brand Bakchic, 2014 15 Design by Fadila El Gadi, 2012 16 Design by Ghizlaine Sahli for Alrazal

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book would not have been possible without the wonderful people I met along the way, particularly during the challenging period of research, who have taught, supported, loved and encouraged me. First, I would like to thank all my respondents and informants for sharing their experiences and knowledge with me. In particular I would like to thank the family Adadi from Fez for accepting me into their home and letting me document absolutely everything about their daily lives. Mokhtsar Adadi was so kind to trust me and share thirty years of experience as a Moroccan tailor with me (even if he never quite understood what I was going to do with that knowledge since I made it clear I did not have an ambition to become a tailor). In the hanout, Ali did everything to entertain me during those long hours spent with needle and thread, including learning Dutch and teaching me how to gamble on the horse races. My little sister Raja’ made the effort to accompany me when translation was needed, although a sixteen year old has far more interesting things to do with her time. Lalla Fatima never abandoned her efforts of introducing me into the secret wonders of fasi cuisine, despite the fact that it is the equivalent of teaching a fish how to walk. I thank the girls from the Ziatt neighbourhood, Sara and Hasna, for finding the time and patience to teach me the techniques of couched plaited cord buttons (ʿaqaad) and needle lace (randa) in between operating the phones of the téléboutique. In Marrakech, Noureddine Amir not only took me into his home, but accepted me into the sanctuary of his atelier to witness the creative process of his 2006 collection. Amina Agueznay considerably contributed to this unforgettable experience with her fascinating personality and talent and I know now I can always count on her for both inspiration and friendship. In Casablanca I will not forget the wonderful afternoons I spent with Tamy Tazi and Zhor Sebti, who took the time to share their stories with me and to tell me anecdotes about the period of my maternal grandmother. These women are not only the living icons of Moroccan fashion but witnesses of a fascinating period in Moroccan history. They were part of the first generation of Moroccan girls to go to school. They were there when the first bourgeois women took down the face veil and adopted European couture; and they contributed personally to the emancipation of Moroccan women by setting up schools for girls and women’s associations.

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Behind the scenes, I want to thank Frieda Sorber, who remained by my side for the entire time. Not only is she a living encyclopaedia when it comes to dress and production techniques, but she is also a talented artist and a true friend who never stopped believing in my abilities. I thank Paolo De Mas – former director of the Netherlands Institute in Rabat—for his precious advice when things got rough. His successor, Jan Hoogland, was kind enough to put his expertise at my use in correcting the Arabic transcription; it certainly made the trip to Al Hoceima considerably shorter. Also, I want to thank Fadila El Gadi for granting me permission to use one of her designs for the cover. Furthermore, there are two people that I will never be able to thank enough for their dedication and determination. First there is Claire Nicholas – PhD student in anthropology at Princeton University – who certainly did not know what was awaiting her when she offered her help. She accepted the painful task of reading several versions of my thesis, providing comments and bearing my complaints as a patient listener when things got hard. Thank you. Second, I want to thank Kate Kealvik for accepting to save me when my graphic designer stood me up at the last minute. Not only did she spend day and night ‘adding size to the pictures’ for my thesis, but she also let me stay in the most beautiful room of Dar Seffarine (which I was planning to spend my honeymoon in one day, but this was just as much an unforgettable experience). Just as important, I want to thank the people who (unconsciously) supported this project with their endless love and friendship. There is Aniko Beuhler – anthropologist and dear friend—who not only provided me with a roof on numerous occasions, but also with an endless repertoire of contacts and words of wisdom and encouragement in time of need. There are my friends in Casablanca, who each started out as respondents but who have become indispensable in my life. I thank them for their forgiveness and patience for every time I could not hang out because I had to write. I would like to thank my ‘adoptive grandfather’, Wouter Hazelhoff Roelfzema, for being such an inspirational friend with a profound love for Morocco. And finally, I would like to thank my family and partner for their unconditional love and support. They bore with me, through good and through bad times. Especially, I would like to thank Diana Ritchie Jansen, who may or may not have given me my love for Morocco, but who certainly gave me my sense of determination and the ability to believe in myself. Thank you.

1 INTRODUCTION As a cultural anthropologist, my interest in fashion of so-­called traditional dress started during my MA research in 1999–2000 on the adat dress of the Minangkabau (West Sumatra, Indonesia). Before going into the field, I had read every book available on their distinctive goldthread weaving and characteristic gold jewellery, but when I arrived in my research village, I found hardly any of these ‘traditional’ objects. It soon became clear that most of them had found their way into museum collections and antique shops while most of the garments worn were ‘modern’ and industrially produced in China or Taiwan. However, after overcoming my initial disappointment that there were no ‘authentic’ objects left, it was my host-­mother who made me reconsider my conclusion that the Minangkabau no longer value their vestimentary heritage. It was she who explained to me that, even though the garments change, they continue to play important socio-­cultural roles in contemporary society. It was only when she showed me some garments that used to belong to her mother, and that were left to the mercy of nature, that I realized she considered them old-­fashioned and no longer desirable to wear. It made me understand that I had become biased by the literature into thinking that not only so-­called traditional dress by definition does not change, is local and hand-­made, but also that everything that is old is by definition ‘authentic’ and therefore of more (anthropological) value. After graduation, circumstances led me to focus on Moroccan fashion for my PhD research and it became even more obvious that so-­called traditional dress is not only susceptible to change/fashion trends, but can even be subject to a thriving fashion industry. In its turn, the Moroccan case study confronted me with yet another misconception I had developed through the literature, which is that the arrival of foreign (European) fashion on a large scale does not automatically result in the disappearing of local fashion, but on the contrary, can boost its development through the introduction of new consumption patterns and marketing strategies (see Chapter  5). I came to realize that the interaction between local and foreign fashions is not necessarily conflicting, but can be a powerful tool in redefining notions of tradition and modernity as well as localness and globalness, and that these concepts are neither static nor mutually exclusive.

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From that moment onwards my research took a completely different direction. The main aim of my research became to contest misconceptions concerning traditional dress as being static, authentic, symbolic rather than aesthetic and incompatible with (Euro)modernity. I started to profoundly question a prevailing dichotomy in current scholarship between so-­called static traditional dress believed to prevail in the non–West and dynamic fashionable dress associated with the West. I came to realize that this dichotomy is mainly the result of a largely artificial disciplinary divide between anthropology of dress on the one hand and fashion studies on the other, as well as a Eurocentric hegemonic fashion discourse that aims to preserve the boundary between the West/Rest to both protect its position of power and to ensure the maintenance of a conceptual Other for self-­definitional purposes (Niessen 2003). I became subject to Sandra Niessen’s (2003) ideas formulated in her chapter ‘Afterword: Re-Orienting Fashion Theory’, where she argues that on the two sides of fashion’s conventional divide, those who protect the exclusiveness of western fashion and those who defend the purity of traditional dress, are speaking high and low dialects of the same global fashion language (2003: 258). The more I tried to understand what differentiates the two, the more I found striking similarities. I came to realize that distinguishing these categories based on dynamics was reproducing a Eurocentric approach whereby Euromodernity is believed to be progressive whereas ‘everything else’ is depicted as static and without identifiable cultural histories of its own (independently from Europe) (Kaiser 2012: 176).

Eurocentricity in fashion studies It is only in the past fifteen years that ‘fashion of traditional dress’ gained the attention of social scientists, simply because it was considered a contradictio in terminis. It was probably John Flügel (1950 [1930]: 129–30) who set the trend in the 1930s by introducing his dichotomy ‘fixed’ versus ‘modish’ costume, whereby ‘fixed costume changes slowly in time, and its whole value depends, to some extent, upon its permanence’. Modish costume, on the other hand, he explains, ‘changes very rapidly in time, this rapidity of change belonging to its very essence’. Any change or innovation in ‘fixed’ costume, he adds, is unwelcome since it is considered a break with ‘tradition’. The psychology of ‘fixed’ costumes, he continues, is exactly the opposite of ‘modish’ costumes, whose value lies mostly in its newness, and which is despised at the slightest sign of becoming ‘old-­fashioned’ or ‘out of date’. Modish costume, he says, predominates in the western world and is even ‘one of the most characteristic features of modern European civilization’, while outside the sphere of western influence, he argues, dress changes more slowly, is more closely connected with racial and local circumstances, or with social or occupational standing and

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therefore qualifies as fixed costume. Almost fifty years later, Ted Polhemus and Lynn Procter (1978: 15) introduced the dichotomy ‘fashion’ versus ‘anti-­fashion’ based on Flügel’s ideas. The way they formulated it, ‘the essence of fashionable attire [is] its function as a symbol of change, progress and movement through time (. . .) Anti-­fashion adornment, on the other hand, is concerned with time in the form of continuity and the maintenance of the status quo’ (1978: 13). They add that ‘while anti-­fashions most certainly do occur within the context of western and westernized societies, the most readily identifiable forms are the folk costumes of primitive and peasant peoples’ (1978: 16). In primitive societies, they say, anti-­fashion costume plays an important part as one means whereby a society’s way of life – its culture – can be handed down intact from one generation to the next (1978: 16). Although their terminology might be considered politically incorrect today, their ideas are still very much alive and many scientists continue to associate fashion with the West, a market economy, urbanism and (Euro)modernity, while the non-West, an informal economy, rural and traditional are associated with ethnic/traditional dress. Elizabeth Wilson (1985: 3), as well as many others, argues that fashionable dress was born out of ‘the growth of the European city in the early stages of what is known as mercantile capitalism at the end of the Middle Ages’. She too describes fashion as ‘dress in which the key feature is rapid and continual changing of styles. Fashion, in a sense is change, and in modern western societies no clothes are outside fashion; fashion sets the terms of all sartorial behaviour’. Fred Davis (1992: 191), in his influential book Fashion, Culture and Identity, not only remarks that the fashion cycle sprang in western society some seven centuries ago and that that is where it still thrives, but that it is encoded cultural ambivalences that fuel the endless and repetitive cycle of fashion change in the West. Remarkably, this seems to imply that there are no cultural ambivalences outside of the West. According to Daniel Leonhard Purdy (2004: 3), to be modern means to be fashionable. (. . .) Anyone who cares about his or her place in the present is in the same breath modern and prone to fashion (. . .) Its transitoriness, the conformity it inspires, the vast range of its influence, its reliance on opinion and media, its love of appearances all have made it a representative of modernity, and he too seems to imply that there are no modernities besides Euromodernity. Malcolm Barnard (2007: 4) in his fashion theory reader even goes as far as saying that the existence of fashion in a society is a good test of whether that society is modern, or western. A society in which there are no different classes, no

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social structure, and in which upwards mobility in a class structure is neither possible nor desirable has no need of fashion, and it might reasonably be described as being neither modern nor western. But, as a cultural anthropologist, I have not yet come across a society where there is no social structure or a desire for social mobility. Since the 1990s, however, when new questions emerged in the context of critiques of globalization, research on non-­western fashion has been steadily growing, rectifying some of the Eurocentric misunderstandings described above and contributing to new insights in the dynamics of fashion from a global perspective. Jennifer Craik (1994), for example, argues in her book The Face of Fashion that fashion is not exclusively the domain of modern culture and its preoccupations with individualism, class, civilization and consumerism, but rather that European fashion is one specific variant of fashion. Although it may dominate popular consciousness about fashion, other fashion systems co-­exist, compete and interact with it. These incorporate other élite designer systems, for example, European settler (post-­colonial) cultures, as well as non-European cultures and non-­capitalist cultures. (1994: xi) Joanne Eicher’s (1995) main aim of her edited volume Dress and Ethnicity: Change across Space and Time, is precisely to contest that what she calls ethnic dress would be static. Together with Tonye Erekosima (Eicher and Erekosima, 1995: 144), she argues that ‘ethnicity combines both cultural stability and change in dynamic interplay’. Dress as a demarcation of ethnicity, they say, is not merely a static product of an ethnic group, but allows ethnic group members ‘to provide solutions to problematic situations’ (1995: 144). Eicher (1995: 4) explains that it is mainly because dress is analysed from a historical perspective of western civilization that little or no concern has been given to the rest of the world. Consequently, she adds, such a view implies that dress outside the boundaries of western civilization has experienced little change. Giorgio Riello and Peter McNeil (2010: 4), editors of The Fashion Reader: Global Perspectives, in their turn, do include fashion histories other than the European one in their volume and explain that if we wish to understand fashion beyond Europe, we must refrain from thinking that this has suddenly emerged in the past few decades as the result of globalization and the growth of new middle classes. Recent innovative research, they say, underlines how places like Ming China, Tokugawa and Meiji Japan, Moghul India or Colonial Latin America and Australia, engaged and produced their own fashion in conjunction, competition, collaboration and independently from Europe (2010: 4). ‘The fact that these historical traditions of fashion are not as well known or advertised as the European one should not

INTRODUCTION

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diminish their value’ (2010: 4). They add an important remark that global perspectives are not synonymous with globalization, which is the integration of cultures, economies and polities that social scientists see as emerging in the past thirty years. It is an easy trap, they warn, to use the global to create ‘participatory narratives’ in which particularly China or India – much more so than Latin America or Africa – deserve a place in the history of fashion in the light of their recent socio-­economic achievements, their ‘convergence’ with the rich West and their successful engagement with fashion as consumers and producers (2010: 5). Joanne Entwistle (2000: 3) points out the problematic division within the literature between studies of fashion (as a system, idea or aesthetic) and studies of dress (as in the meanings given to particular practices of clothing and adornment). On the one hand, she says, literature on fashion produced by sociology, cultural studies, costume history and psychology tends to be theoretical in scope and does not examine the mechanisms by which fashion translates into everyday dress. Fashion, she adds, tends to be studied as an abstract system, and abstract theoretical explanations are sought to explain its mysterious movements. Studies of dress, on the other hand, she continues, produced mainly by anthropologists, tend to be empirical in scope, examining dress in everyday life within particular communities and by particular individuals and, since they focus mainly on non-­western and traditional communities, say little about fashion as it is studied in the West (2000: 3). Therefore, Susan Kaiser (2012: 34) draws from a wide spectre of disciplines in her recent book Fashion and Cultural Studies. In order to explain how and why a Eurocentric discourse on fashion has been able to dominate for so long, for example, she refers to the concept of hegemony as used in cultural studies, which seeks to understand how certain ways of knowing the world dominate and persevere. Referring to Antonio Gramsci’s (1971 in Kaiser 2012: 34) theory, she explains that power not only works through guns and warfare, but also through ‘clever arguments, compelling language, and visually embodied imagery’. Although European colonization was about travelling and learning about the rest of the world, it was not necessary about recording faithfully what was precisely learned from that rest of the world. While Europeans ‘borrowed’ heavily from the cultures they encountered, she adds, ranging from complex mathematical, theoretical and technological knowledge to fabrics, jewels, spices and other ‘exotic’ objects, the colonizers rationalized their actions through representations of places outside of Europe as unchanging and timeless; as lacking cultural histories of their own (Harding 1998 in Kaiser 2012: 46–7). Kaiser (2012: 173) confirms that fashion has been historically located all around the world, but it is the ‘Euromodern representations of hegemonic fashion’ that have generally emphasized European bourgeois and upper class women’s attire as the site of newness and now-­ness, while other nations/

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cultures/spaces were depicted as static and exotic; as fixed in earlier times. Euromodernity, she explains, became a way of envisioning the process of evolving through time while ‘other’ spaces became constructed as those that are outside of this linear narrative of time; they are fixed or fossilized in the past (2012: 176). Even today, she adds, many fashion trends derive from cultures not included in the hegemonic narrative of Euromodernity through cultural appropriation, which involves taking elements from another culture, but often without giving credit to that culture, or worse, at the expense of that culture (Ashley and Plesch 2002 in Kaiser 2012: 48). An interesting example is Juanjuan Wu’s (2009: xi) ‘chinoiserie’ collections by European designers like John Galliano, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino and Christian Lacroix. ‘These collections enriched haute couture and high fashion, but to Chinese eyes these Chinese-­inspired western creations appeared just as exotic as they did to western eyes: these fashions contained recognizable Chinese elements, but they were distorted, westernized, and divorced from their original cultural meanings’ (2009: xi). Nevertheless, these ‘chinoiseries’ by European designers were at first a more important source of inspiration for Chinese designers than their own ‘indigenous’ vestimentary heritage precisely because they were ‘European’. Simultaneously, he says, Chinese designers, in their turn, distorted French couture in a first attempt to create ‘Chinese’ haute couture (2009: xi). It is important to emphasize here that contesting Eurocentricity in fashion studies does not mean denying altogether the influence European fashion has had, and continues to have, on many other fashions around the world. As an abundance of case studies testify, including the Moroccan case study, French fashion in particular has been, and still is (so far), the most influential for most fashions, including many European ones. In the course of the nineteenth century, for example, French fashion, which had come to represent a cosmopolitan and (Euro)modern identity, overshadowed many other European fashions, which had become considered provincial, coarse and oldfashioned. This resulted in a stagnation and reduction to what is now referred to as Dutch, Belgian, German, etc. traditional dress, which in the same way ignores the once vivid and transnational dynamics of these fashions. An interesting example in this respect is the PhD thesis by Maaike Feitsma (in print 2014) Dutch Fashion? An Exploration of Myths and Meanings. Furthermore, referring to Doreen Massey’s (2005) work, Kaiser (2012) explains how binary oppositions have been used in Euromodern thought to construct boundaries – rather than interconnections – between time and space, global and local, space and place, urban and rural, etc. (2012: 176). In order to challenge a simple oppositional (either/or), linear (straight), and essentialist (predetermined, fixed, bounded) thinking about and with fashion, Kaiser (2012: 2, 13) draws upon feminist cultural studies concepts, metaphors, and models. For example, she uses the metaphor of the Möbius strip, introduced in mathematics but adopted

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by cultural studies, to emphasize intersectionalities rather than oppositions. The way she puts it, fashion is all about crossings, intersections, and entanglements, but as the Möbius strip shows metaphorically, it is also about convergence (2012: 4). Fashion not only highlights but also facilitates multiple intersections and entanglements among gender, race, ethnicity, national identity, social class, sexuality, and other facets of identity (2012: 4), and therefore a static Euromodern binary construct of traditional/ethnic/non-­western versus modern/fashionable/ western dress cannot capture the complexity of cultural identity construction (2012: 171). This is especially so in feminist cultural studies, Kaiser (2012: 11) says, which has been searching to ask new questions about culture as it articulates with everyday life and power relations associated with older stories. The feminist movement, the civil rights movement, the gay and lesbian rights movements, and other (e.g., anticolonial, environmental) social movements around the world, she says, began to ‘unframe’ some of the frameworks that had previously been taken for granted as ‘natural’ or ‘the way it should be’ and questioned a number of assumptions associated with dominant (white, masculine or feminine, upper-­middle class, heterosexual) culture. In cultural studies, she continues, articulations and rearticulations continually challenge fixed ideas that gender (or any other subject position) is an essence or a thing that should be accepted as a ‘natural’ or biological given. Both fashion and culture simultaneously, she argues, undergo continual change and continuity and these simultaneous processes are complex and can even be contradictory (2012: 12).

Fashion, tradition and modernity At this point, it is important to specify how I define fashion, for it is used in a large variety of meanings by a large variety of disciplines. Up to today, social scientists have not been able to agree on when, where or how fashion evolved, nor what it is exactly and Linda Welters and Abby Lillethun (2011: xxvii) summarize in their fashion reader how different scientists and disciplines handle different definitions and discourses. Historians, they say, chart the change in dress styles over time, while sociologists view fashion as a form of group behaviour. Psychologists, they explain, see fashion as a presentation of self and anthropologists study fashion as a material manifestation of culture. Artists, in their turn, use fashion as a medium for creative expression, while economists chart the fashion industry for employment and import and export data, and, when people are disadvantaged by fashion, it becomes political. Influential theorists like Thorstein Veblen (1899) interpret fashion as conspicuous consumption, while Georg Simmel (1904) analyses it as trickling down to the masses from the élites and Roland Barthes (1969) explains it as a silent form of communication (in Welters and Lillethun 2011: xxvii).

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Being a cultural anthropologist, I consider fashion primarily as a ‘material manifestation of culture’ and agree with Linda Welters and Abby Lillethun (2011: xxvii), who say that fashion is ‘changing styles of dress and appearance that are adopted by a group of people at any given time and place’. I also agree with Yuniya Kawamura (2005: 2–4), who argues that while clothing, garments and apparel refer to tangible objects, fashion is intangible. Fashion provides added value to clothing, she explains, but this only exists in people’s imaginations and beliefs. For me, there is no dress outside of fashion at any time and place, because I believe any type of dress, from nose ornaments to haute couture dresses, entails added value. Except when dress is purely worn as a physical protection against the elements (which is highly exceptional, like for refugees maybe), all other reasons imply added value, whether it is modesty, communication, comfort, aesthetics, identity, etc. Furthermore, I join Susan Kaiser, Richard Nagasawa and Sandra Hutton (1990 in Kaiser 2012: 45) in their argument that fashion change thrives on cultural tensions and that because these tensions are never completely resolved, the process of fashion change continues. The ambivalence and anxiety in cultural discourse, they say, the symbolic ambiguity in fashion subjects’ styles and the negotiation of meaning in social interactions are what keeps the system going. Referring to the work of Stuart Hall (1991) and David Scott (2005), Kaiser says individuals continually navigate and negotiate between the processes of belonging and differentiating. ‘Styling-­fashioning-dressing the body enables articulations of what cultural studies scholars call belonging-­indifference’ (Kaiser 2012: 75). She argues that a simultaneous need for a sense of identity with others and a sense of social difference from some others is what she refers to as the intersectionalities among subject positions (2012: 165). Also, people simultaneously want change/progress/movement through time represented by (fashion) trends and continuity/cultural anchorage represented by cultural heritage and, therefore, I believe any type of dress has both components of tradition and fashion. As Jennifer Craik (2009: 234) formulates it, fashion is a relentless cycle of anticipating the future yet drawing on resonances of the past. This involves balancing the now with the future and the past, she says. Potential clients may be frightened by trends that are too different from what they wear now, she explains, but reject anything that looks old fashioned or out of fashion, so a careful balancing act is needed to predict a newness that is exciting but still has some familiarity (2009: 234). So, when fashion is strictly considered as an industry concentrated around influential fashion designers, regulating fashion councils, commercial fashion weeks, authoritative fashion media and elaborate networks of luxury and high-­ street fashion brands, then there may be reasonable arguments to exclude a number of regions from fashion discourse. Or even when fashion is described in terms of design concepts and/or the conceptualization of ideas especially by

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fashion designers, parts of the world may be excluded. But when fashion is defined in terms of a continuous change in dress, social competition, cultural ambiguity, an embodied materialization of culture and intangible added value, then fashion not only needs to be acknowledged as a universal phenomenon, but also as a phenomenon that precedes the processes of globalization as ascribed to the past thirty years. Furthermore, in the same way that there are many presumptions about fashion, there are many Eurocentric suppositions about tradition. As Leslie Rabine’s (2002: 10) formulates it, it is probably ‘the most problematic of terms inherited from colonial discourse’. In her research on the globalization of African fashion she – together with a wide range of post-­colonial scholars on African culture – criticizes the static tradition/modernity binary as it was used by missionaries, colonialists and anthropologists to oppose an Africa deemed traditional in the sense of primitive and static to a modern Europe as transmitter of enlightened values (2002: 10). Her research on Senegalese fashion shows many similarities with Moroccan fashion in that its consumers do not oppose modernity and tradition but ‘in its process of self-­perpetuating, self-­referential change, intertwine modernity and tradition’ (2002: 11). Both Moroccan and Senegalese fashion revolve around the differentiation of tenue européenne (European wear) and tenue traditionelle (traditional wear) but without being static or mutually exclusive. Although the second is coded traditional, it is far from embodying the timeless, closed societies evoked by colonial notions of tradition (Kasfir 1992 in Rabine 2002: 11) but, on the contrary, results from centuries-­old histories of weaving together influences from many African, European and Arabic cultures. In many non-­western countries, the production and consumption of traditional dress is a focal point for the anxieties, attachments and criticisms that attend the ever-­changing status of tradition in societies that are what Leslie Rabine (2002: 28) calls ‘in crisis’, but what I prefer to call ‘subject to increasing influences of cultural globalization’. For me, the concept of tradition is a construct rather than a given that is constantly re-­defined and re-­invented and that has more to do with ideologies than a faithful representation of historical facts. Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (1983) argue in their edited volume The Invention of Tradition that, although traditions can be ancient, they are often quite new and even literally invented in a single event or over a short period of time. The authors define tradition as ‘a set of practices, normally governed by overtly or tacitly accepted rules and of a ritual or symbolic nature, which seeks to inculcate certain values and norms of behaviour by repetition and to imply a continuity with a suitable historic past’. This continuity with a historic past, however, they emphasize, is often largely fictitious whereby invented traditions are most often a response to new situations (1983: 4). As will become clear throughout this book, many aspects of Moroccan fashion are either recently introduced or appropriated

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foreign influences through what Joanne Eicher and Tonye Erekosima (1995: 145) call ‘cultural authentication’ (see Chapter  7). In order to avoid (as much as possible) a biased Eurocentric approach to the concept of tradition, I have aimed to let my definition and use of the term throughout the research be determined by my informants and respondents. Furthermore, a third concept that is surrounded by Eurocentric prejudices is modernity, which in most cases is used to refer to Euromodernity. The way Jonathan Inda and Renato Rosaldo (2002: 3) formulate it, ideologies related to modernity are mainly made up of elements of the Enlightenment worldview such as freedom, welfare, human rights, democracy and sovereignty, initiated in the West. According to them, ‘many developing nations adhere to policies which at least ostensibly aim to modernize their politics, infrastructures and economies, but often their own prevailing ideologies do not correspond with those proposed by the West’ (2002: 3). But as the anthropologist Chie Nakane (1967 in Iwabuchi 1994: 23) rightfully points out, other societies should not be measured with a western yardstick, but with an indigenous yardstick. His call for cultural specificity is a challenge to Eurocentric modernity and suggests an alternative way of theorizing modernization without regarding the western experience as the model path to the modern stage. Modernity has been monopolized by the West and, as Longxi Zhang (1988 in Iwabuchi 1994: 18) formulates it, ‘it is time to recognize the Other as truly Other, that is, the Other in its own Otherness. (. . .) The Other that does not just serve the purpose of being a foil or contrast to the Western self.’ Toby Slade (2009: 4), in his book on the history of Japanese fashion, also calls for alternative analyses of modernity and argues that Eurocentric models do not fit the Japanese experience of modernity. The use of theoretical constructs from Western philosophy, he explains, when related to the Japanese context, bring up many potential difficulties in applying what should be considered culturally specific tools to a different cultural context. Essential to modernity, he explains, is the idea of reflexivity – the continual re-­examination and re-­evaluation of knowledge in every sphere – and, therefore, its central precept of progress is the end of certainty. Unchallenged sources of authority, whether political, religious or scholastic, he explains, are all overthrown by modernity, whereby scientific and technological advances and social and economic reforms create anxiety since the reassurance of traditional sources of knowledge are continuously questioned (2009: 4). The result, he continues, is continually changing practices and fads – fashions – in ideas and things that become repositories for those ideas, like clothing, which is, before almost everything else, the repository for conceptions of individual and collective identity. In modernity, he adds, progress is constantly sought, yet constantly questioned, undermined and remodelled (2009: 4). Simultaneously, he adds, the perceived unstoppable trajectory of modem progress results in nostalgia and, if not an overt longing for the past, then at least

INTRODUCTION

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a formless melancholy and regret that some essence or intangible element has been lost. Modernity everywhere, he says, repeatedly clothes itself in reconstructions of the past, recreating national fashions and inventing traditions to authenticate this past and to authenticate the very idea of a nation itself (2009: 5). Again, conscious of my Eurocentricity, I have aimed to let my definition and use of the concept of modernity be led and determined by the way it is used and determined by my informants and respondents and have tried to grasp what is meant by une modernité marocaine (a Moroccan modernity).

The Moroccan case study This book offers for the first time an anthropological analysis of the Moroccan fashion industry through examining in depth the role of contemporary Moroccan history, three generations of Moroccan fashion designers, lifestyle media, and foreign fashion brands in the development of Moroccan fashion. Drawing on more than ten years of field, archival and collection research, as well as ninety interviews conducted with respondents in Fez, Casablanca and Marrakesh, the research also includes analysis of the socio-­cultural role of Moroccan fashion in contemporary urban society. The main aim of this research has been to analyse Moroccan fashion as a materialization of social, cultural, political, economic and religious developments in Moroccan society. This is because, until now, Moroccan fashion has been predominantly analysed as physical objects in which the materials and construction of the garments have been given primacy over their social and cultural meanings. The only information available on Moroccan fashion pre-­twentieth century comes from writings by European captains, captured slaves, diplomats and travellers, including artists like Eugene Delacroix. It is only in the 1930s that the first ethnographic information on Moroccan fashion is collected by Jean Besancenot (1990 [1942]), who documented sixty urban and rural Moroccan outfits in his book Costumes du Maroc. In 1958, Ernst Rachow published two volumes on material culture in Morocco in which the first volume, Beiträge zur Kenntis der materiellen Kultur Nordwest-Marokkos: Wohnraum, Hausrat, Kostüm, includes detailed descriptions of Moroccan fashion. Furthermore, in the first half of the twentieth century, a number of articles, especially on production techniques, appeared in the journal Hespéris (Jouin 1935; Vicaire and Le Tourneau 1937; Buttin 1939; Goichon, 1939; Lapanne-Joinville 1940; Golvin 1950; Ricard 1950), followed by a number of museum catalogues in the second half (Bernès 1974; Grammet 1998; Paris Musées 1999; Rabaté and Goldenberg 1999). In 1994, Ghita El Khayat wrote Le somptueux Maroc des femmes on female beauty practices, including some descriptions of female fashion. Rachida

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Alaoui, in her turn, published Costumes et parures du Maroc in 2003, which (unlike the title suggests) focuses exclusively on Moroccan urban fashion and includes some national and international fashion designers. Furthermore, in 2011 Nadia Tazi and Daniel Rey wrote Tamy Tazi: Caftans on the Moroccan fashion designer Tamy Tazi. However, all these works are predominantly static and descriptive and give little or no analysis of how Moroccan fashion relates to its production and consumption. Claire Nicholas (2005), who wrote an MA thesis on the transition from the h.ayk to the jellaba as outerwear for women, is the first to provide analysis on how this related to socio-­economic processes in Moroccan urban society. In general, relatively little sociological and anthropological research has been published (in English) on contemporary Moroccan urban society. In 1989, Elaine Combs-Schilling published Sacred Performances on the Moroccan monarchy as leader of the nation and the faithful, which gives an interesting perspective on the influence of the Moroccan royal family on the Moroccan population. In his book on Moroccan Islam, Dale Eickelman (1976) gives insights on religious life in contemporary Moroccan society and Susan Ossman’s research (1994 and 2002) on the city of Casablanca shows how Moroccan society has developed in the past few decades from a social, cultural, economic and political perspective. A study of the political and economic liberalization at the end of the twentieth century and its effect on Moroccan society is Morocco: Globalization and Its Consequences by Shana Cohen and Larabi Jaida (2006). Furthermore, Loubna Skalli’s (2006) work on the Moroccan women’s press, Through a Local Prism: Gender, Globalization and Identity in Moroccan Women’s Magazines, provides an analysis of the perception, interpretation and translation of global influences in contemporary Moroccan urban society. In 2012, the book Contemporary Morocco: State, Politics and Society under Mohammed VI appeared, edited by Bruce Maddy-Weitzman and Daniel Zisenwine, which focuses on the changes that took place in Moroccan society following the political reforms introduced by the current king. The research presented in this book is mainly based on my PhD research, which I concluded in 2010. It is important to emphasize that the majority of the fieldwork that feeds into this monograph was conducted in 2005–2006, and even though paragraphs were added to update the information, new developments have occurred that remain underexposed due to time constraints. Before I give an outline of the chapters in this volume, a few explanatory remarks are in place as to the choices I made for this research. First, for various reasons, I chose to focus exclusively on Moroccan urban fashion, which is remarkably different from Morocco’s multiple rural fashions, generally referred to as Berber. Despite strong mutual influences and interconnections, the processes described in this volume are not representative for all of Morocco. Second, for practical reasons, I chose to focus on three cities in particular, namely Fez, Marrakech and Casablanca. Where Fez can be considered the ‘birthplace’ of Moroccan urban

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fashion because of its history, Marrakech played an important role in the processes of hybridization in Moroccan fashion through its high concentration of artistic, famous and/or fashionable foreigners; especially in the 1960s. Casablanca, in its turn, is the current fashion capital of Morocco due to its economic activities, its ‘open-­mindedness’, and its melting pot of cultural influences. Third, I chose to focus on the second half of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-­first century not only because this is when Moroccan fashion was commoditized, but also because it allowed me to focus on primary research. Fourth, although I set out to research both women’s and men’s fashion of all ages, the research clearly focuses on Moroccan fashion for adult women simply because they are the most important consumers and, therefore, the target group of the Moroccan fashion industry. Fifth, although Morocco is a Muslim country, I deliberately decided to treat Moroccan fashion as national fashion rather than as Muslim fashion. For me, Muslim fashion is worn predominantly to emphasize a religious identity, whereas national fashion is worn to express a cultural identity, including a religious identity. From the interviews with my respondents, it became clear that Islam as a cultural heritage plays a more significant role in vestimentary behaviour than Islam as a dogma. This, however, does not imply that there is no Muslim fashion in Morocco but, as will become clear in Chapter  6, this fashion is not considered Moroccan. Sixth, due to time and space constraints, I deliberately chose not to include research on the Moroccan diaspora in Europe, which might be a topic of future research. Finally, I am aware that many of the terms I use in this research like authentic, indigenous, tradition(al), modern(ity), national, West(ern), nonWest(ern), local and global are problematic and that by trying to problematize them, it may seem as if I am confirming them. But, hopefully, the long introduction to this chapter conveyed my points of view and the problems I am trying to tackle. In the end I decided not to put them between quotation marks to emphasize their controversy, simply because of their high numbers and how this would inhibit the reading. This book contains seven chapters in which Chapter 1 is an introduction to the problem of Eurocentricity in fashion studies, my use of the concepts of fashion, tradition and modernity and Morocco as a case-­study. It points out false prejudices concerning fashion in non-­western contexts and problematizes a dichotomy in current scholarship between the anthropology of dress focusing on non-­western case studies and fashion studies concentrating on western contexts. Chapter  2 examines how Moroccan fashion became an important component of Moroccan tradition through analysing contemporary Moroccan history. It describes the elevation of Moroccan fashion as a national symbol during the French Protectorate and the struggle for independence, and illustrates how three generations of Moroccan monarchs in post-­colonial Morocco used it to materialize their political ambitions. It also pays attention to the processes of

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female, cultural and political emancipation in Morocco as well as the role of Islam in contemporary Moroccan society and the impact this has on Moroccan fashion. This is followed by Chapter  3, which is dedicated to three generations of Moroccan fashion designers, who are believed to have played a crucial role in adapting Moroccan fashion to important changes in society at crucial moments in time. It shows how a first generation in the 1960s was confronted with the consequences of the French Protectorate, a nationalist movement and an independent Morocco facing Europe. By re-­inventing Moroccan fashion, they successfully adapted these clothing styles to newly obtained lifestyles. It explains how in the 1990s, a series of events led to the democratization of fashion in Morocco, contributing to the success of a second generation of Moroccan designers. Finally, at the turn of the century, due to both internal and external developments, a new generation of Moroccan designers developed that aims to analyse its cultural heritage against a global background and re-­invent Morocco’s cultural heritage far from ‘folkloric stereotypes’. In Chapter 4, I concentrate on the impact of (new) communication technologies on Moroccan fashion. For example, Moroccan women’s magazines have been using Moroccan fashion to materialize a ‘Moroccan modernity’ and, in doing so, contributed to its revival. Also, the media played an important role in the democratization of fashion in Morocco and contributed in a large extent to an image change of Moroccan fashion by taking it out of its ‘traditional’ context and showing it on fashion covers and catwalks. The Internet, in its turn, allows fashion to be personal, interactive and censure-­free. Continuing with Chapter 5, this illustrates how the arrival of foreign fashion brands on the Moroccan market at the turn of the twenty-­first century boosted the consumption of Moroccan fashion through the introduction of new consumption patterns and marketing strategies. It discusses the shifts that occurred from the anonymous tailor to the glamorous fashion designer, and from the imageless workshop to the fashionable boutique/showroom. It also treats the commercialization of new hybrid clothing categories as part of the commodification of Moroccan fashion. Chapter 6 is dedicated to the consumption of Moroccan fashion based on the important socio-­cultural role it continues to play in contemporary Moroccan urban society. It explains more elaborately how Moroccan and European fashion are classified, and illustrates how both fashions are equally important in the construction of dynamic multiple individual and collective identities. It also illustrates how the consumption of Moroccan fashion is surrounded by seemingly contradictory behaviour, and how this reflects cultural anxiety and ongoing processes of negotiating the borderlines of continuity, change, tradition, modernity, national, transnational, local and global. Finally, Chapter 7 recalls the main objectives of the research and elaborates on some central debates of the research such as notions of authenticity, the commodification of cultural heritage, and the increasing emphasis on national fashion identities.

2 MOROCCAN FASHION AS TRADITION Although coded as traditional, Moroccan fashion is far from embodying a timeless, closed society; on the contrary, it results from a centuries-­old history of weaving together influences from Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. It is far from an ‘authentic’ cultural product, closed in upon itself in an unchanging purity – as a quick look at history can reveal. Due to its geographical position on the crossroads of three continents, Moroccan material culture has a long history of external influences because of the passages of important trade routes that fed the local market with raw materials, fabrics, patterns and decoration techniques. Also, following the Spanish Inquisition at the end of the fifteenth century, a large number of skilled Muslim and Jewish craftsmen, including weavers, embroiderers and tailors, settled down in the northern cities of Morocco, introducing fashions and crafts from (southern) Europe, the Mediterranean region and the Middle East. Additionally, from the nineteenth century onwards, there has been structural trading with Europe, the Middle East and Asia, including the import of textiles. Nevertheless, Moroccan fashion is deeply anchored in Moroccan society as part of its collective cultural heritage and its tradition, and this chapter testifies how it is a materialization of historical, social, cultural, economic, religious and political developments in society. The opening section, ‘Moroccan fashion and politics’, shows how a number of political events throughout the twentieth and twenty-­first centuries have had an important impact on the development of Moroccan fashion. The French Protectorate, for example, although it did not even last fifty years, strongly influenced Moroccan fashion through the introduction of French culture, lifestyle and fashion. As a reaction, almost immediately a nationalist movement developed, resulting in the elevation of Moroccan fashion as a symbol of silent resistance and nationalism. Additionally, three generations of Moroccan monarchs have used Moroccan fashion to materialize their political ambitions and to construct a unifying national identity. In the second section, ‘Moroccan fashion and emancipation’, a number of emancipation waves are analysed and their impact on Moroccan fashion. Female emancipation, for example, resulted in the transition from the female h.ayk to

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the male jellaba as an outer garment for women. By literally adopting a male garment, women claimed the rights that came with it, such as the right to participate in public life. Cultural emancipation, in its turn, although strongly influenced by Euromodernity, is simultaneously marked by a search for a Moroccan modernity, which uncontestably contributed to the revival and success of Moroccan fashion. As a counter-­reaction to the increasing impact of cultural globalization, cultural heritage as a means of emphasizing a local distinctiveness has undergone revaluation. Furthermore, the most important wave of political emancipation, especially after King Hassan II had severely restricted the possibilities of democratic reforms, is the Moroccan 20 February Movement in the context of the so-­called Arab Spring in the region. These developments have especially materialized in Moroccan fashion by an increasing challenging of dominant Arabo-Muslim identity representing the political élite and a growing influence of street fashion representing the people. The final section, ‘Moroccan fashion and Islam’, testifies to how Moroccan fashion is closely interwoven with Islam and more particularly the cultural heritage of Moroccan Islam. Due to the country’s geographical position at the extreme of the Arab world and its proximity with Europe, Moroccan Islam is considered more hybrid then Islam as practised in the Arab Peninsula. Socio-­religious events such as weddings and the fasting month of Ramadan continue to be the most important events whereby Moroccan fashion is consumed.

Moroccan fashion and politics Throughout the twentieth and twenty-­first centuries, there have been a number of political events that have had an important impact on the development of Moroccan fashion. Under the French Protectorate, for example, it was decided to separate the new European city centres from the indigenous Arab city centres. This resulted in a cultural buffer against French cultural influences, allowing the continuity of a Moroccan lifestyle. Over time, this led to two more or less parallel universes that became associated with European and Moroccan fashion respectively and the compartmentalization of vestimentary behaviour (see Chapter 6). Furthermore, the French decision to move their political and economic centres from Fez to Casablanca and Rabat not only broke the economic and political power of the Moroccan élite, but also brought about remarkable changes in lifestyle, which in its turn reflected in rigorous innovations in Moroccan fashion (see Chapter 3). Moreover, as a reaction to the foreign presence, a Moroccan nationalist movement developed almost immediately, uniting the country for the first time against a common enemy. This played an important role in the construction of a national identity, materialized through Moroccan fashion. Additionally, the royal family had been playing an important part both as a role model and a trendsetter.

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The term mekhzeni, for example, refers to Moroccan fashion worn by the royal family, which is considered a parameter for traditional Moroccan fashion. Furthermore, three consecutive monarchs since independence have been using Moroccan fashion to materialize their political ambitions, thereby strengthening its position as a symbol of Moroccan national identity. While King Mohamed V, especially, used Moroccan fashion as a symbol of nationalism, female emancipation and progress, King Hassan II, on the other hand, rather gave it a connotation of conservatism, Muslim and Arabic identity. King Mohamed IV, in his turn, has been using it to promote a Moroccan modernity and particularly through the example of his wife, Lalla Salma, who is the first royal spouse to fulfil a public role and who is a popular subject in national lifestyle magazines.

The French Protectorate At the turn of the twentieth century, Morocco found itself confronted with a period of riots and internal conflicts. The brother of the Sultan took over in 1908 but in order to establish his authority, he had no other choice but to call in the help of the French. This resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Fez in 1912, confirming the French Protectorate, based on ‘guidance’ (controle) rather than ‘direct rule’ (administration directe) (Hoisington 1984: 5). Although this was far from the case in reality, an important consequence was that the Moroccan monarchy and élite kept their privileged positions and influence as role models. The concept of the French Protectorate was popularized by Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey, the first Resident General in Morocco. According to William Hoisington Jr. (1984: 4–5), Lyautey thought of the Protectorate as a means by which a non-European state could survive and progress in modern times, retain its own institutions and govern itself under the ‘simple guidance’ of a European power, which would represent it abroad, oversee the administration of its army and finances and direct its economic development; this was a rather modern point of view for that time. By respecting local religion and tradition, Lyautey believed that he would be able to ‘shelter the individual, the family and the community from the destabilizing effects of contact with the West’ (Hoisington 1984: 5). For example, Morocco is still one of the rare Muslim countries (besides Algeria and Tunisia) where mosques are prohibited for non-Muslims, based on a law introduced by Lyautey. He believed that Nothing has been more deadly for the originality and harm of oriental cities than their penetration by modern European installations. (. . .) The natural tendency of Europeans upon entering a foreign place is to preempt the centre, which causes both the Europeans and the natives to suffer. Abu-Lughod 1980: 142–3

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Therefore, he developed an urbanization plan for Moroccan cities that insisted on the complete separation of the European city centres (villes nouvelles) from the Arab city centres (mdina) for political, economic, sanitary and aesthetic reasons, as well as for town planning purposes (1980: 131). Although Janet Abu-Lughod argues that ‘this division led to a system of cultural and religious apartheid, segregating Europeans in new cities laid out on vast open spaces and following a plan aimed at realizing the most modern conditions – large boulevards, conduits for water and electricity, squares and gardens, buses and tramways – while confining Moroccans to the oldest cities’ (1980: xviii), this segregation also enabled the continuity of a Moroccan lifestyle, buffering European influences on Moroccan culture. For example, while European fashion came to dominate the streets of the ville nouvelle, Moroccan fashion continued to prevail in the mdina. This would eventually result in a system whereby Moroccan fashion became associated with Moroccan/traditional contexts and European fashion with European/modern contexts (see Chapter 6). Furthermore, the French administration chose Rabat over Fez as the new political centre for Morocco. This shift was motivated by both political and practical reasons: on the one hand the French sought to destabilize the power concentrated in Fez, on the other hand Rabat’s proximity to the economic centre of Casablanca made it more pragmatic.1 The French urbanist Henri Prost had been asked to design a modern and innovating city plan for Casablanca in 1914, which was no more than a small provincial harbour town at the time. Soon Casablanca became an experimental field for architecture and urbanism and even an example for the development of numerous European cities because of its modern and innovative character. Due to its economic activities initiated by its modern harbour, the city came to attract people from all corners of the country (and abroad), including a massive migration of the political élite from Fez. This considerably weakened their position as conservative guardians of Moroccan tradition, allowing cultural reforms. Casablanca, with its cosmopolitan identity, its avant-­garde urbanism and architecture and its rapid economic growth, contributed to the introduction of a new lifestyle as well as the rise of a middle class. French department stores like Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marché, for example, had opened branches in Casablanca, providing the latest French fashion trends. Also, the transition from the old Arab medina houses in Fez, which were inhabited by extended families, to new French villa’s that were only built to hold nuclear families, contributed to an important change in lifestyle and mentality.

The Nationalist movement However, the self-­governance of Morocco under French guidance soon turned out to be a charade and, according to William Hoisington Jr. (1984: 6–9), Lyautey

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admitted in 1920 that he was disappointed with the Protectorate, troubled by the revolutionary implications of the notions of self-­determination and colonial emancipation. It had not evolved fast enough to keep pace with the expectations of those thousands of Moroccans who had fought for France in the First World War and, having returned home, were now ready to play a more vital role in their own society. Eight years of the French Protectorate had done little to make Moroccans true partners of the French. The clash came with the judicial reform known as the Berber d.ahıˉ r, under the French Resident General Lucien Saint, which touched off a summer of urban rioting in 1930 (Hoisington 1984: 8–11). The d.ahıˉ r consisted of recognizing Berber common law and transferring criminal cases to French courts, which especially in the cities led to an anti-French fury. The French were accused of . forcing the Sultan to give up his rights in the ʾamazig territories – thereby threatening the religious and political unity of the empire – attempting to divide the ʾamazig˙ from the Arabs and stepping up evangelism among the ʾamazig˙ by Christian missionaries. All were considered deceitful moves to strengthen French control over Morocco and the menace to Islam raised the ire of the city dwellers. Protest was at first limited to prayers and petitions, but later extended to street demonstrations and clashes with the local authorities. The nationalists began organizing delegations in cities throughout the country to transmit their grievances to the Sultan (Hoisington 1984: 29–33). They regrouped into the Comité d’Action Marocaine and in 1939 they wrote the celebrated Plan de Réformes.2 The plan envisioned the creation of a liberal constitutional monarchy, the establishment of a national council elected by universal suffrage in two stages, and the institution of civil rights and obligatory education (Hoisington 1984: 40-1). In 1941, the nationalists presented the Manifeste de l’Indépendance, in which they openly demanded independence from the French administration (Daoud 1993: 243). Although the initiative for independence came from the urban élite, and especially from Fez, the nationalist movement succeeded over time in uniting all social classes and geographic areas, as well as men and women. Probably for the first time in Moroccan history, the territory was united against a common enemy, which would have a deep impact on the construction of a national identity after independence. The nationalists founded their legitimacy and authority to a great extent on Arabo-Muslim identity, which not only allowed them to clearly distinguish themselves from the French, but also to associate with the pan-Islamic community. As a result, the political élite continued to emphasize this identity after Independence, overshadowing all other cultural and religious groups. Also, the nationalist movement did not revolt against the rule of the Alaouite Dynasty but, on the contrary, chose the Sultan as its leader (see next paragraph). In this period, Moroccan fashion was elevated to a symbol of silent resistance as well as nationalism. Both men and women would use the benefits of Moroccan fashion to masquerade their resistance activities. Women wearing the h.ayk, for

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example, were rarely checked by the French security forces and therefore ideal for smuggling weapons (Baker 1998). Also, men wearing the jellaba were believed to be on their way to the mosque and therefore generally left alone. Simultaneously, there was a revival of Moroccan silk brocade even though it was inferior in quality to the imported French silk brocade from Lyon.

The Moroccan monarchy Although King Mohamed V went down in history as the monarch who led his people to independence at the side of the nationalists, he began his career as the docile marionette of the French administration. He was hardly eighteen years old when he became Sultan in 1927. Although he was only third in line to the throne, the French administration chose him because he was believed to represent no threat. At first he was aware that a Morocco moulded in the image of the nationalists, with their advanced aspirations for reforms, would be a state wherein his power would be severely reduced (Hoisington 1984: 45–7, 55). But over time, with growth in both age and experience and following some major events, the Sultan emerged as a discrete ally of the nationalists in 1944, and finally as their leader in 1947 (Le Tourneau 1992: 291). Consequently, the royal family was exiled in 1953, which announced the beginning of the end of French Rule since this was against the principles of the Protectorate. Two years later, the royal family returned and Sultan Mohamed V was received as a hero. In March 1956, he finally became ruler of an independent Morocco and this is where he changed his title from Sultan to King as he believed this to be more modern. But despite his strong promotion of (Euro)modernity, including European fashion, he himself always kept on wearing the jellaba and the .terbuš wat.ani, both of which became symbols of Moroccan nationalism. When he died in 1961, only five years after independence, his son Moulay Hassan took over, better known as King Hassan II. Since he was only thirty-­two years old, he was initially popular among his citizens, 70 per cent of whom were under the age of thirty (Vermeren 2002: 22). But despite his age and his European education, he led a conservative regime. He reinforced the power of the Alaouite Dynasty, but his unwillingness to share power with the political parties led to discontent. During the first thirty years of his dictatorship, known as les Années de Plomb (Years of Lead), thousands of people were shot, imprisoned, banished or simply disappeared.3 But despite his unpopularity, Hassan II was an influential role model and a fashion icon. In his political ambition to unify the country, he gave visual and material form to his messages through Moroccan fashion. It usually took no more than forty-­eight hours before his look would be copied on a large scale after a public appearance or an official photo-­shoot. Any picture of him was always meticulously orchestrated, whether wearing a perfectly tailored

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European suit by his favourite tailor Francesco Smalto or the finest hand woven jellaba. According to Claire Nicholas (2005: 111), his sartorial style prompted the increased popularity of the jellaba for both men and women but, unlike his father, Hassan II gave it an image of tradition, Muslim and Arab. When he died in 1999, all hope was set on his eldest son, Sidi Mohamed Ben Hassan el-Alaoui, to introduce advanced democratic reforms. Just like his father, Mohamed VI was a young King when he came to power at age thirty-­six. His nickname M6 testifies to his cool image based on his good taste for luxurious cars and designer clothes as well as his passion for jet skis. Just like his grandfather, but unlike his father, he is considered a King of the people. In the first years of his reign, he launched a series of projects aimed at improving women’s rights through a reform of the mudawwana (family law), reducing poverty through the National Initiative for Human Development and reducing illiteracy, especially among women, by expanding and improving the national education system. Additionally, he acknowledged the injustices committed by his father during the ‘Years of Lead’ by founding the Equity and Reconciliation Commission charged with the investigation and compensation of the victims and/or their families. He also gave more importance to a number of cultural and religious minorities in Morocco – for a long time ignored by his father – by according them special rights and facilities. For example, he created the Institut Royal de la Culture ʾAmazig˙ au Maroc (IRCAM), which is in charge of promoting ʾamazig˙ language and culture in Morocco and abroad.4 Just like his grandfather and father, Mohamed VI is aware of his influence as a role model and the power of Moroccan fashion in the transmission of his political ideas. His marriage with Salma Bennani, for example, an information services engineer from Fez, is a clear statement and a break with tradition in that not only was she not a member of the Zayan (a Moroccan-Berber tribe), which is custom for royal marriages,5 but neither was it an arranged union. In his construction of a Moroccan modernity, he is the first monarch to only have one wife and they have only two children. They are frequently featured in national lifestyle magazines wearing both European and Moroccan fashion to emphasize that both fashions are part of a modern Moroccan identity.

Moroccan fashion and emancipation Moroccan society has gone through a number of emancipation waves throughout the twentieth and twenty-­first centuries. First, female emancipation was initiated during the nationalist movement, when Moroccan women were encouraged to go to school and to participate in public life through nationalist activities and a modest participation in the work force. The introduction of education for women announced the entrance of girls in a space formerly reserved for men. Also, the

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free nationalist schools, where classes were mixed with male teachers, turned the notion of gender-­segregation and the role of men and women upside down for the generations to follow. Simultaneously, the educational content in itself changed the mentality of Moroccan women and exposed them to a new self-­awareness. Second, there have been several waves of cultural emancipation dominated by aspirations of modernity. The nationalist movement, for example, especially promulgated ideas of Euromodernity like the equality of human beings, the establishment of social services, technical improvements, and increasing production. Under the reign of three consecutive monarchs, however, modernity shifted from an emphasis on Euromodernity to a formulation of a Moroccan modernity, whereby Moroccan fashion came to play an important role. In more recent years, cultural emancipation has been particularly dominated by a quest for increasing individual rights in relation to religion and/or cultural identity. This has been reflected in Moroccan fashion and particularly in the work of a new generation of Moroccan fashion designers emerging at the turn of the twenty-­ first century who have been using its designs both to criticize the system as well as to shape individual (artistic) identities (see Chapter 3). Finally, the country has been confronted with several waves of political emancipation, with the 20 February Movement in the context of the Arab Spring as probably the most influential in recent years. Although today the Movement has lost most of its influence and it must be concluded that the Arab Spring did not meet its promises, it did uncontestably contribute to more consciousness and the involvement of young Moroccans in national politics and citizenship. As for Moroccan fashion, this is particularly represented by the increasing influence of popular culture and street fashion.

Female emancipation The female emancipation movement in Morocco started in the context of the nationalist movement, for its leaders believed women to be the key to the development of the country. Besides the fact that they represented half of the population that was not actively contributing, they were considered the educators of their future leaders. Therefore, the nationalist movement encouraged the education of Moroccan women. However, it is important to note that they did not aim to emancipate them, but only to educate them in order for them to contribute. It was Mohamed V himself who closely orchestrated their development in order to control the output. He consciously used his eldest daughter, Princess Aïcha, to create an example of a modern educated Moroccan woman, engaged in the renaissance of her country but always subservient to the central power and religion. She was formed by the expert hands of her father as well as the religious leader, fqih Mohammed Belarbi Alaoui, to guarantee her royal and religious

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legitimacy (Nicholas 2005: 49). In April 1947, she accompanied her father to Tangier at the age of sixteen, where she delivered an iconic speech in French, English and Arabic, dressed in a jacket and skirt with no face veil and only a white scarf covering her head. Her status as a member of the royal family, descendant of the Prophet and spokeswomen of the King gave her an undeniable legitimacy. Women, who would imitate her by adopting European fashion and by taking down the face veil, could justify their act with the approval of the King (2005: 48). An increasing participation of women in public life through their schooling and their activities for the nationalist movement, uncontestably had an impact on their dress. When the first girls were sent to school, for example, they had no suitable garments to wear, since the female wrap around garment h.ayk was difficult to wear and seriously limited the movement of the wearer. Therefore young girls were dressed in the male outer garment jellaba, which was much easier and more practical. Over time this resulted in an irreversible shift from the female h.ayk to the formerly exclusively male jellaba as an outer garment for adult women. At first it was worn with the hood over the head and a face veil. In contrast to the h.ayk, which was considered respectable and modest, the jellaba was considered young, modern and fashionable (Décroux 1947: 11 in Nicholas 2005: 70). According to Claire Nicholas (2005: 79), The relationship Moroccan women had with their bodies had changed through their display in public. Contrary to the jellaba, the h.ayk was the materialization of the acknowledgment that women were trespassing into an exclusively male environment and that this presence was only temporary. (. . .) [Also] The jellaba offered more possibilities to express an individual identity through colour, cut and decoration than the h.ayk, which could only differ in quality and the way it was worn. However, after independence, women, and especially women of the lower social classes, were expected to go back to their old (secluded) lives. Many who had participated in the nationalist movement moved to charity since there was no longer room for revolutionary women. The alliance of the feminist movement to the nationalist movement and the monarchy turned out to be a weakness for the feminist cause. To manifest against the state as an independent movement was considered a threat to the central power and therefore women were limited to taking part in actions organized by the state or in the private sphere (Baker 1998: 6–7). Especially under the reign of Hassan II, many of the rights that had been hard won were turned back. In a speech in 1968, he declared that ‘we have respected more the letter than the spirit of Islam and instead of making a spouse or a mother, we have made a woman’ (Daoud 1993: 275). This was a direct reaction to the discourse of his father and his support for female emancipation. It was especially a reaction against the results it had produced, such as the

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lowering of the face veil and even the headscarf and the widespread wearing of European fashion, including the mini skirt. In the past fifty years, Moroccan women have continued to fight for more rights and the women’s lifestyle press, in particular, has been playing an important role in this (see Chapter 4). Although statistics are often unreliable, more women have gained access to education, which has been leading to better jobs. A considerable percentage of Moroccan women today are combining the education of children with paid labour outside the home. Women’s associations, in their turn, are rapidly increasing in numbers and gaining power to contest injustices inflicted on women.

Cultural emancipation Cultural emancipation in Moroccan society, although strongly influenced by Euromodernity, has simultaneously been marked by a formulation of a Moroccan modernity. The nationalist movement, for example, which especially promulgated ideas of Euromodernity, was simultaneously feeling constraint to spread secular and European values associated with the former colonizer. King Mohamed V, who himself received a classic Arabic education and only poorly spoke the major European languages, was clearly influenced by Europe in his ideas on modernity and particularly used his children as influential role models. Wearing European fashion, taking Latin, English and singing classes, riding on horse-­back and swimming, his daughters were frequently pictured as ‘modern’ girls (Daoud 1993: 245). He broke with the total seclusion of the royal female family members by making their lives public, and the media were consciously used and manipulated in the spread of these images of Euromodernity (1993: 245). Under Hassan II, however, who was more conservative in his ideas, a number of reforms introduced by his father were reversed. In order to reinforce his spiritual and thereby his political authority, Hassan II placed more emphasis on his role as Prince of the Faithful (amir l-­muʾminin) and even had the title included in the Constitution in 1961. The way Zakya Daoud (1993: 265) explains it, ‘his political commitment in the 1960s and 1970s was translated by a deliberate mixture of notions of religion and tradition, associated with a moralizing discourse on the duties of civicism’. He introduced laws on prostitution, alcoholic drinks, eating in public during Ramadan, and openly criticizing Islam (1993: 265). According to Claire Nicholas (2005), it was Hassan II who turned the jellaba into an anchor point for Moroccan Muslim tradition and morality. It became valorized in opposition to European fashion, which became representative of immorality and indecency. Associated with piety, the jellaba for women lost its contested pre-­ independence character and became instead a medium for the new political discourse. Through his own example, Hassan II related the garment to specific

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characteristic Moroccan activities and religious ceremonies like going to the bathhouse (h.emmam) or market (suq), during the fasting month of Ramadan, to visit people in mourning, or to go to the mosque. Mohamed VI, in his turn, has been focusing on a Moroccan modernity that is more in harmony with prevailing Moroccan norms and values. As a counter-­ reaction to (too much) European cultural influences and the impact of cultural globalization in general, Moroccan cultural heritage as a means of emphasizing local distinctiveness has undergone a remarkable revaluation, which has uncontestably been contributing to the revival and success of Moroccan fashion (see Chapter  5). Although Mohamed VI wants to assure participation for his country in world progress, he also has to take into consideration a (religious) conservative part of the population that believes Morocco is far too influenced by Europe, resulting in (both religious and cultural) traditionalism. In his propaganda for a Moroccan modernity, Mohamed VI uses his wife especially as an influential role model. Being a talented Moroccan woman with a Moroccan university degree, she is adored by the people because she is considered as ‘one of them’. Right from the beginning, the emphasis in the media has been on the fact that she is from a popular background, an orphan even, raised by her grandmother in a modest apartment in Fez. It is almost as if Mohamed VI has been creating a ‘Moroccan dream’, where ordinary people can accomplish anything through hard work and perseverance. This is rather revolutionary in a country where only the élite, with their French education, has access to socio-­political mobility. Lalla Salma was the first wife of a Moroccan King to feature on the cover of a Moroccan lifestyle magazine in modern Moroccan fashion. Since the couple became a family, all its members have been frequently pictured in popular national lifestyle magazines as representatives of a modern, strong, united family, all wearing modern Moroccan fashion. Mohamed VI’s political message is clearly modernity, but in harmony with Moroccan and Islamic values and traditions. Furthermore, since the turn of the century, cultural emancipation has been particularly dominated by a quest for increasing individual rights. This development is especially concentrated in two popular movements, namely the Alternative Movement for Individual Freedoms (Mouvement Alternatif pour les Libertés Individuelles; MALI) and Morocco Now (DabaMaroc). The first was created in 2009 as a Facebook group to campaign for more individual rights including freedom of conscience, cult, sexual orientation and more generally the division of state and religion. That same year DabaMaroc started as a monthly initiative organizing activities involving music, dance, theatre, blogging, writing and debates around socio-­political topics. Although not formally a movement, the initiative aimed to render young Moroccans more aware, critical and proactive and, therefore, has been gathering like-­minded people. This claim for individual rights has been materializing in Moroccan fashion through the work of a new generation of Moroccan fashion designers (see Chapter 3).

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Political emancipation Finally, Moroccan society has undergone several phases of political emancipation throughout the twentieth/twenty-­first centuries, with the events in the context of the so-­called Arab Spring being the most recent. After initial hopes for more democracy and freedom following the coronation of King Mohamed VI in 1999, there grew a general discontent about the slowness of political and economic reforms and the eradication of corruption in public services. Despite his numerous initiatives to improve conditions, he is still faced with a young population, high unemployment, including among university graduates (chômeurs diplômés), high percentages of illiteracy compared to similar developing countries, and limited freedom of the media. The way Nicolas Pelham (2012) puts it: Morocco’s vital statistics are worse than Tunisia’s. Its population earns half as much on average as its smaller North African counterpart. One of every two youth are unemployed, and the number is rising: failed rains have cut the country’s wheat harvest in half and have compounded a mounting budget deficit hiked by rising fuel prices and a downturn in tourism and exports to Europe, Morocco’s beleaguered main trading partner. Therefore, when a wave of protests and demonstrations hit the region in December 2010, Morocco was not spared. The first demonstrations were held on 20 February 2011, which became the name of the nationwide movement for reforms. The 20 February Movement succeeded in bringing together Moroccans from all political persuasions and was purposely designed as a ‘leaderless’ movement to promote inclusion and prevent it from being co-­opted. It included secularists, atheists, socialists, conservatives and Islamists (Rahman 2011). Although they initially managed to mobilize protestors in some eighty Moroccan cities and towns, many of their initiatives soon melted away. Today it is largely inactive because, the way Marina Ottaway (2012) puts it, youthful activists were not able to sustain the momentum of protest, both because of organizational shortcomings and because many Moroccans were willing to wait and see what the King’s reforms would bring. Morocco has been considered an ‘exception’ because, unlike the majority of political leaders in the region, King Mohamed VI quickly plunged into a process of political reforms in an attempt to avoid total disorder. In a matter of weeks he created a commission to write a new Constitution, which was swiftly approved in a referendum in July 2011 (official numbers indicated 98 per cent in favour) (Alami 2011). By November, new parliamentary elections were held and won by the Islamist Party for Justice and Development (PJD). The King accepted the victory and appointed PJD Secretary General Abdelilah Benkirane as Prime Minister (Ottaway 2012).

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However, many Moroccans have begun to wonder whether the partnership between the still-­powerful King and his politically astute entourage on one side and the PJD with its popular support on the other truly represented a revolutionary reform, or whether it was simply a return to the status quo. Because, in 1991, King Hassan II also allowed the most successful opposition party, the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP), to form a government in a seemingly daring step towards democracy. In reality, the move eliminated the party from the opposition roster without allowing it to exercise real power (Ottaway 2012). In many ways, that is exactly what has been going on in later years. Nicolas Pelham (2012) even believes that Mohamed VI possibly used the Islamists to ‘revive the monarchy’s legitimacy at its weakest hour’. Elaine Combs-Schilling (1989: 8) argues that the Moroccan population will never revolt against the monarchy because it is considered legitimate by both religion and popular consent. The way she puts it, the monarchy lays effective claim to the supreme political position in Islam, the caliphate, established over 1,350 years ago upon the death of Prophet Mohamed. Old, powerful and legitimate, she states that the monarchy is deeply valued. It constitutes the heart of the nation, she says, the symbol of self, the link to Islam and the past. Even the country’s most strident critics, she adds, tend to support it, calling for its reforms, but not its eradication (1989: 8). When it comes to Moroccan fashion, these recent developments are particularly reflected by an increasing challenging by contemporary fashion designers of a hegemonic definition of Moroccanness in favour of an Arabo-Muslim identity represented by garments like the qaftan. Popular culture, rural cultural influences and street styles have become more influential in recent years, representing Morocco’s cultural and social diversity and made visible by influential fashion bloggers (see Chapter 4).

Moroccan fashion and Islam The large majority of the Moroccan population is (Sunni) Muslim, with a small minority of Christians and Jews. According to Islam, a person is Muslim when his or her father is Muslim and since Moroccan law forbids conversion as well as Moroccan Muslim women to marry non-Muslim men, this leaves little room for change. As such, national identity is strongly interconnected with Muslim identity and vice-­versa. However, due to the country’s geographical position at the extreme of the Arab world and its proximity with Europe, Moroccan Islam is considered more hybrid then Islam as practised in the Arab Peninsula. In the course of time it has been mixed with local beliefs and religious practices. Nevertheless, in recent years, Morocco has been increasingly confronted with religious extremism, intolerance and terrorist attacks fed by poverty and a growing

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hopelessness of the poor urban populations. Salafism, in particular, an ideology that claims to practise ‘pure’ Islam, has been structurally gaining popularity. With it came the introduction of so-­called Muslim fashion, which has increased considerably in popularity over the past ten years. This type of fashion, for both men and women, is especially influenced by fashions from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and includes the complete veiling for women, including the face and hands. It is clearly distinct from Moroccan fashion and still represents a strong minority (see Chapter 6). Because Muslim fashion is not considered Moroccan due to its (too) strong influence by Middle East fashion identities, it is deliberately not widely discussed in this volume. Furthermore, rather than the religious dogmas, it is especially the cultural heritage of Islam that plays an important role in Moroccan fashion, such as socio-­ religious ceremonies including weddings and the holy fasting month of Ramadan. These events have become strongly commercialized by the Moroccan fashion industry in the past ten years, since it is the custom for Moroccans to buy new garments for these occasions. The industry has become almost entirely focused on these two festivities, whether it is through an array of fashion events promoting the latest fashion trends, fashion magazines featuring special editions, or boutiques offering promotions in order to stimulate consumption (see Chapter 5).

Moroccan Islam6 Although Islam was introduced into Morocco at the beginning of the eighth century, when Arab migrants settled in the northern parts, it has been considerably influenced over time by other spiritual beliefs practised by local populations and migrants from sub-Sahara Africa. For example, spiritual brotherhoods based on Islamic ideologies, but strongly influenced by the belief in local Saints, have played important roles in Moroccan society (Le Tourneau 1992: 327-8). In this respect, Maraboutism, in which people visit the shrines of local saints to ask for blessing (baraka), continues to be widely practised (Combs-Schilling 1989: 19). However, the nationalist movement tried to ‘purify’ Moroccan Islam based on salafist ideology because they founded their legitimacy and their authority on the Arab and Muslim character of Morocco. They especially used Islam and the Arab identity to distinguish themselves from the French colonial power, to unify their partisans and to align theirselves with the pan-Islamic community. The salafist ideology is based on the principle that the adoption by the Orient of western ideologies automatically leads to the stagnation of the Muslim world as a result of an incorrect interpretation of Islam (Douad 1993: 239). Salafism encourages a utopian return to the ‘sources of Islam’ and the Golden Age of Muslim tradition, and condemns the decadence of ‘wrong traditions’ produced by a general ignorance of Muslim principles (1993: 239). In a way, Islam became

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a means to express a new form of opposition against the French and Koranic schools were tagged as the nationalist movement’s ‘kindergartens’, where teachers were carefully chosen to transmit the nationalist message to their pupils. Mosques became the principal meeting places of the nationalists, for they were out of reach of French authorities. Subsequently, the Moroccan monarchy has been using Islam to legitimate its authority based on its direct descent from the Prophet Mohamed. Since November 2011, for the first time in Moroccan history, the country is governed by an Islamist party, the PJD, and although it has placed economic and legal issues at the core of its political programme, it also adheres to socio-­ religious conservative reforms, such as a reform of the media landscape in favour of Arabic programming and a slowing down of the implementation of the new mudawwana that increases women’s rights. In recent years, Morocco has been increasingly confronted with religious extremism, intolerance and terrorist attacks. According to Intissar Fakir (2009), the radicalism that plagues Morocco is a product of the palace itself. Throughout the 1980s and 1890s, she says, Hassan II embarked on an initiative to Islamize Morocco. Seeking both to solidify his position as Prince of the Faithful and to weaken the secular left-­leaning opposition forces that had grown stronger in the 1960s and 1970s, she adds. Hassan II manifested a relentless effort to remake education and popular culture, infusing school curriculums with radical salafi teachings. The real feeding ground for Islamic fundamentalism today, however, is poverty and desperation, especially in the cities, which in 2003 led to a series of suicide attacks killing forty-­three people and injuring hundreds in downtown Casablanca.7 Four years later, in 2007, a second series of suicide attacks hit the city, although causing less casualties. In April 2011, a radical activist blew up a well-­known tourist café overlooking Jamaa-­el-Fnaa Square in Marrakech, the most popular tourist spot in the old imperial city, killing fifteen people, of which eleven were tourists. Furthermore, the introduction of Muslim fashion in Morocco has considerably increased in recent years. Although it is a fashion today that has gone global, it finds its origins – and therefore is strongly influenced by – in fashion identities from the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam. Worldwide there is a growing trend of both men and women who wish to explicitly emphasize their Muslim identify over their national identity, which they usually consider either not ‘sufficiently Islamic’ or representing a type of Islam practised in their countries that is not ‘the right one’ (Moors and Tarlo 2007: 137). As explained in the introductory chapter of this book, contrary to Moroccan fashion that is used to express cultural identity, including Muslim identity, Muslim fashion is used to express a religious identity rather than a cultural identity.

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Moroccan weddings8 Islam is especially closely interconnected with socio-­cultural life in Morocco, and weddings are by far the most important celebration for which Moroccan fashion is worn. Depending on the social status, circumstances and personal choice of the two families concerned, weddings can last for several days and require a number of outfits for both the groom and bride. In recent years, it has become an increasingly personal choice of two young people to get married, and less marriages are arranged in the urban areas. In general, young people choose to get engaged, le-­mlak, relatively quickly because it is the only way to have some freedom of movement to get to know each other, and it can take several years before the actual wedding takes place. Also, there is a general tendency in the cities to get married relatively late because young people first want to finish their education, start a career and save some money to be able to afford a place of their own, so that they do not have to live with the parents once married. Also, Moroccan weddings take a long time to prepare because, besides deciding on a date, location, wedding planner (neggafa), caterer, band, etc., the bride needs considerable time to prepare the different outfits she is going to wear for the different festivities. She will usually prepare about four to seven outfits and, depending on her budget, she might rent some from the neggafa but at least some will be made by a tailor or fashion designer. The jewellery accompanying these outfits, on the other hand, is almost always rented from the neggafa. Although a wedding now seldom lasts for seven days, a few rituals continue to be performed (or have been re-­introduced), such as the visit to the h.emmam prior to the wedding. It is far less ritualized than it used to be, and it is treated more as an opportunity to get pampered at a luxurious spa-­type h.emmam. The evening before the actual wedding is the evening of the h.enna ceremony, nbita, when the bride’s hands and feet are decorated with patterns of h.enna. This is the occasion for the future bride to show the guests her dowry, which used to include self-­made, hand-­embroidered house linen, but today it is usually professional artisans who make them. The next day is the actual day of the wedding and the bride will spend most of the afternoon at the beauty salon, getting pampered and having her hair and make-­up done. After that, she is taken to the location where the festivities will be held, either in a home or in a luxurious villa or hotel. The neggafa will assist her throughout the night to change outfits. Since the bride used to be taken from her father’s house to the house of her future family-­in-law in a cortege through the streets, she would be carried in a decorated carriage, completely hidden from view by curtains and protected from the dirt in the streets. This tradition has been re-­introduced in some form in recent years and the bride makes her entrance on a decorated carriage, carried by four to eight men, but no longer hidden from view by curtains. The groom, in turn, still generally arrives in a cortege with all his relatives and guests,

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preceded by carriers who carry the gifts offered to the bride, including women’s accessories, textiles and jewellery. In some cases, he may still make his entrance on horse-­back, which has also recently been re-­introduced as a re-­interpretation of old traditions. At some point in the evening, the couple may sign the wedding contract in the presence of male relatives (if this has not already been done at a prior occasion). The bride will change several times into different outfits, while the groom will only change once or twice, according to the outfit of his bride. In between changes, the couple are seated on a wedding throne and guests have the occasion to congratulate them and be photographed with them. Towards the second part of the evening, which can be around three or four o’clock in the morning, the bride usually changes into the traditional fasi wedding dress, and for this occasion the groom will wear Moroccan fashion. Both persons are placed on decorated pallets and carried around the room. This again is a contemporary re-­introduction of a ritual when the bride used to be carried around the courtyard to cast off evil spirits. Since the traditional fasi wedding dress is very heavy and the bride is already fairly tired, this ritual usually does not take long and the bride is changed into her final outfit, in most cases a European white wedding dress, while the groom puts on his final suit. This is where European traditions have clearly been adopted, for the couple usually exchange wedding rings and cut a wedding cake. It is not unusual that the wedding lasts until seven or eight o’clock in the morning, and for breakfast guests are served a characteristic Moroccan soup h.rira and dates. Previously, the couple would spend the wedding night at the parents’ house, in a highly decorated room, but today it is more fashionable to spend the first night in a luxurious hotel, where the couple enjoy more privacy. The next day, the couple will generally have lunch with the parents and some close relatives. Not once, not even in the most remote village to which I was invited, was ‘a proof of the bride’s virginity’ publicly displayed.

Ramadan Another religious celebration in contemporary Moroccan urban society where Moroccan fashion plays a prominent role is the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which is celebrated during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is the fourth pillar of Islam. The month of Ramadan is considered holy because this is the time that the Prophet Mohamed received his first messages from God, and more specifically in the ‘night of the decision’, lailat al-­qadr, which is the night between the twenty-­sixth and twenty-­seventh day of the fasting month. This is the most important night and the majority of Muslims spend this night praying, for all sins are forgiven in this night. In Morocco it is also a general belief that God

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decides this night who will make the holy pilgrimage to Mecca (Buitelaar 1993: 24–5). During Ramadan, Muslims do not eat, drink, smoke or have sexual intercourse between sunrise and sunset. It is a time of spiritual and physical discipline, when people are more conscious of their spirituality and God. The fasting is also a way to show solidarity with the poor, who often do not have enough to eat to quell their hunger. According to Marjo Buitelaar (1993: 12), there are three values that play a central role during Ramadan in Morocco: ʾumaa, .tahaara and ajr. The first one refers to the unification of all Muslims around the world during the holy month of fasting. The second refers to the importance Moroccans attribute to purity: the purification of both the body and the soul is believed to be beneficial for society as such. Finally, fasting does not only accumulate religious merits but it is also the occasion to accomplish other acts that will give you religious merits. Even though this goes against the principle of fasting, which needs to be voluntary, King Hassan II introduced a law in Morocco that prohibits eating in public, and bars and restaurants are closed. People usually work reduced hours and the most important moment of the day is the breaking of the fast, ft.ur. This meal is taken with family and friends and often people wear Moroccan fashion for this occasion. In recent years, under the influence of the Moroccan fashion industry, it has become fashionable to wear informal Moroccan fashion to go to the office as well during Ramadan (see Chapter 6). During the months before Ramadan, there is a large range of fashion events presenting the latest fashion trends, fashion magazines feature special Ramadan editions, and even the supermarkets offer Moroccan fashion for this occasion. The end of Ramadan is a reason for celebration and is called ʿid s.-s.g˙ir or ʿid al-­fi.tr. On the morning of the first day, men assemble early for Morning Prayer. The end of Ramadan is the occasion to donate zakat l-­fi.tr to the poor (Buitelaar 1993: 63-4). On the first day, it is men especially who go to visit family and friends, wearing Moroccan fashion. For this occasion, fathers often take their sons along, who are dressed likewise. The women, who stay at home to receive guests, also generally wear Moroccan fashion. It is on the second day that women go visit their relatives and friends and for this occasion they again wear Moroccan fashion. It is still the custom to wear new clothes for ʿid s.-s.g˙ir and so many people have a new outfit prepared for this occasion.

3 THREE GENERATIONS OF MOROCCAN FASHION DESIGNERS This chapter analyses what I have come to categorize as three generations of Moroccan fashion designers. Although they can be, to a certain extent, differentiated chronologically, they are especially differentiated according to fundamental style changes introduced in Moroccan fashion following significant changes in Moroccan society. As John Flügel (1950 [1930]: 153) explains, very big changes in fashion can only be accepted if at the same time there is a corresponding change in ideal. As such, a first generation of Moroccan fashion designers in the 1960s found itself confronted with the consequences of the French Protectorate, the nationalist movement and a remarkable change in lifestyle. The first fashion designers consisted of women of the Moroccan élite, the schoolgirls of the independence movement who had grown up with new ideals. Some of them had gone to France to finish their education, adopting European ideas and lifestyle. Also, Casablanca, where they had moved with their husbands, represented a more cosmopolitan and free environment than the imperial cities with their high social control. Nevertheless, they inherited the decadence of fasi fashion, consisting of layers of heavy velvet and brocade, which made it substantial and impractical. Cuts were wide and long, combined with large brocade belts, which severely limited women in their movement. Therefore, these ladies no longer considered their vestimentary heritage suitable and re-­invented Moroccan fashion to fit their cosmopolitan and active lifestyle by incorporating European fashion aesthetics and comfort based on notions of freedom. However, it is only with the introduction of fashion schools in Morocco in the mid-1980s, Moroccan fashion magazines in the mid-1990s, and European fashion brands on a large scale at the turn of the twenty-­first century that fashion was democratized in Morocco (see Chapters  4 and 5). This democratization process was crucial for the rise of a second generation of Moroccan fashion designers, which no longer consisted of members of the Moroccan élite and

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received a formal training in fashion design in Morocco. This generation owes its success to a large extent to the Moroccan fashion magazines and their widely mediatized fashion events. The fact that they featured in glamorous fashion spreads and broadcast on national television not only elevated them to ‘star status’, but also enabled them to reach a much larger audience. Also, this second generation of designers benefited from a re-­evaluation of Moroccan cultural heritage and a general longing for a Moroccan modernity materialized through modern Moroccan fashion. A third generation of Moroccan fashion designers, which started to develop at the turn of the twenty-­first century, finds itself analysing its cultural heritage against a global background and re-­inventing Moroccan fashion far from folkloric stereotypes. For the turn of the century has not only been met by a growing impact of globalization on Moroccan society, but also by important local developments such as increasing urbanization, growing religious extremism, and mounting social segregation. This new generation uses fashion to challenge essentialist notions of Moroccanness by re-­inventing and conceptualizing Moroccan cultural heritage in their own personal styles.

The power of the 1960s The first generation of Moroccan fashion designers consisted of women of the Moroccan élite with no formal training in fashion design. They merely had the advantage of growing up with the luxury of high-­quality craftsmanship and learned to sow and embroider at a young age, since this was considered an important part of their privileged education.1 They were ‘products’ of the nationalist movement in that they had gone to school, wore European fashion, enjoyed a Euromodern education and had moved to Casablanca with their husbands where they were introduced to a cosmopolitan and active lifestyle. But for socio-­religious occasions, they had inherited a Moroccan fashion that consisted of multiple layers of heavy fabrics, which made it substantial and uncomfortable. Cuts were wide and long, combined with large belts, which severely limited women in their movement. They therefore no longer considered Moroccan fashion suitable and, in a way, they did for Moroccan women’s fashion what Coco Chanel did for European women’s fashion; they ‘liberated’ women by making comfortable and elegant garments with a modern look, suitable for an active lifestyle. Although they initially designed for an international clientèle whereby their designs were extremely avant-­garde for Moroccan women, their international success uncontestably contributed to a national success. They revolutionized Moroccan fashion by introducing light and fluid (European haute couture) fabrics, by reducing the amount of layers and by reducing the width of the garments. Through shopping in Europe, they had become familiar with

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European haute couture, which uncontestably influenced their re-­invention of Moroccan fashion. What defined them as designers was that they proposed their own creations in luxurious boutiques – as opposed to ordering from anonymous tailors (see Chapter 5) – and signed their designs with their brand name. Through their extensive networks, they were able to present their collections abroad, where they met a remarkable success due to the hippie movement. Being turbulent political and cultural times, a fascination for ethnic fashion in 1960s North America and Europe reflected a reaction to the establishment and a way to question mainstream fashion (English 2007: 155). Photographs from this period testify to international movie stars, musicians, fashion icons and even royalty wearing Moroccan fashion, like the mythic musician Jim Morrison, lead singer of the music group The Doors, the Dutch princess Beatrix, later to become the queen of the Netherlands, and the French fashion icon Catherine Deneuve. This international success uncontestably contributed to the national success of this first generation of Moroccan fashion designers, giving them the credibility to revolutionize Moroccan fashion. According to the Moroccan fashion designer Zhor Sebti, it was the first time that Moroccan women felt the possibility to express their modern identity through Moroccan fashion.2 Very little was documented of this first generation of Moroccan fashion designers and only little is left of their heritage. That is why, while the pioneers have already passed away, it may be that others will remain unknown forever. The four designers described below are the only ones we know of so far.

Zina Guessous Born in Rabat in 1925 as Zineb Salah Rachid, Zina Guessous had an avant-­ garde upbringing for her time. Because her mother Lalla Kenza, who was a member of the royal family, frequently accompanied her husband abroad, she was among the first Moroccan élite women to adopt European fashion and to appear in public without a face veil.3 Also, her father, who was a close friend of Sultan Mohamed V, supported the nationalist movement and gave his daughters a Euromodern education. Therefore, Zina was a perfect example of the new Moroccan woman who spoke fluently in French, Arabic, Spanish and English and excelled in arts and sports. After graduation, she worked as a librarian at the American Library in Tangier for a few years until she got married to Hassan Guessous, a businessman from Fez, in 1956 (Boushaba and Joundy 2000: 93). The couple settled down in Casablanca, where again Zina took up a job as a librarian at the American Centre until 1960, when her only daughter Karima (Kouki) was born. She stopped working for a few years to take care of her child, but in 1964 she eventually opened a small boutique named Kenz in the prestigious Hotel Royal Mansour in downtown Casablanca (2000: 93).

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Here she offered modern Moroccan fashion and jewellery, which she initially designed for the fashionable international clientèle of the Hotel, but in no time became popular among the Moroccan jet-­set of Casablanca. She modernized the qeft.an and the jellaba by redefining their shapes and decorations. What made her so successful was that she managed to combine elegance and comfort, which was new for Moroccan fashion at the time. Her trademarks became the mini qef-tan and the gendura for women – a garment that was until then only worn by men – turning it into a comfortable and elegant outfit. Although she never received a formal training in fashion design and did not have her own atelier, she commissioned Moroccan seamstresses and craftsmen to produce her designs.3 In 1965 she became acquainted with the Fashion editor of American Vogue, Diana Vreeland, whose son was a diplomat at that time in Morocco. Diana encouraged her to show her work in the United States and in 1966 the New York department store Lord and Taylor organized a fashion show around the theme of the Mediterranean, and Zina was invited to present her collection next to the Italian designer Emilio Pucci (Boushaba and Joundy 2000: 93). At the after-­party, she met the Moroccan ambassador in Washington who in 1968 invited her to organize a fashion show during a luxurious gala-­dinner where she met influential politicians and celebrities. The event was covered by the Washington Post and American Vogue published pictures of the show.3 The list of international (fashion) icons Zina would come to dress during her career included Lady Sukarno, the Empress Farah Diba and Princess Beatrice (Boushaba and Joundy 2000: 94). Her international success incontestably contributed to her success in Morocco, where she opened two more boutiques, one in the Hotel Tour Hassan in Rabat and one in the famous Hotel Mamounia in Marrakech, which remained until the 1980s. Zina Guessous passed away in 1998.

Naima Bennis Naima Bennis was born in 1940 in Casablanca as the last of seven children of a trading family from Fez. Her father was a textile merchant who had moved to Casablanca at a young age and who was widely travelled due to his trade. As part of her privileged education, Naima learned to sew and embroider as a child but, unlike her four elder sisters who enjoyed a more traditional upbringing and lived secluded lives, she had a strong personality and managed to persuade her father to allow her to go to school. She attended the Lycée des Jeunes Filles in Casablanca, which was run by French Catholic nuns. This is where, besides reading and writing, she learned how to confection clothes and for the rest of her life she would make her own dresses as well as those of her sisters.4

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In 1958 she got married and the couple moved to Rabat. In the true spirit of the nationalist movement, she was determined to be (financially) independent and she started working for the Exchange Office (Office d’Échange) in Rabat. In 1961, her first daughter Sofia was born, while Mouna followed in 1963 and Layla in 1970. It is in 1966 that she got the opportunity to open a small boutique in the newly opened Hilton Hotel in Rabat. Here she started creating her own designs of modern Moroccan fashion, including qfat.en, jlaleb and gendurat. She had her own atelier behind the boutique where she did all of her own cutting while she employed a number of craftsmen and seamstresses to carry out the sewing and decoration techniques.4 Initially, she too targeted the international clientèle of the Hotel as well as foreign diplomats stationed in Rabat. This is how she became close friends with the Egyptian diva Oum Kalthoum, who was invited by Hassan II to perform in Rabat and stayed at the hotel. Her designs testified to a remarkable balance between innovation and tradition. For example, she would take antique passementerie decorations from old qef-tan and apply them to new garments. Also, besides French haute couture fabrics, she would use characteristic Moroccan materials such as the fine woollen weave bziwi used in male outer garments and apply it to create elegant female garments. She also became renowned for her designing of capes as an elegant outer garment for women to be worn over the qaftan instead of the jellaba. Thanks to her growing success, she opened three more shops in the same Hilton Hotel selling garments, jewellery, crafts and perfume. According to her daughters, at some point she had up to ten employees and she even exported her designs to North America and Europe. She was also invited on several occasions to show her collections abroad, including Tunisia and the Arabian Peninsula. Because of her international success, she consequently gathered a national clientèle from Rabat and Casablanca. Eventually, circumstances made her close all four boutiques at the Hilton Hotel in 1987 and Naima Bennis passed away in 2008 in Casablanca.4

Zhor Sebti Zhor Sebti was born in the old mdina of Fez in 1928 as the daughter of a well-­ established élite family. Her father was a successful fabric merchant who conducted business as far away as Japan. When she was eight, the family moved to the French ville nouvelle and she was allowed to attend the French school, which was exceptional because it was mixed and she was the first Moroccan girl to attend.5 When she left primary school, however, family pressure was too high and she was not allowed to enter secondary school. She got married at age fifteen, moved to Casablanca with her husband and had her first

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child a year later. Like the majority of the women of her status, she became politically and socially active in support of the nationalist movement. She created a school for girls in 1953 in order to stimulate the education of young girls and, besides reading and writing, she insisted on teaching them embroidery, which would allow them to support themselves later on. At around the same time, a French lady named Madame Achille opened Maison Joste in Casablanca, which held the exclusive rights for Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent. Janine Halary, who had studied fashion design at the French Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris, was working for Christian Dior at the time and was sent to Casablanca to work in the atelier. A few years later she met her husband and decided to stay in Morocco and to open up her own atelier. The two women met and it was circumstances that caused them to associate and start Maison Fadéla in 1967. On the one hand, Zhor Sebti’s husband had died, leaving her with four small children and she was determined to work and support herself. On the other hand, Janine Halary lost most of her Jewish seamstresses overnight due to the exodus to Israel. With Janine’s talent in design and Zhor’s knowledge of Moroccan handicraft, they worked together for twelve years and ran an atelier with thirty seamstresses and ten tailors that produced about thirty exclusively hand-­made pieces each month.5 Their designs were made of luxurious, fluid and elegant French haute couture fabrics, decorated with high-­quality Moroccan embroidery, and they became renowned for their elegant bead-­decorations. Although they initially designed for the European market, they instantly became successful in Morocco. According to Zhor Sebti, ‘as soon as my sisters and cousins saw our designs, they wanted to wear them too and soon the news spread all over Casablanca’.5 Their success among Moroccan women was due to the fact that they offered well-­designed and modern Moroccan fashion, which could be worn for a wide range of occasions. According to Zhor, ‘women who had never worn a jellaba before, considering them unfashionable, would come and order one at our boutique’.5 Zhor Sebti, who in the meantime had remarried with a high-­ranked Moroccan Colonel, generated an international network and was invited to participate in fashion shows in Tunis, Jeddah, London, Teheran and Washington. Influential public figures, including the Empress of Iran and the First Ladies Kennedy and Reagan, became their clients, which contributed to their success in Morocco. After eighteen years of success, Zhor Sebti left the boutique to her daughter-­inlaw – who changed the brand name to Félina – and retired. But she continues to be involved in her girls’ schools in Casablanca and Marrakech.

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Tamy Tazi Born Tamy Mezzian, Tamy Tazi grew up in the northern territories of Morocco where her father was a Governor at the time. Another example of the nationalist movement, she received a Euromodern education speaking fluent Arabic, Spanish, French and English and practised theatre, painting and horse-­back riding. After graduation she went to Spain to study philosophy and literature at the University of Granada. Once back in Morocco, she married a young engineer from Fez, Jalil Tazi, and the couple settled in Casablanca, where she became the president of the Club Etrier (Stirrup Club) (Clarke 1965, 118). Although Tamy never had a particular ambition to become a fashion designer, it was circumstances that led her to it. While she had no formal training in fashion design, she learned to sew and embroider as a child like any young girl of her social background. She would enjoy designing clothes for herself and her sisters and people would respond positively to her personal style and remarkable good taste. In particular, her foreign friends from Marbella, where the family had a summer residence, kept asking her to create garments for them. In 1965, American Vogue published an article on her by Henry Clarke, which only added to Tamy’s notoriety as a fashion icon. An important reason why she was so reluctant to go into fashion was that ‘at that time it was not very well accepted to become a seamstress. Girls of respectable families either became doctors, pharmacists or artists’.6 The concept of fashion designer was not yet well-­known in Morocco, and it was not until the 1990s, with the success of the Moroccan lifestyle press, that this would change (see Chapter 4). However, by 1975 she had so many orders from friends and family, that she hired a small villa behind her house in Casablanca, where she designed and produced on a small scale with the help of her Spanish seamstress. A few years later, when Madame Achille was ready to retire, Tamy Tazi took over Maison Joste as well as the rights to represent Dior and Yves Saint Laurent in Morocco. This enabled her to become better acquainted with the world of French haute couture (as an insider rather than as a consumer) and to become a professional fashion designer. It was also around this time that she developed a close friendship with Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge, which would come to influence her work considerably.6 At first she would design prêt-­a-porter, mixing European and Moroccan fashion in comfortable materials like jersey, but soon her passion for classic Moroccan garments took the upper hand. Already as a young girl she was fascinated by the beautiful embroideries decorating the houses in the northern territories and later she started collecting them. Originally executed on household linen, she experimented with ways to rework their composition and motifs and introduced them into her designs. Soon these embroideries became characteristic for her designs, especially the distinct needle lace patterns (šebka)

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that she would design in harmony with the patterns of the fabric. Because of her many travels, she also incorporated fabrics and decoration techniques from other regions, such as Ottoman embroidery, Japanese silk and Indian saris. Just like her peers, Tamy Tazi initially designed for a foreign clientèle, organizing and participating in shows abroad and assembling celebrity clients and fashion icons from all over the world. But she too became successful in Morocco and today she is the longest working Moroccan fashion designer with a career that spans almost forty years. Although she formally retired in 2013, she still has some clients who have ordered a qaftan, which can take up to six months to produce.6

Generation Caftan The Morocco of the 1990s, in which a second generation of Moroccan fashion designers emerged, was considerably different from that of the 1960s and 1970s of the first generation. Due to significant economic, political and cultural developments from the mid-1980s onwards, Moroccan fashion underwent the processes of professionalization, industrialization and commodification, rendering it more accessible to a larger public. First, due to the establishment of fashion schools in Morocco in the mid1980s, a new generation of Moroccan fashion designers not only received a formal training in fashion design, but also the profession became accessible to a larger public since it no longer required studying abroad. However, because these schools were established to train people for the Moroccan confection industry based on subcontracting for the European market, students were initially exclusively trained in European fashion design (see Chapter  5). As a result, these designers seriously altered the look of Moroccan fashion by incorporating European fashion components like pants, skirts, corsets and revealing necklines while simultaneously, due to a general longing for a Moroccan modernity, (re-)introducing so-­called traditional Moroccan materials, patterns and decoration techniques. They increasingly mixed their know-­how of European fashion design with the production and decoration techniques carried out by Moroccan craftsmen. Second, due to the success of Moroccan lifestyle magazines in the mid1990s as well as fashion events like Caftan (see Chapter 4), Moroccan fashion was democratized and fashion designers were turned into national celebrities. The fact that their collections were featuring in national magazines and on television, not only allowed them to reach a much larger audience than the first generation, but also contributed to the ‘glitter and glamour’ surrounding the profession. Also, by taking Moroccan fashion out of its original contexts of social

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and religious ceremonies and putting it on magazine covers and catwalks – the icons of the fashion industry – the Moroccan lifestyle press contributed to an important image change for Moroccan fashion. Third, with the increasing liberalization of the Moroccan market by the end of the twentieth century and a steadily growing economy, Morocco started to attract foreign fashion brands in the form of franchises (see Chapter 5). Although it is estimated that only 10 per cent of the Moroccan population can afford to buy products offered by foreign fashion brands (Vallée 2006: 33), their introduction on the Moroccan market has had a significant impact on consumption patterns. Not only is European fashion no longer exclusively assessable to the higher social classes by shopping abroad, but also, under the influence of European fashion brands, Moroccan fashion has become commoditized with a shift from consumption based on demand to consumption based on offer (see Chapter 5). Contrary to the first generation, this second generation of Moroccan fashion designers has risen to an explosive amount in the past decade. But due to a lack of space I have to limit myself to a brief description of only four as a means of example. It goes without saying, however, that there are many more significant and influential designers who are part of this second generation.

Zineb Joundy Although Zineb Joundy is still a member of a well-established Moroccan elite family from Fez, she was born in the late sixties and her style coheres more with the second generation of Moroccan fashion designers in that she combines her formal training in European fashion design with Moroccan decoration and production techniques. Born and raised in Casablanca, she grew up with uncles and a grandmother who were writers, architects and painters and always felt attracted by Moroccan art, architecture and handicrafts. After graduating from a French School in Casablanca, she went to Paris to study French fashion design at the Chambre Syndicale de la haute couture and got to work in the studio with Karl Lagerfeld and in the haute couture atelier of Lanvin.7 In 1989, however, she left Paris to establish her own label in Casablanca, even though it was difficult to find people who were qualified to make haute couture in Morocco. It took her two years to train her team and to create her first collection, which she presented in March 1992 in a luxurious hotel in Casablanca in the presence of the Italian designer Francesco Smalto. For the show, she had to fly in a friend from New York to select and train the models, for there were no model agencies in Morocco.7 Due to her background in French haute couture, she initially designed European fashion, but being back in Casablanca, she started redefining her design identity by incorporating Moroccan handicrafts and

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decoration techniques into her work. Although the first qfatn she designed were for herself to be worn during socio-cultural events, one of her designs was selected for the cover of the first issue of the Moroccan fashion magazine Femmes du Maroc in November 1996. The next year she was asked by the same magazine to participate in the first edition of what would become Morocco’s most influential fashion event Caftan (see chapter 4). From that moment, Zineb Joundy started designing collections based on local garments and was frequently invited to represent Morocco all over the world, including New York, Paris and London. In 1998, she presented her collection at the first Festival International de la Mode Africaine (FIMA) in Tiguidit, organized by the Nigerian fashion designer Alphadi. That same year she was nominated Moroccan fashion ambassador and as such, she was in charge of the fashion event Temps du Maroc in 1999 at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, where she presented her work together with other Moroccan designers like Tamy Tazi and Karim Tassi in the presence of influential French fashion designers including Yves Saint Laurent, Jean Paul Gaultier and Jean Louis Scherrer. The collection she presented for this event featured juxtapositions of open qfatn over closed ones, which set a trend back home. In 2001, she participated for the third time to the Moroccan fashion event Caftan as well as to the Souq Ukkaz in Aman, Jordan. Since then, she has been presenting her work at numerous occasions as well as putting her collections at the disposal of several charities, like the Ethiopian Children’s Fund (Bruballa 1999), the World Bank and the Bahrain Cancer Society.7 Today, Zineb has taken a certain distance from the national fashion industry and their mass mediatized fashion events. Although she still designs modern Moroccan fashion collections, she prefers to present them in selective circles. Her work has become strongly influenced by her passion for Ottoman and Mughal cultural heritage and craftsmanship and has become characterized by Moroccan decoration patterns but executed in fine sequence work on muslin fabric executed by Indian craftsmen. Therefore, she has come to spend much of her time in India.

Karim Tassi The Moroccan fashion designer Karim Tassi was born in 1966 in Casablanca, where he studied fashion at the ISM (Institut de Stylisme et Modelisme) before leaving for France in 1989 to complete his training at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture in Paris. After graduation he stayed in Paris as a freelance designer for the confection industry, while simultaneously designing unique pieces for a selective private clientèle. In 1994, he was given the opportunity to create a fashion department at the University of Quito in Ecuador, which took him to South America for a few years.8

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It was in 1999, during the Morocco year in Paris, that he presented his first collection at the Institut du Monde Arabe under his own name Karim Tassi, which consisted of European fashion with some Moroccan details. That is why in 2004 he opened an atelier in Marrakech for the manufacture of Moroccan hand-­work, while keeping his atelier in Paris. It was also in 2004 that he presented his work for the first time in Morocco on the occasion of the fashion event Caftan in Marrakech. The collection consisted of designs based on a black jersey dress with Moroccan decorations and symbols such as the hand of Fatima. Furthermore, in April 2006, Karim Tassi was invited to participate in a fashion show at the Jardin d’Acclimatation in Paris to celebrate fifty years of Moroccan Independence. That same year, he also participated in the special edition Caftan du Maroc au Carrousel du Louvre in Paris with a collection based on a circle called Kamar, meaning the moon, and produced in grey muslin. This approach to creating an entire collection on a single shape, he explains, is strongly influenced by European fashion design and he believes this may be the reason why he was refused for the tenth edition of Caftan in Marrakech (while invited for the special edition in Paris).8 In 2007 he was part of the Moroccan delegation to represent Morocco at Maison et Objets in Paris, and in 2008 he was invited to present his work for the national fashion event Mode Made in Morocco. Karim Tassi moved back to Morocco in 2009 where he has participated in a number of national fashion events, including the Casablanca Fashion Week in 2011. With his experience gained in Paris, he explains, he is determined to commercialize and export his collections all over the world.8 Besides his haute couture line, he has been designing prêt-­a-porter in which he incorporates Moroccan hand-­work, a jeans line, a furniture line and a line of accessories including jewellery. As he formulates it, his style is a mixture of European cuts and characteristic Moroccan decoration techniques. He describes his work as ‘a bridge between the West and the East’, whereby Morocco represents an unlimited source of inspiration while Paris keeps him informed on the latest fashion trends.8

Albert Oiknine Born in 1970, the Jewish-Moroccan fashion designer Albert Oiknine discovered the world of fashion in the atelier of his mother who was a seamstress. After high school, it was clear that he wanted to design fashion and he started studying at the Moroccan department of ESMOD in Casablanca. When the Canadian College Lasalle opened a franchise in Casablanca a few years later, he also attended classes there because according to him, ‘the first one was more focused on the creative process and the second one on technique, so I figured it would be good to have both’.9 In 1991, he graduated and started working for a

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denim company, but since it did not allow him sufficiently to express his creativity, he began organizing and decorating weddings. Through these activities he managed to obtain some private clients for whom he designed evening gowns. In 1992, he began to work in his mother’s atelier Chaba Couture, and between 1994 and 1999 he designed costumes for film and theatre. The way he explains it, he had a preference for designing European fashion over Moroccan fashion because he did not want to be dependent on Moroccan craftsmen for the production and decoration techniques required for Moroccan fashion.9 At the same time, he was aware of the impact the Moroccan fashion magazines and their widely mediatized fashion events had on a large audience and, therefore, in 2000 he decided to design his first Moroccan fashion collection in order to be able to participate in the fifth edition of the annual fashion event Caftan. ‘Although it was a large investment to make a collection, it was paid back in publicity. (. . .) The collection itself [however] was hard to sell for it was designed for the catwalk.’9 Drawing from his training and experience in European fashion design, he incorporated European cuts into his qfat.en. The following year he was already considered an established designer by the organizers of Caftan, which contributed to his fame and success. In February 2006, he had the opportunity to present his collection in Milan during Maroc Excellence, held on the same day as the opening of the Milano Fashion Week, and in April of that same year he participated in Tendance Caftan at the Jardin d’Acclimatation in Paris as part of a larger cultural event featuring Moroccan handicraft. One month later he participated in the tenth anniversary of Caftan in Marrakech, and in October his collection appeared in the special edition of Caftan du Maroc au Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. Albert Oiknine does not explicitly consider himself as a fashion designer, but rather as a tailor. ‘I am here to dress and satisfy my clients. The collections I design for fashion events like Caftan are more an investment and good publicity.’9 His collections are ‘wearable’ and can be considered classic compared to some of his peers. He believes that change is good, but that the qfet.an should keep its characteristic features, even though it is hard to say what these are exactly. He likes to make women dream and therefore likes to make them feel like princesses, he explains. His designer signature is his characteristic beaded corset in combination with wide skirts, richly decorated with lace, beads and spangles. His clients include both Moroccans and foreigners and his creations are sold at the famous Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré in Paris.9

Simohamed Lakhdar Although aged only 31, Simohamed Lakhdar (born 1974) was considered the most talented Moroccan fashion designer when he was awarded Best Designer

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during the tenth edition of Caftan in 2006. After studying geology for a year at university in his hometown of Fez to please his parents, Simohamed dropped out and persuaded his parents to let him go to Casablanca and study fashion at ESMOD. At first, he explains, they did not agree because they argued it was not a ‘real’ profession and that only women could be couturieres (this is before the media glamorized the profession) (Dulat 2005, 2). After graduating in 1996, Simohamed Lakhdar started working for a prêt-­aporter company, but in 2002 he managed to gather the funding necessary to prepare his first collection and he was selected as a Young Talent to participate in Caftan. His first collection was inspired by the characteristic zellig from Fez and it was an instant success. The next year, therefore, he was invited to return as an established designer and this time he presented a collection inspired by the Moroccan brocade of Fez. This type of weaving was on its way to disappearing but, by reworking old motifs and creating new ones, Simohamed Lakhdar gave new vitality to this old craft, which had been reduced to the production of the fasi bridal attire. The following year he claimed the rural cultural heritage of Morocco . as his source of inspiration, introducing ʾamazig figures and motifs into his creations. In 2005, he re-­invented his own style by turning to black Africa for inspiration, switching from ancient Fez brocade to leopard skin and Maasai beadwork. That same year he launched his prêt-­a-porter collection, which included hand-­embroidered jeans-­pants and decorated tunics. However, for several reasons it did not work out and he had to close the showroom again (Chaffangeon 2005). In February 2006, he was invited to present his collection in Milan as part of the Maroc Excellence project, which was launched to promote the image of the country through its icons of excellence. Together with his colleagues Albert Oiknine and Karim Tassi, he presented his work at a fashion event in the Jardin d’Acclimatation in April 2006 in Paris.10 In May of that same year, he was invited to participate for the fifth time in Caftan, which was already at its tenth edition and this time his collection was inspired by his gothic period in high school (Maroc Fashion 2006). In October 2006 he also participated in the special edition Caftan du Maroc au Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. Five years after his first participation in Caftan as a young talent, Simohamed Lakhdar (in Berniahi 2006) said, Caftan allowed me to show my savoir-­faire to a large public. I owe many things to this event. It is a beautiful occasion to put myself out there and to express my creativity. For me, it stays an annual challenge which I must take up. The strength of Simohamed Lakhdar as a designer is on the one hand the diversity of his collections, and on the other hand his loyalty to his particular personal style based on an ‘acceptable balance’ of characteristic Moroccan decoration techniques and contemporary European fashion trends.

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The misfits of the Moroccan fashion industry At the turn of the twenty-­first century, a third generation of Moroccan fashion designers started to develop, of which the pioneers can be considered the misfits of the second generation. Although they cannot be explicitly differentiated based on chronology, social class or training, they can be clearly differentiated based on a radical style change. The best way to define them is to consider them in the context of a larger artistic movement that started around the turn of the twenty-­ first century across disciplines (music, dance, cinema, theatre, applied arts). Referred to as nayda, meaning ‘to move’ in Moroccan Arabic as a reference to the Spanish movida, this artistic movement is still relatively new and largely unorganized (Amar 2012). Also contemporary artists rarely auto-­identify with the movement, but they all have certain characteristics in common. First, unlike previous generations, this new generation of Moroccan artists did not consciously live under severe political censorship and seizes a growing freedom – although not absolute – to express critical ideas through their art. Second, these artists are part of a generation that is increasingly confronted with the consequences of both local developments, like increasing urbanization, growing religious extremism and mounting social segregation, and the effects of globalization on Moroccan society. Third, this is a generation that clearly wants to break with self-Orientalism in Moroccan art. Moroccan artists, like many non-European artists, have felt the pressure to explicitly incorporate elements of their cultural heritage such as tapestry, mosaic (zellij), woodcarving, tattooing, embroidery, etc. into their work to justify its ‘Moroccanness’ and to meet exotic expectations, particularly of a western audience. Self-Orientalism, as Martijn Huisman (2011: 25) formulates it, is the practice of adopting and absorbing a western hegemony to turn oneself into the Other. Koichi Iwabuchi (1994: 14) explains that ‘while Orientalism enjoys the mysterious exoticism of the Other, self-Orientalism exploits the Orientalist gaze to turn itself into an Other’. In this perspective, he adds, the Orient is not a defenceless and innocent victim of western Orientalism but actively uses the ‘Orientalist gaze’ to create, maintain and strengthen its own national cultural identity by performing self-Orientalism (1994: 14). But while self-Orientalism is clearly a successful marketing tool for the second generation of Moroccan fashion designers, both nationally and internationally (see Chapter 5), this third generation rather opts for an artistic freedom to question, criticize, define and conceptualize Moroccanness (based on Moroccan cultural heritage) in a personal way. The main result, so far, is that they are frequently accused by the Moroccan public of ‘not being Moroccan’. This third generation of fashion designers has found its audience through a new fashion event created in 2006 called FestiMode Casablanca Fashion Week (FCFW) (see Chapter 4). This event turned out to be a welcome alternative

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to the fashion event Caftan, which due to its success involuntarily monopolized the Moroccan fashion scene, forcing young designers to limit themselves to the design of this characteristic garment in order to get exposure (see Chapter 4). Again, although this generation includes many more designers, due to a lack of space I have limited myself to a brief description of four designers to represent this generation.

Noureddine Amir Although chronologically belonging to the second generation of Moroccan fashion designers, Noureddine Amir clearly distinguished himself right from the beginning with collections that differed significantly from his peers. Born in Rabat as the son of a middle-­class family, there was no particular reason why Noureddine Amir would become a fashion designer. After the lycée, he began studying at the ISM, the only fashion institute in Casablanca at that time and as soon as the French school ESMOD opened a franchise in Casablanca, he continued his training there.11 After graduation in 1996, he started working for the film and theatre industry and made his début with the Iranian film director Shirin Neshat. Together they won several prizes and Noureddine Amir followed her to New York, where he designed the costumes for several plays. The artistic experience during this period had a profound impact on the rest of his career, he explains, because this period enabled him to distance himself from everything he had known before – his cultural baggage – and to redefine it. However, he felt too alienated and after only a few months he returned to Morocco to settle down in Marrakech, a city he considered to be closer to his artistic inspirations than Rabat.12 The way he formulates it, The Northern cities are too representative of the Moroccan kitsch from my childhood, like the overwhelming decorations of Moroccan mosaic, woodwork, plasterwork, the heaviness of Moroccan living rooms, embroideries, etc. In Marrakech I felt closer to my sources of inspiration, with its simple beauty of argil and tadelaqt in earthy colours.12 In 2000, he designed his first collection and two years later he felt ready to face a large audience by participating in the fashion event Caftan as a new talent. His collection was made of two ‘indigenous’ Moroccan but unusual materials for feminine Moroccan fashion, namely bziwi, which is a fine hand-­woven woollen fabric produced in the small High Atlas village of Bzou and used for the fine male jellaba and selham, and felt, which is used in northern Morocco to produce the characteristic red male headdress t.erbuš. Although both materials are commonly

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used in Moroccan male fashion, he gave them an innovative look and meaning, dying them with h.enna, as practised in the rural areas of Morocco. He also incorporated henna tattooing into his creations, but re-­interpreting it and introducing his own motifs. A year later, he participated again in Caftan, but this time as an established designer and once more his collection was unique through his ‘unusual’ choice of materials like raffia, sabra (vegetable silk) and wool, which he reworked in his own personal style and gave them new meanings. His collection stood out for its ‘beauty of simplicity’, featuring earthy colours and rough materials, against the bright and richly coloured silky qfat.en of the other participants. Noureddine Amir explains his collections as personal reflections of what is going on in Moroccan society in particular and in the Muslim world in general. His 2006 collection, for example, was his vision of the increasing threat of religious extremism, the suffering of Muslim women and the uncertainties of Morocco’s future as a tolerant Muslim country.12 The entire collection was in black and in strong contrast to the bright vivid colours of the other collections. Rather than a fashion designer, Noureddine Amir considers himself an artist who uses dress as a medium to express himself. ‘I do not wish to make wearable clothing and do not follow any fashion trends. I just follow my inner need to express myself, not even sure if dress is the right medium for me to do so.’13 He does not claim to make traditional Moroccan fashion – that is, suitable for social and religious events – and believes that ‘these ancient garments should keep their ancestral characteristics’. But he is Moroccan, he says, and draws his inspiration both from the world around him and from his cultural heritage. This is the main reason why, he says, he would not consider living abroad.12 His creations have been presented in several museums, such as the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lille, the Fashion Museum in Antwerp and the World Museum in Rotterdam.

Amina Agueznay Amina Agueznay was born in Casablanca in 1963 as the daughter of a famous Moroccan painter, Malika Agueznay, and studied architecture in the United States, where she lived and worked for fifteen years. She explains that it was during this time that she started experimenting with jewellery; first purely as a hobby and later as a more serious artistic expression. But it is only after her return to Morocco in 1997 that she decided to fully invest in this medium of design and two years later, during the Morocco year in Paris, she presented her first collection for which she . deconstructed and re-­invented old pieces of ʾamazig jewellery. For her second collection the following year she made use of Moroccan hand-­made couched plaited cord buttons ʿaqad of the qeft.an and again gave them a new meaning, which became an instant fashion and is still being copied today.14

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In 2003, she designed a collection that was inspired by nature, introducing unorthodox materials for Moroccan jewellery such as rose petals, pieces of wood and cinnamon sticks. This was the first collection she presented in Morocco during the annual fashion event Caftan together with the work of Noureddine Amir, with whom she has a close artistic relationship as well as a friendship. The next year, she was invited by the Museum of Fine Arts in Lille (France) to present her collection during a fashion show and exhibition together with Noureddine Amir. In 2005, she presented a collection of installations for the first time as part of the exhibition Art & Design in the World Museum in Rotterdam (The Netherlands). A year later, for the tenth anniversary of the fashion event Caftan, she developed a collection entirely made of paper, which reminded her of her time as an architect in the United States. In 2007, she participated in the second edition of the fashion event FestiMode Casablanca Fashion Week with her first solo-­collection, featuring ‘installations coming to life on the runway’. That same year she was invited by the prestigious French expo Maison et Objets to present her work together with five other Moroccan designers. She too uses her art to express her opinions on contemporary Moroccan society, like her 2012 collection, which was entirely made of burned plastic bags to contest their pollution of the Moroccan landscape.14 Just like Noureddine, due to her innovative/unusual choices of materials and shapes for Moroccan jewellery, she is regularly misunderstood by the Moroccan fashion media and ‘accused’ of not being Moroccan. But the way Amina sees it, the fact that she was born and raised in Morocco makes her who she is today. Since she considers her creations to be very personal, they are Moroccan. But, she argues, why would she need to incorporate signs or symbols into her work to justify their Moroccan identity? I could say for example that the red stones remind me of Marrakech and the white ones of Casablanca. But even if so, it is an unconscious process and should not be used to justify the Moroccanness of my work.14

Salima Abdel Wahab Salima Abdel Wahab was born in Tangier with a mixture of Spanish, German and Moroccan origins. After high school, she studied fashion in Malaga (Spain) for four years, where she was trained in design, make-­up, choreography and modelling. Back in Morocco, she created her own atelier and in 2005 she opened her first shop in downtown Tangier called Excentrica. With a distinguished personal style, inspired by both Moroccan and European fashion, and especially by subcultures and human personalities, she has had difficulties finding her place in the mainstream Moroccan fashion industry.

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That is why she initially organized her own shows, which stayed far from the spotlights and therefore from the mainstream Moroccan fashion media. In 2007 she participated for the first time in two collective national fashion events, FestiMode Casablanca Fashion Week and Made in Morocco. Her collections, however, do not follow any (inter)national fashion trends and the way she explains it, her creations are a materialization of her encounters and a mixture of influences. ‘I have always felt attracted by the sinister, dark side of the city. As a child I used to love hanging out with the people of the street and emerge in all sorts of social, ethnic and religious groups.’ Later in Europe, she explains, she also felt attracted to the alternative subcultures like punks and squatters and their alternative lifestyle.15 A personal characteristic that keeps coming back in her collections is that her creations are transformable. According to the ‘mood’ of the wearer, the garment can feel comforting, protective or liberating. The way she explains it, clothes should be ‘the perfect translation of the wearer’s being’.15 One and the same garment can be worn in several ways and for different occasions, because not only circumstances can change, she explains, but also a person’s mood can differ. ‘When you feel down, you want your clothes to comfort and protect you, but when you are happy you want your clothes to accentuate that feeling.’ Therefore, she considers herself more of a clothing sociologist than a fashion designer.15 Just like her peers, Salima Abdel Wahab is frequently criticized for not being Moroccan, but she describes her collections as direct reflections of the city she grew up in, Tangier. She never aspired to make ‘traditional’ Moroccan garments although they are part of her inspiration. Her clients are as diverse as her creations and include Muslim women who wear the veil. Since her creations are in most cases loose and concealing, she finds it logical that they can identify with her work.15

Fadila El Gadi Born in 1969 in Salé, Fadila El Gadi developed a true passion for Moroccan hand-­work as a child while spending time in embroidery ateliers during her school holidays (Iraqi 2010: 46). Since she has always had a love for fashion, after high school she followed on with training at a local fashion institute in Rabat. After graduation she opened up a boutique in Rabat in 1991 with mainly European fashion, while simultaneously developing her own small collections on the side in her atelier in Salé. In 1999, she had an unexpected meeting with Yves Saint Laurent in Tangier, who encouraged her to continue designing. A few years later, she had the opportunity to develop a collection with Bernard Sanz that was sold at the Jardins Majorelle in Marrakech.16 A few years later, during a trip to Italy she met the photographer Paul Thorel, who invited her to participate in an exposition in Naples in 2003. It is following this exhibition that she managed to establish an international clientèle and to fully devote her time to her own

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collections.16 It was in 2007 that she was introduced to a large Moroccan audience by participating in the second edition of the newly established fashion event FestiMode Casablanca Fashion Week, by publishing her work in several national fashion magazines, and by opening a boutique in Tangier. In 2009 she represented Morocco during a side event in the context of the Amsterdam Fashion Week and in 2013 she organised a solo fashion show at the Sofitel in Casablanca. The strength of Fadila El Gadi’s collections lies in the high quality and innovative use of Moroccan decoration techniques as well as her choice of fabrics from all parts of the world, which she successfully blends with European fashion trends. As she formulates it, our strength lies in the richness of our savoir-­faire that is still present in Morocco and which should be exploited to a maximum. Moroccan fashion designers should focus on luxurious hand-­made fashion if they want to secure a spot on the international fashion scene.16 Her talents lie in her ability to re-­invent and introduce new patterns and uses for characteristic Moroccan decoration techniques. As she puts it, ‘only innovation and creativity can take Moroccan handicraft to a next level’.16 Nevertheless, being a fashion designer in Morocco is not always easy. One of the main reasons, she explains, is that Moroccan fashion for a long time has been produced by traditional tailors following the instructions of clients. ‘Clients are used to having their say in terms of fabrics, colours, cuts and decorations,’ she explains and that is why ‘often Moroccan clients will bring their own material or will want to change all sorts of things in my designs’.16 The problem, she argues, is that there is no clear differentiation either in Moroccan mentality or the structure of the industry between a tailor and a designer. Another problem particular to the Moroccan context is the wish to have copies. Moroccan women still have the reflex of having garments they see in a magazine copied by their tailors instead of buying the original. (. . .) As long as the Moroccan public does not valorize the artistic value of Moroccan design, it will be very hard for Moroccan fashion designers to succeed in their own country.16 Moroccan women are used to spending high amounts of money for European haute couture/brands, but are not (yet) used to paying high amounts of money for Moroccan haute couture/brands. Today, Fadila El Gadi continues to run her atelier in Salé, while having a showroom in Marrakech and Paris as well as high class hotel boutiques representing her. In May 2013, she opened her own boutique in Rabat, which she entirely designed herself..

1  Lady wearing a caftan in Fez in the mid-1930s. © Zhor Sebti.

2  A Moroccan bride in the 1950s wearing the characteristic wedding dress from Fez. © Zhor Sebti.

3  Zina Guessous’ boutique Kenz in the Royal Mansour Hotel in Casablanca, featuring an example of her mini qeft.an. © Karima Guessous.

4  Fashion show by Maison Fadela at the Moroccan embassy in Teheran in 1970. © Zhor Sebti.

5  Design by Tamy Tazi from the 1970s. © Tamy Tazi.

6  Design by Karim Tassi presented during the special edition of the fashion event Caftan in Paris in 2006. © Akwa Group.

7  Design by Noureddine Amir presented during the fashion event Caftan in 2002. © Akwa Group.

8  Design by Amina Agueznay from her ’plastic bag’ collection in 2012. Photographed by Leila Alaoui. © Amina Agueznay.

9  Design by Salima Abdel Wahab, 2012. Photographed by Ferdinando Godenzi and modeled by Alessia. © Salima Abdel Wahab.

10  Cover of Version Homme, November 2002. © Éditions La Gazette.

11  Cover of L’Officiel Maroc, April 2012, n. 22. Photographed by Laurence Laborie and styled by Sofia Benbrahim. ©Geomedia.

12  Design by Simohamed Lakhdar presented during the fashion event Caftan in 2008. © Akwa Group.

13  Design by Said Mahrouf presented during the fashion event FestiMode Casablanca Fashion Week in 2010. ©FCFW.

14  Design by Sofia El Arabi from her collection Berberism for her online fashion brand Bakchic, 2014. Photograph by Joseph Ouechen

15  Design by Fadila El Gadi, 2012. © Fadila El Gadi.

16  Design by Ghizlaine Sahli for Alrazal. © Ghizlaine Sahli.

4 MOROCCAN LIFESTYLE MEDIA French lifestyle and fashion magazines have been available on the Moroccan market since the second half of the twentieth century. However, they have been overshadowed in the mid-1990s by national magazines because not only were the products featuring in them actually available on the local market, but especially because their editorial line was more adapted to Moroccan women’s daily realities. As Helen Kopnina and Patricia Brien (2006) formulate it, beyond the surface of brand advertisements and industry information, magazines are cultural objects that reflect the zeitgeist both visually and textually. Magazines are like manuals; they not only provide guidelines on how to dress, but also on how to act and think, and therefore have an important impact on the mentality of their readers. As such, the main aim of the Moroccan lifestyle press has been to promote ‘a modern Moroccan woman in a modern Moroccan society’ and they have been using Moroccan fashion to illustrate this.1 The component of proximity is crucial, for readers need to be able to identify with the magazine and, therefore, the content should be a reflection of prevailing norms, values, religious beliefs, climate, body types, aesthetics, etc. The most important influences of the Moroccan media on Moroccan fashion have been the processes of modernization, democratization and commodification. First, by taking Moroccan fashion out of its traditional contexts of socio-­religious ceremonies and putting it in a modern context – whether a magazine cover, a catwalk or a television screen – the media have played an important role in transforming the image of Moroccan fashion from traditional to modern. By offering a different perspective, they opened the door to innovation and intrinsic change. Also, the media contributed in a large extent to the success of Moroccan fashion designers by surrounding the profession with glamour, luxury and fame through stylish fashion spreads and shows. This not only led to a positive image of the profession, but also turned designers into national celebrities. Additionally, the media and especially the women’s fashion magazines have contributed in a significant degree to the success of Moroccan fashion by challenging designers to innovate, which had a substantial impact on the

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continuity of Moroccan fashion. Second, the media have played an important role in the democratization of both European and Moroccan fashion in Morocco because, while the first was mainly accessible to the higher social classes through shopping in Europe, the second was limited to the social and religious events of the élite. By featuring collections in magazines and on television, fashion trends became accessible to all social classes and to a wide range of stylists, tailors and seamstresses for them to copy. Finally, the lifestyle media have made significant contributions to the commodification of Moroccan fashion in stimulating consumption through exploiting annual socio-­religious events such as Ramadan and the wedding season in summer. By stimulating designers to create new collections for these occasions and featuring them in the press and on television, they have been conditioning their readers and viewers to follow seasonal trends.

Moroccan fashion in the press As was discussed in Chapter  2, the Moroccan nationalist movement brought, among other things, tremendous changes in the lives, consciousness and ambitions of Moroccan women by the middle of the twentieth century. More women were enjoying an education and soon they discovered the impact the written word could have on their cause. Therefore a first generation of Moroccan women’s magazines introduced in the 1960s were all run by renowned feminists and had a strongly militant feminist tone. Only minimally preoccupied with fashion, they rather focused on politically sensitive subjects related to women, history, society, politics and the monarchy.2 The main objectives of magazines like Churuq, 8Mars and Kalima were to inform, mobilize and organize Moroccan women, but none of them survived due to financial difficulties and/or political censorship. According to Loubna Skalli (2006: 63), who wrote Through a Local Prism: Gender, Globalization and Identity in Moroccan Women’s Magazines, ‘consciousness building was perceived as a threatening initiative by both the established religious and political order in the country’. Although none of the pioneering magazines survived, they played an important role in laying the foundation for a Moroccan feminist discourse and critical consciousness (2006: 63). By the mid-1990s, when a second generation of Moroccan magazines emerged, circumstances had improved considerably due to social, political and economic changes in Moroccan society. Besides an increased freedom of the press – although far from absolute – foreign brands made it easier for magazines to survive financially through the placing of advertisements. Also, the character of these magazines was different, focusing rather on lifestyle and changing mentalities than on criticizing and attacking the establishment. The topics of concern changed as Moroccan society and women’s position in it

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changed. More women gained access to education, which led to better jobs. Many readers started combining a career with the education of children and therefore required other kinds of information.3 Some of the second generation magazines still have a feminist undertone, but they are more moderate and try to get their messages through in a less provocative way. Through their articles and portraits, they try to mobilize their readers to take action within their own possibilities, raise awareness and change general opinions and mentalities. Of course their main tool remains the printed word, but they also contribute by, for example, sponsoring projects, handing out awards and organizing round-­ table discussions and conferences. Due to their status of press and the respect and credibility they enjoy among their readers, Moroccan women’s magazines can exercise pressure and even change laws. For example, the Moroccan women’s press played an important role in the renewal of the mudawwana and in the regulation related to the transmission of Moroccan nationality through the mother.4 In the past decade, the Moroccan market has been inundated with national lifestyle magazines, both French and Arabic, focusing on a broad array of topics and targeting a wide range of readers. Due to a lack of space, however, I will only briefly discuss four of them.

Femmes du Maroc (FDM) The most influential French-­written Moroccan monthly, Femmes du Maroc (FDM), was launched in October 1995 by the editing house Groupe Caractères. Although it has a feminist undertone, it is more moderate than its predecessors and rather focuses on lifestyle and mentality. Since its creation, only one issue has been withdrawn from circulation and that was in 1997 because of an item on sexual education (Korzeniowska 2005: 6). The magazine is especially concerned with the position and rights of women in Moroccan society and one of its main goals has been to give women the right to their own bodies. Therefore, it has been playing an important role in the visibility of women’s organizations and associations through interviews with founders and/or cover stories on their activities. The reason to pay more attention to these women’s organizations, as former director of publication Aïcha Zaïmi Sakhri explains it, resulted from the fact that women in distress were coming to the office, not knowing whom else to turn to.4 Through discussions of difficult or taboo subjects related to sexuality, tradition and religion, the magazine attempts to create awareness and change common practices. For example, FDM is known for its ‘black pages’ where readers can discuss sexual issues with a sexologist. The three keywords of their editorial line have been identity, modernity and proximity since they wish to encourage their readers to be proud of their

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Moroccan identity and simultaneously stimulate them to modernize as such.4 As Aïcha Zaïmi Sakhri formulates it, Especially in the early years of the magazine, the idea persisted that everything that was modern was coming from Europe. In order to stay true to one’s Moroccan identity, women thought they had to stay traditional. We wanted to break with this idea by showing our readers that modernity can come from within and that what is considered traditional today, may have been modern fifty years ago.4 One way of materializing their ideas has been through the modernization of Moroccan fashion. According to Aïcha Zaïmi Sakhri, when the magazine started, Moroccan fashion was something that was considered ‘truly Moroccan and purely traditional’ and played an important role in society. But at the same time, she continues, it was also considered as a ‘heavy load on the shoulders of Moroccan women’ and therefore the editors believed it had to modernize. Consequently, they created a yearly fashion event Caftan, for which they challenged and stimulated designers to innovate, but more about this in the next paragraph.4 Simultaneously, when FDM was created, it was hard to come by European fashion and it only seems logical that they turned to what was more accessible, that is Moroccan fashion. Especially in the early years of the magazine, European fashion was only scarcely available on the Moroccan market and all magazines were depending on the same few exclusive boutiques in Casablanca for imported European fashion. As a result, all the magazines more or less featured the same garments and the fashion editors had a hard time borrowing the outfits for their photo shoots. With the introduction of foreign fashion brands on a large scale in Morocco at the turn of the twenty-­first century, this problem was partly solved (see Chapter 5). However, the magazines still do not have access to the collections before they are presented in the stores and therefore they cannot claim to be innovative or launching trends. They merely present what is available on the market, which rather qualifies their work as cataloguing.5 Even for fashion items on Moroccan fashion, editors face difficulties because numerous Moroccan fashion designers lack professionalism. For example, the majority are not developing new collections according to a regulated annual calendar. In this respect, the Moroccan women’s lifestyle press and their fashion events have played a significant role in structuring the industry by appointing two moments in the year, that is Ramadan and the wedding season in summer, to present new collections.5 The main problem, however, is that Ramadan alternates in time and therefore recurrently coincides with the wedding season in summer.

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Nisaa Mn Al Maghreb (NMM) In 2000, the publishing house of FDM created an Arabic edition of the magazine entitled Nisaa Mn Al Maghreb. It was launched under the supervision of former Director of Publication Layla Benyassin, who had been working for the French edition previously. The main reason to launch an Arabic edition was that it would reach a much wider audience than the French edition. When FDM was created in 1995, it was consciously decided by the editorial board to write in French because, as Aïcha Zaïmi Sakhri explains it, the magazine aimed to target a higher social class that could afford not only to buy the magazine, but that would also be more interesting to their advertisers.4 This confirms a persistent prejudice in Moroccan society – especially among the urban élite to which the editorial board belongs – that French would be the language of the ‘modern and rich’, while Arabic would be the language of the ‘traditional and poor’. Meanwhile the Arab edition reaches a far larger segment of the Moroccan population (with 45,000 copies a month) than its French counterpart (with only 25,000 copies a month) and still it has a hard time finding advertisers. Market research has shown that Moroccan lifestyle magazines are also not only rented out in popular neighbourhoods for a few derhem, but also resold second-­hand, meaning that the reach is even far larger (Korzeniowska 2005: 4). Nevertheless, luxury brands in particular continue to refuse to advertise in the magazine, claiming that their readers are not the type of clients who would be interested in their products. As Layla Benyassin explains it, the magazine can only exist financially because it is part of a publishing group.6 FDM’s decision to write in French, and thereby limit itself to an urban minority, was also justified by the board’s opinion that in order to change mentalities in Moroccan society they have to start with the urban élite. To illustrate this point, Aïcha Zaïmi Sakhri gives the example of the magazine’s campaign against modern slavery of young countryside girls working in the cities as domestic help. The editors believed their focus had to be on the employers rather than the girls because, if they would stop hiring them, it would automatically have its effect on the countryside.6 Not only does this remark imply another prevailing prejudice among the higher social classes that only they are able to bring about change, but it also neglects an important aspect of awareness building, which is educating these girls and their families in the countryside and informing them on their rights. It shows how the magazine, which represents the higher social classes, contributes to the monopolization and orchestration of change in a strongly socially segregated society. Furthermore, writing in Arabic non-­deliberately associates NMM with Islam, conservatism and even religious extremism, although the magazine adheres to the exact same ideas as its French written counterpart in promoting a ‘modern, self-­conscious and alert’ Moroccan woman. For example, Layla Benyassin

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explains how people are often surprised to see that, as the director of an Arabic written magazine, she does not wear the veil.6 Nevertheless, writing in Arabic makes it difficult to discuss certain topics. For example, she explains how it is not possible to include the famous black pages on sexual issues as its French counterpart does, because if they were to write about it in standard Arabic, most of their readers would not understand it because they are not familiar with the terminology. In addition, writing about it in Moroccan dialect would include a risk of becoming vulgar. Also writing about fashion is a challenge, because again the terminology in standard Arabic is not widespread and Moroccan Arabic simply does not have the vocabulary. Therefore the former fashion editor Touria Horaira has had to make up quite a few words over the years.7 Although the magazine includes fashion items on both European and Moroccan fashion, an issue featuring Moroccan fashion on the cover sells remarkably better.6 In the same way that FDM has been using the modernization of the qeft.an as a materialization of their ideas on a Moroccan modernity, NMM has become the reference for modern jlaleb for women. Every year they publish a special issue for Ramadan, showing between 120 and 150 designs from twelve to fifteen Moroccan fashion designers. In 2004, the magazine launched a fashion event called Jellaba in the same spirit as Caftan, which had a second edition in 2005, but for various reasons did not continue.7

Version Homme (VH) In 2003, the first Moroccan lifestyle magazine for men, Version Homme, was created by the editing house Éditions La Gazette with 10,000 copies a month. Inspired by American GQ Magazine, again identity and proximity were the most important criteria to start a local edition. According to the female director of publication, Laurence Oiknine, the male Editor in Chief enjoyed reading foreign lifestyle magazines for men but found the topics too distant from his own reality. Already working for Éditions La Gazette, he suggested a Moroccan edition that would meet the needs and expectations of Moroccan men.8 It was once more decided to write in French because the magazine is about a certain living standard that, according to the magazine’s editorial board, only concerns the French-­speaking higher social classes. Their target group is the upper-­middle class urban man between thirty and fifty with a concentration in Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakech because that is where the featured products are available. In the beginning they were exclusively focusing on lifestyle, including cars, watches, electronics and fashion but, according to Laurence Oiknine, it turned out that in order to be successful on the Moroccan market, they also had to incorporate in-­depth articles, so they introduced items on politics, finance and society. However, they never aspired to be militant, nor do they try to change

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mentalities. Their articles are ‘light’ and often feature interviews with successful Moroccans in order to ‘make the common man dream’.8 The magazine is becoming increasingly successful, which Laurence Oiknine explains as a result of changes introduced in Moroccan society; not only is the market for male commodities like fashion and beauty products in full expansion, but also a financially powerful middle class is growing.8 Nevertheless, the magazine struggles with the same difficulties as its female counterparts when it comes to the access of fashion, professional models, fashion photographers, stylists and hair and make-­up artists. Still, with the increasing introduction of foreign fashion brands like Zara and Massimo Dutti, it has become easier and the items have become more accessible to their readers as well. The consumer products they are presenting in their magazine used to be reserved for a selective public, but with the introduction of foreign brands and franchises in Morocco, they have become accessible to a larger public. As for Moroccan fashion, VH only features it for special occasions like Ramadan and the wedding season in summer. The Moroccan garments are always modern and presented by famous Moroccan actors, musicians and politicians, because if they would feature Moroccan fashion presented by anonymous models, Laurence Oiknine explains, it would just look like ‘the neighbour next-­door’ and not have enough of a ‘dream factor’.8 Contrary to the women’s fashion magazines, VH does not sell better when Moroccan fashion is featuring on the cover, which shows that Moroccan men are less preoccupied with Moroccan fashion than women.8

L’Officiel Maroc The French magazine L’Officiel, established in Paris in 1921 by Les Éditions Jalou, is the first international fashion magazine to venture on the Moroccan market with a national edition. So far the Moroccan market was – with an average of 25,000 copies a month and prices ranging from one to three euros – probably considered too small for international fashion magazines to create a Moroccan edition. But L’Officiel has a wide experience with (non-­western) national editions and, for example, was the first French magazine to launch a national edition in China in the 1980s; today it has twenty-­six editions in eighteen countries.9 Launched in June 2009, L’Officiel Maroc is a trimestral with 20,000 copies a month sold for an equivalent of a little over four euros, which is rather expensive for the Moroccan market. It is Geomedia that hold the licence for Morocco and Sofia Benbrahim, who is the former Fashion editor of FDM, is the Editor in Chief. The magazine’s most challenging task probably is to find the right balance between its French and Moroccan identity, for its strength is also its weakness. Because L’Officiel works with licences, they have access to French expertise,

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which is most certainly an advantage. The Moroccan fashion industry suffers from a lack of professionals, ranging from models to fashion photographers, fashion stylists, make-­up and hair specialists. All these professions are relatively new in Morocco and there is no qualitative schooling in these disciplines. The way Maria Daif, former Editor in Chief of former Moroccan magazine Parade, formulates it, All these professions are forms of art and should be done by creative people, but in Morocco there are only a few fashion photographers, while the majority are technicians. Make-­up artists and hairdressers are working in beauty salons and have little experience in fashion. You cannot claim to be innovative or launching trends when you are working with people who are not familiar with fashion.10 In 2006, the first professional model agency SG Models was created in Casablanca by a former French model of Moroccan origin, but closed again after only a few years. The main difficulties for modelling agencies in Morocco are a lack of professionalism and the bad reputation surrounding the profession, which is associated with prostitution. For many years, an informal network of models has been developing that does most of the modelling work for the magazines and fashion shows. Due to the bad reputation of the profession, most models are married and have children. They present themselves directly to the magazines, photographers and organizers of fashion events or are introduced by women who are already in the business. There is no formal structure regulating the profession, working conditions or prizes and nothing protects them.11 Needless to say that these women lack the professional lifestyle that is required for a model and because many of them have children, they also often lack the required measurements.4 Therefore, the possibility that L’Officiel Maroc has to produce its fashion shoots in France is an important advantage compared to the other magazines. Also, because the magazine can buy fashion series produced in Europe, they are probably the only Moroccan magazine that features fashion trends before they are actually presented in the stores. However, the magazine’s strength is also its weakness because as soon as it becomes too French, it risks losing its connection with its Moroccan readers by, for example, featuring fashion items that are too avant-­garde or containing (too many) items that are not available on the Moroccan market. At the launch of the magazine, it stated in the press release that the magazine wishes to be ‘multicultural’ and desires to ‘approach its Moroccan readers to the northern shores’ while simultaneously ‘valorizing Moroccan identity’. Therefore the first number featured a large number of qeft.an fashion series, but nevertheless photographed by foreign photographers and presented by foreign models. In the press release it stated that

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L’Officiel Maroc marks the birth of its first number with a collection of unpublished and customized titles for a female urban readership, fashionable, cultivated and thirsty for fashion and luxury. L’Officiel becomes Moroccan.

Moroccan fashion in the ether Just like Moroccan lifestyle magazines, television has played an important role in the modernization, democratization and commodification of Moroccan fashion, but there are also some essential differences. First, television broadcasting reaches a much larger segment of the Moroccan population than the magazines because it is transmitted in both urban and rural areas whereas magazines are only distributed in the major cities (besides an informal distribution of second-­hand magazines). Also, the public television channels in Morocco are free, which makes it a more accessible medium for the lower social classes. Additionally, in a country where an estimated 50 per cent of the population remains illiterate, the impact of television is much larger. Furthermore, when it comes to the problem of language, the two Moroccan television channels RTM and 2M broadcast in French, Standard Arabic fus.ha¯ , Moroccan Arabic darija and even sporadically . in tʾamazigt. Moreover, compared to Moroccan lifestyle magazines, the visibility of Moroccan fashion through television broadcasting is much larger on an international level, particularly in the Maghreb, the Middle East, Europe and North America. Where the magazines are posted to these regions on a small scale, the two Moroccan national channels are largely watched over the satellite in these parts of the world. Especially among the Moroccan diaspora in Europe and North America, the Moroccan channels over the satellite play an important role in staying connected. Many have left the country in the 1960s and 1970s, but through satellite television they are able to follow the processes of modernization in their country of origin, which turns out to be important for their own development. According to a number of Moroccan fashion designers, there is a true revival of Moroccan fashion among these communities since the commencement of broadcasting of modern Moroccan fashion. Besides the Moroccan diaspora, the success of Moroccan fashion is also considerable in countries of the Arab world like the Gulf States. Already important consumers of European luxury brands, they are enthusiastic consumers of Moroccan fashion because it is close(r) to their aesthetic preferences. The Moroccan fashion designers interviewed for this research testify that their foreign clientèle has considerably increased in these regions in the past decade due to television broadcasting. Additionally, numerous international television channels are producing special items on Moroccan fashion. For example, in 2006 the British television show, ‘Britain’s Next Top Model’, shot its finale in Marrakech for which the Moroccan

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fashion designer Kenza Melehi provided the garments. That same year, Fashion TV organized the first edition of ‘Miss Fashion TV Maroc’ in Agadir, where 20 young women competed for this title. For the occasion a fashion show was organized with designs by the Moroccan fashion designer Zineb Shimou. A short clip of the event was broadcasted sixteen times a day for a period of 90 days, reaching 450 million homes all over the world (Alami 2006). The other way around, international broadcasting has become increasingly accessible in Morocco through satellite television and Moroccan fashion is being influenced by trends from the United States, Europe and the Middle East through films, music videos and soap operas. Prevailing aesthetics are especially influenced by the Middle East through soap operas and video clips, which are very popular in Morocco. In recent years, international fashion channels like Fashion TV and FashionOne have become accessible for the Moroccan market through satellite broadcasting. These channels are entirely dedicated to fashion, featuring fashion shows and events from all over the world. Due to the success of Moroccan fashion in recent years, the number of fashion shows and events broadcast on national television has increased remarkably. However, I will limit myself to the brief description of three influential ones as examples.

Caftan The first fashion event featuring Moroccan fashion that was to become heavily mediatized was Caftan, created in 1996. In order to materialize its ideas of a Moroccan modernity, the Moroccan women’s magazine FDM launched a fashion show that has been broadcast on national television since its first edition. As Aïcha Zaïmi Sakhri explains, their goal was to take the qeft.an out of its traditional context and show it from a different angle. ‘Moroccan women wear the qeft.an as part of their cultural heritage, but we wanted to show that it could also be light and fashionable and in harmony with a young and modern identity.’4 Initially, it was difficult to find enough Moroccan designers to fill the show because only a few were actually designing modern Moroccan fashion. The majority was designing European fashion due to the fact that the fashion schools that had opened up in Morocco were teaching European fashion design (see Chapter  5). Therefore, the event started out by presenting so-­called Oriental fashion by designers from Morocco, the Middle East and Europe. In order to stimulate and challenge new designers to develop modern Moroccan fashion collections, after the second edition they added a competition for young talent. At first, Caftan was organized in Casablanca, where the magazine is located, but later it moved to a larger venue in Marrakech. In 2006, a special edition was organized in the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris to mark the tenth anniversary of the

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event. Nevertheless, the Moroccan qeft.an continues to be exported as ethnic fashion and does not (yet) play a considerable role on the international fashion scene. Only a few Moroccan designers have presented their collections in the European fashion capitals and most of the time in a special context, either a cultural week or an Oriental themed event. In order to diversify the Moroccan fashion industry, FDM created the Semaine de la Mode in 2005 in Casablanca. According to Aïcha Zaïmi Sakhri, the idea for the event was to stimulate the development of a Moroccan prêt-­a-porter that would be easier to wear and more accessible to a large public.4 However, the impact of the event was negligible compared to Caftan and after only a few editions it stopped. So far, the qeft.an is indispensible for a number of social and religious gatherings whereas Moroccan prêt-­a-porter still has not managed to capture a segment of the Moroccan fashion market (see Chapter 5). Also, the connotations with luxury and glamour are much higher for Moroccan haute couture than Moroccan prêt-­a-porter (see Chapter 6). Over the years, Caftan has grown to become the most influential fashion event in Morocco and has contributed to the success of numerous Moroccan designers’ careers. Every year, the complete collections are featured in a special edition of FDM and broadcast on television. But FDM and its influential event have also received growing criticism over the years, both from the public as well as from the industry. For example, many readers are offended by how this ‘traditional’ garment is being treated by contemporary fashion designers (see Chapter 6). From the industry, the event is under constant attack for the fact that participants continue to be selected by the editorial board of the magazine instead of an independent jury of fashion professionals. This has not only resulted in a lack of quality standards, since most of the editors have no formal training in fashion design and/or haute couture, but also made it susceptible to nepotism. Simultaneously, there are no professional fashion critics to challenge the Moroccan fashion industry to improve itself. Because of the influence the event has gained over the years, the magazine is accused of having a monopoly over the careers of Moroccan fashion designers and ‘forcing’ them to limit themselves to this specific garment. Another critique the event has been facing is that new designers, who have only recently graduated or just created their first collection, are presenting their work without differentiating them from designers who have been in the business for many years. A new designer can rise from ‘young talent’ to ‘established designer’ in merely a year. Established Moroccan designers are complaining that the different levels of quality and experience cannot be compared and therefore should not be mixed. Finally, in 2006 the event was involved in a large controversy because for its tenth edition Caftan introduced a Best Designer Award without informing the participants beforehand, without any explanation on the selection criteria or revealing the identity of the jury.

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Mode made in Morocco In 2007, the Moroccan luxury lifestyle magazine Maroc Premium created a biannual fashion event Mode Made in Morocco. Under the supervision of Michèle Desmottes, who is not only the Chief Editor of the magazine but also the fashion show’s director, the event is programmed twice a year because its main aim is to regulate the market by stimulating Moroccan designers to produce two collections a year.12 In this respect, the Moroccan fashion industry is still lacking organization and structure, despite the creation of a Federation de la Couture Traditionelle Marocaine (FCTM) in July 2005. Initiated and directed by Najia Abadi – a Moroccan fashion designer who has been in the business for many years – the main aims of the Federation are to protect the interests of Moroccan designers, to function as spokesperson for the industry, to structure the industry according to international standards, to valorize the work of Moroccan craftsmen, and to stimulate/support young designers. The Federation consists of five Chambers, including a Chamber for Haute Couture, a Chamber for Prêt-­a-Porter, a Chamber for Men’s Fashion, a Chamber for Crafts and a Chamber for Young Talent. According to their website, sixty-­nine Moroccan fashion designers are members of the Federation and their main objectives are: to strengthen Moroccan haute couture by organizing the designers in order to enable them to defend their interests and structure their profession;

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to stimulate young talent by creating opportunities such as scholarships;

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to regulate the Moroccan fashion calendar around a spring/summer collection and a fall/winter collection;

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to organize individual and collective fashion events both in Morocco and abroad;

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to watch over a deontology among the designers;

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to stimulate a synergy between the different professions in the industry (stylists, pattern makers, tailors, craftsmen, etc.) to improve the ‘Moroccan product’ and establish a reputation;

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to collaborate with the different fashion schools in the development of a Moroccan haute couture;

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to help its members on a juridical level by establishing a juridical commission, to sign a protocol and to establish a partnership with lawyers;

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to set up an ethical commission to establish the norms for a Moroccan haute couture relating to materials, which have to be of superior quality; cuts, which need to meet certain standards; decorations, which need to be hand-­made; and the craftsmen involved in the process, which need to be of a certain level.

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Also, every member should have his or her own showroom that meets certain standards and every member needs to have a minimum of three years of experience in haute couture.13 Although these objectives are precisely what the Moroccan fashion industry needs, the Federation has shown to have little means of realizing them due to a lack of support from both the Moroccan textile industry and the Moroccan government. In line with their ambitions, Mode Made in Morocco has tried to create a Moroccan Fashion Week by initiating several shows over several days and within a number of categories. For example, for the sixth edition in April 2010, the event presented collections in four different categories, Haute Couture Traditionelle, Prêt-­a-Porter Traditionelle, Haute Couture Moderne and Prêt-­a-Porter Moderne with a total of thirty-­five collections. However, the seventh (January 2011) and eighth editions (April 2011) were already reduced to collections in three categories, Haute Couture Traditionelle, Haute Couture Moderne, and Prêt-­a-Porter, and its ninth edition in November 2011 only presented collections in two categories, Haute Couture and Prêt-­a-Porter. The most probable explanation for this reduction is a lack of financial means, despite the fact that the event managed to obtain a sponsor deal with the luxurious hotel Mazagan Beach Resorts. The last edition of Mode Made in Morocco took place in April 2012 and there have been no other editions since.

Festimode Casablanca Fashion Week (FCFW) As can be established above, the major fashion events in Morocco are initiated and organized by Moroccan lifestyle magazines and they are, therefore, primary marketing tools. Because there was no independent platform that offered Moroccan designers the possibility to create ‘freely’, Bechar El Mahfoudi and Jamal Abdennassar decided to create FestiMode Casablanca in 2006. The initiative came from Bechar El Mahfoudi who, being an autodidact designer himself, personally felt the lack of an independent platform for Moroccan designers to create away from the artistic restraints surrounding Moroccan fashion based on local garments, FestiMode Casablanca has a mission to stimulate the development of a new generation of Moroccan fashion designers by creating a new platform in Casablanca where the codes and references of the established Moroccan fashion industry are shaken up. The objective (. . .) has been to unveil a new face of a contemporary Moroccan fashion far from the clichés surrounding the re-­invented qeft.an and jellaba.14 In order to challenge the Moroccan designers to improve themselves and to open up internationally, for the second edition the event decided to invite

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successful Moroccan designers living and working abroad to participate. Also, a partnership was signed with the Amsterdam Fashion Week in 2007, whereby four Moroccan designers were invited to present their collections in Amsterdam. Furthermore, a contest for young talent was added to the event for which the jury consisted of independent fashion professionals who also closely assisted the five young contestants in preparing their collections. The second edition not only consisted of a fashion show for new talent separate from the one for established designers, but also of a fashion photo exhibition by students to stimulate fashion photography in Morocco, a fashion film projection, and a round-­table discussion assembling Moroccan designers and industrialists. Since its creation, FestiMode Casablanca has had the ambition to build a bridge between Moroccan fashion designers on the one hand and Moroccan textile industrialists on the other. Although it seems obvious that these two can greatly benefit from each other, their relationship has most of all been based on mistrust and disdain (see Chapter 5). But FestiMode Casablanca ambition is to prove them wrong and a first success story was recorded after the second edition, when the Moroccan textile industrialist Karim Tazi agreed to produce a collection by the Moroccan designer Amine Bendriouich. Also, in 2009 the Association Marocaine de l’Industrie de Textile et Habillement (AMITH) agreed to sponsor the fourth edition of FestiMode Casablanca but, unfortunately, this did not continue in subsequent years. Furthermore, in 2012 the Groupe Aksal, which owns many franchise licences of western fashion brands for the Moroccan market, agreed to finance a Young Talent Award, consisting of professional consultancy for one year in setting up the career of the young designer as well as the production of a T-shirt collection designed by the winner and sold in the famous Galeries Lafayette in the Moroccomall of Casablanca. The jury consisted of four professionals from the fashion industry. For its fourth edition in May 2009, the event really succeeded in realizing its ambition to open up the Moroccan fashion industry to the international trade, and initiated partnerships with the Spanish Cervantes Institute in Casablanca to invite four Spanish designers and the German Goethe Institute to exhibit the participants of the fashion event Createurope. Besides four fashion shows, this edition again included several debates of assembled Moroccan industrialists, designers and representatives of Moroccan fashion schools. By 2010, the title Fashion Week was added to the name, resulting in FestiMode Casablanca Fashion Week (FCFW).15 In order to keep its independence and to guarantee international standards, each edition has had a different (international) independent artistic director who selects the participants and oversees the jury selecting the young talent. Also, young talents have to present their collections several years before they can be admitted to the established designers show (which has not yet happened). Unfortunately, the event has been facing heavy financial difficulties each edition because (so far) neither the Moroccan textile industry nor the Moroccan

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authorities are seriously involved in supporting the initiative even though they have so much to gain from it. Therefore there were no editions in 2013 and 2014.

Moroccan fashion in cyberspace Like everywhere else in the world, the Internet has had a deep social, cultural, political and economic impact on Moroccan society in recent years. Not only does it offer the opportunity to access information from all over the world and exchange information, beliefs and concerns, but it also offers a means for sharing alternative philosophies and provides opportunities for establishing broader political and economic bases outside of the purview of the controlling authorities (Robins and Hilliard 2002: 12). As such, the introduction of the Internet has come to play an increasing role in the development of Moroccan fashion. For example, a new means of fashion communication that the Internet has made possible is online magazines. Besides the fact that it is a good way to evade censorship, it also demands less capital and investment. The best example is the lifestyle magazine created in 2011 called Wassakh (meaning ‘draft/first version of a writing’ in Moroccan Arabic). Although the founder is the Moroccan Zineb Diouri El Oulam, an important philosophy of the editorial line is the belief of the insignificance of national frontiers. The eight people that make up the editorial board are simultaneously operating from Paris, Casablanca, London, Tokyo and New York, which would not be possible for a hard-­copy magazine. While focusing on art, fashion and philosophy, the magazine is written in French, English and a bit of Moroccan Arabic, as the title testifies. All the material is especially created for the magazine and could never exist on the Moroccan market were it in paper format due to its content and the presence of nudity. According to Zineb Diouri El Oulam, the magazine reaches 180,000 readers per month, spread all over the world, which again would be impossible for the printed press to achieve.18 Furthermore, Moroccan designers find their inspiration – along with other sources – on the Internet and are enabled to stay up-­to-date on international fashion trends. Conversely, the Internet represents an unlimited new market where Moroccan designers can present their work to the entire world (at a relatively low cost) by means of their own websites. This has remarkably increased their visibility abroad, and again especially among the Moroccan diaspora. For example, it has become an additional marketing tool for Moroccan designers to advertise (freely) on well-­visited sites by these communities. The Internet, in this respect, has caused a global information spread where any user can easily follow and discuss any trend and fashion news that is distributed world-­wide; anyone anywhere in the world can search for any collection and purchase it online (Sedeke 2012). Additionally, a number of Moroccan designers have discovered

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influential global Internet shops such as Not Just A Label, which allows them to tap into an influential virtual network, which would take a lifetime to build up on their own. Finally, an important new phenomenon in the world of fashion media is fashion blogging due to the introduction of the Internet. The majority of the Moroccan fashion blogs were introduced in the past five years and mainly written in French, although with an increasing amount of English and sporadic words of Moroccan Arabic to give them a ‘local flavour’. Here too, the number of Moroccan fashion bloggers is rapidly growing but due to limited space, again I limited myself to the description of three as means of example.

youarethestyle.com One of the first Moroccan fashion blogs to appear is youarethestyle.com by the autodidact Moroccan street photographer and fashion blogger Joseph Ouechen (b. 1983) (by his real name Youssef) in 2009. Kristina Sedeke (2012), who conducted research on the impact of fashion blogs on the current fashion industry for her Masters thesis, explains that the majority of the fashion bloggers share the fact that they have no formal background in the fashion industry and many of them are still young. They all have a personal approach, she explains; usually it is a first time experience and the visual strongly dominates the written content in most of the blogs (Sedeke 2012: 2). Coming from a very modest background, Joseph never obtained his high school diploma but, through a web based self-­education, he developed an affinity for fashion and street-­style photography.16 His example testifies to how the Internet in Morocco is an ultimate tool for democratization in general and for fashion in particular. The way he describes it, he never had the (financial) means to travel abroad but the Internet enabled him to get in touch with like-­minded people from all over the world. The travellers he received in his home through the international online hosting network Couchsurfing enabled him to travel to China, the USA and Germany and taught him, among other things, ‘open-­mindedness’, which he turned into his life philosophy (Aouad 2011: 63). Although youarethestyle.com started out by featuring international fashion news and street styles from around the world that he would collect on the Internet, he gradually started focusing more and more on the Moroccan fashion industry and street styles. While he does not believe that Morocco is (yet) a country for innovative street styles par excellence, he is always on the hunt for that ‘one person that will make a difference’ (2011: 63). As his blog became better known, he started to get invitations for fashion events, which enabled him to make and post his own pictures as well as the pictures he started making in the streets. The increasing success of his blog testifies to the transition the

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Moroccan fashion industry is undergoing from ‘top-­down’ to ‘bottom-­up’ for fashion blogs can be perceived as a ‘street of fashion’, as a source of public opinion and display of actual use of fashion by a general public (Bollier and Racine 2005 in Sedeke 2012: 7). His blog is about ‘All Moroccan fashion news, fashion shows, trends, designers, models, collections and street styles.’17 Today, Joseph Ouechen has made his name as a pioneer of Moroccan street style photography and gained international recognition for his work by collaborating with celebrities like Kanye West, James Blunt and Lenny Kravitz. His work has been published in New York Magazine and Elle among others.16 Last year he was invited to organize an exhibition of his photographs in Marrakech, entitled Morocco Street Style. Still, the influence of fashion blogging is not (yet) recognized by the Moroccan fashion industry. Although the FestiMode Casablanca Fashion Week attracts a large number of fashion bloggers from the four corners of the world every year, the designers and industrialist are not (yet) using these blogs as an additional marketing tool. youarethestyle.com is, for example, only sponsored by foreign brands/organizations like the British Council, Elle magazine and ASOS.

Fashion Bakchic The Moroccan blog Fashion Bakchic (referring to the Moroccan Arabic word bakšiš for ‘bribe money’) was created in 2011 by Sofia El Arabi (1983). After an afternoon of shopping, she tried on some clothes and took some pictures with a friend that they posted online. Eventually, one thing led to another and her blog was born.19 She studied Marketing and Communication in France (she has no formal background in fashion) but, as she puts it, she knows a lot about fashion because as a little girl she would spend hours watching fashion shows on TV and following designers to see how they work.20 The concept of her blog is that she posts a new outfit every two days, accompanied by a text recounting her experiences in Morocco. She deliberately does not talk about fashion only, but also includes beauty and politics. According to her, the main motivation behind her blog is to give another image of Morocco to the world; as she formulates it, this is a more modern image featuring fashionable people in order to contradict the clichés of ‘couscous, Marrakech, camels and mint tea’ associated with Morocco.20 Her items are always accompanied by a Moroccan landscape or featuring a Moroccan touch because, as she puts it, it is part of who she is. It [Morocco] is a never-­ending source of inspiration, energy, colours and revisited creative antecedents. Today I am less influenced by brands than I used to be, and I am moving forward to an horizon that is more traditional and authentic.21

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Nevertheless, the main garments featuring on her blog are predominantly of foreign fashion brands like American Retro, ASOS, Vero Moda mixed with pieces from Zara and H&M. She judges that the main attraction of her blog, and especially for the Moroccan diaspora abroad, is a nostalgic longing for Morocco. But also readers who are interested in ‘a bohemian touch à la Talitha Getty or looking for interesting addresses in Morocco’, are following her blog.19 She says she has about 3,000 hits a day, of which half come from Morocco and the other half from France, Belgium, the United States, Australia, etc.19 She is only supported by foreign brands like Zalando, ASOS and Les Galeries Lafayette and, according to her, not one Moroccan blog is sponsored (yet) by a Moroccan brand. But as she argues, she is not in it for the money but rather to ‘democratize fashion in Morocco’22 and stimulate fashion blogging in Morocco. Moroccan bloggers have a rage and I like that. They crave for doing things. Joseph and I are the oldest. So our relationship towards the youngsters is like brothers and sisters. They need materials, advice, workshops, etc. But some of them are simply gifted for fashion and photography and we are amazed by them.20 Interior design being another passion of hers, she created a second blog in 2012 entitled Dar and Beida (meaning ‘house and white’ in Moroccan Arabic, referring to the economic capital Casablanca). She also recently launched her own clothing line Bakchic, offering unique pieces with a Moroccan touch that are available both online and in a number of concept stores in Casablanca and Marrakech. Furthermore, she is a (autodidact) fashion and style consultant and animates L’Atelier du Style at the Galeries Lafayette in Casablanca where she gives personal advice and fashion coaching on looks. This shows how, as a fashion blogger, she has become an authority on fashion in Morocco. She also has a monthly column in L’Officiel Maroc.

The Closeterie In February 2012, Sofia El Arabi and Joseph Ouechen, who became close friends, decided to create a blog together called The Closeterie. For this blog they literally portrait (famous) Moroccan people through the garments in their closets. The hosts play the game of having their personality staged in a Moroccan setting through their wardrobe, which is displayed in a very characteristic and unexpected way. The aim is to humanize the people being portrayed in the private context of their homes, so the reader can not only discover the person in question, but also identify with him or her. According to Sofia El Arabi, the blog

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combines people’s curiosity for the private life of famous people with the thirst for fashion trends (endorsed by famous people).23 Fashion blogs are rapidly becoming a powerful force within the fashion industry (Clarke and Johnstone 2012: 1). They have changed the information flow among the fashion industry considerably since fashion trends and news are no longer passively received, as is the case with traditional media, but commented upon, discussed, exchanged, and ultimately even recreated (2012: 1). Although there is plenty of research concerning blogs and blogging, surprisingly practically no research has been done in the area of contemporary fashion blogging (2012: 2). Some researchers consider blogging as a new form of online journalism, enjoying great attention of users based on a personal and interactive approach, which brings advantages over mainstream media. But critics object and argue that blogs cannot be considered as a form of journalism as it lacks proper journalistic practices, guaranteeing quality and credible reporting (2012: 1–2). Anyone can start a blog and it requires no background in fashion, experience, capital or a considerable budget. In the end it is only the readership that judges the quality of a blog and whether it is worth its existence or not. An important difference with fashion magazines is that blogs have a strong personal approach and, therefore, the personality of the blogger plays a central role in its success. Michael Kent (2008) identifies three strengths of blogging that enable people with similar interests to connect over the Internet. First, these groups are empowered to access information that was once only harboured by experts. Also, blog readers can communicate with the blogger and other blog readers, which demonstrates the interactive element of blogs and their potential as eWOM (electronic Word Of Mouth). Finally, blogs have the power to ‘reach the choir’ since people have to search for blogs, and it is probable that these people are like-­minded individuals who have similar interests or worldviews (Kent 2008: 32–40). The reason that blogs are becoming an important communication tool in the fashion industry (Dunlop, 2010; Schaer, 2011) is because fashion bloggers are using the power of eWOM to spread their opinions on brands and companies to their readers, which can be in the tens of thousands. This newfound power gives consumers the ability to ‘build or break’ a brand (Owen and Humphery, 2009) because eWOM, unlike marketing communications, is perceived to have little bias (Gruen et al., 2006 in Kent 2008: 32–40). Therefore, fashion bloggers are important opinion leaders because they present ideas to a social network of blog followers and can influence the diffusion of new ideas or fashion trends (Kent 2008: 40). Their influence is further increased because blogs are suggested and therefore discovered through other blogs. So the more influential the blog, the more impact it will have on the blogs suggested. Rebecca Clarke and MicaelLee Johnstone (2012) add to this four core characteristics that they believe qualifies a ‘good’ blogger, which are:

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trustworthiness (the perception that bloggers are not being influenced by outside sources, such as companies),

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expertise (the perception that certain fashion bloggers are experts on fashion, choosing only the best pieces of information to share with their readers),

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authenticity (the perception that the blogger’s persona is similar in both the online and offline environment) and

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personal relevance to the readers (the fact that readers can personally relate to the blog/blogger).

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(Clarke and Johnstone 2012)

5 THE IMPACT OF FOREIGN FASHION BRANDS This chapter focuses on the Moroccan fashion industry and more precisely on the impact that the introduction of foreign fashion brands in Morocco at the turn of the twenty-­first century has had on Moroccan fashion. It argues that the arrival of western fashion on a large scale did not threaten the continuity of Moroccan fashion but, on the contrary, boosted its development through the introduction of new patterns of consumption and commercialization, resulting in the commodification of Moroccan fashion. On the one hand, Moroccan and European fashion have different values, meet different needs, represent different markets and therefore do not compete with one another, while on the other hand, they mutually influence and affect each other’s developments. First, just like the Moroccan fashion media, foreign fashion brands have contributed to an important extent to the democratization of fashion in Morocco. European fashion trends have become accessible to a larger range of social classes through their boutiques and, although only a minority of the Moroccan population can afford the garments, fashion brands enabled the copying of fashion trends by the (informal and cheap) local market. Second, foreign fashion brands have had an important impact on the consumption patterns of Moroccan fashion, resulting in a shift from consumption based on demand to consumption based on offer. Accompanied by marketing strategies, foreign fashion brands have introduced the dynamics of branding, brand imaging, brand identity, customer services, seasonal trends, fast fashion, etc. into Moroccan fashion. At least as important as the garments themselves, has been the design of the shop, the image, the mood and the shopping experience; blending the quality of the brand with those of the ‘selling environment’, including advertising, store design, visual display, fashion communication and image activities (Jackson and Haid 2006: 64 in Jennifer Craik, 2009: 226). Therefore, under the influence of foreign fashion boutiques, the context in which Moroccan fashion is being sold has altered considerably, while the actual production of Moroccan fashion has hardly changed. The traditional tailor with his anonymous workshop is being increasingly overshadowed by so-­called modern boutiques from stylists, whose façades are influenced by foreign fashion

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boutiques, representing the brand’s or stylist’s image and insinuating services that Moroccan consumers have grown accustomed to through their shopping for European fashion. Moroccan fashion has become a brand under the name beldi, inspiring nostalgic notions of Moroccan tradition and authenticity. Third, foreign fashion brands stimulated the commodification of Moroccan fashion and thereby the development of new markets in order to increase consumption. Moroccan fashion for daily wear, like beldi wear and touche Marocaine, is being developed, as well as Moroccan fashion for children and men. Nevertheless, there are some important differences between the production and consumption of European and Moroccan fashion. In both cases, trends are launched by fashion designers on a conceptual level for an exclusive clientèle, while a confection industry translates these trends into wearable and affordable confection for the masses (Welters and Lillethun 2011: xxv–vi). However, the peculiarity of Moroccan fashion is that consumers (continue to) insist on the uniqueness of their Moroccan garments and the importance of hand-­work. Therefore, Moroccan ‘confection’ cannot be mass-­produced for low prices but demands hand-­work through a network of stylists and craftsmen and remains relatively expensive.

Moroccan fashion and economics What is a fashion industry? The way Welters and Lillethun (2001: xxix) describe it, a fashion industry requires several components such as: a market economy that provides wealth; adequate technology to make apparel items; a distribution system that disseminates ideas about fashion as well as the products themselves; and a system of fashion innovation and adoption. Also, they say, a fashion industry is dependent on a rapidly changing infrastructure influenced by art, popular culture, technological innovations, politics, trade regulations, etc. (2001: xxix). The most distinctive aspect of the fashion industry is the fact that it is a cultural industry or phenomenon, that is, an industry that produces and sells intangible values (aesthetic and magical) that ostensibly add quality and status to people’s lives (Craik 2009: 212). The birth of the couture system formalized a cyclical style-­ setting calendar while advancements in production and diffusion – industrialization of apparel assembly, development of department stores and magazines – brought fashion to most of the population, particularly in Europe and North America, starting in the 1860s. According to Gilles Lipovetsky (1994 in Welters and Lillethun 2011: xxvii), democracy and the rise of individualism promoted the idea of distinguishing self through appearance. Furthermore, the democratization of fashion in Europe during the course of the twentieth century was effected by a multiplicity of social, economic and technological factors (English 2007: 153). These events included the rise of a

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fashion industry that catered specifically for a middle-­class clientèle; the merging of fashion, commerce and culture with a shift from high culture to popular culture; the breaking down of haute couture concepts and traditions initiated by key designers; the influence of American lifestyle dressing; and, finally, the focus on the youth market and the subsequent use of fashion as a mode of social and political protest. In cultural terms, the interdependency of these factors led not only to changing notions of fashion but to the gradual demise of the traditions of haute couture. As social class distinctions began to blur when monetary status outstripped class status, it became clear that the focus of fashion would undeniably shift (from couture to street fashion) (English 2007: 153–4). According to Diane Crane (2000: 3), changes in clothing and in the discourses surrounding clothing indicate shifts in social relationships and tensions between different social groups that present themselves in different ways in public space. As societies industrialized, she continues, the effect of social stratification on clothing behaviour was transformed and the expression of class and gender took precedence over the communication of other types of social information.

The Moroccan textile and clothing industry The fashion industry in Morocco consists of two large sectors that are only marginally interrelated and that, at times, demonstrate conflicting interests. The first – and largest – sector, the textile industry, produces materials and fabrics, of which the majority is destined for the (national) furniture industry and only a small percentage for the (national) clothing industry. The second sector – smaller but more important because it formally employs over 200,000 people and probably another 200,000 in (small) informal production ateliers – consists of the clothing industry, mainly based on (low quality, low priced) sub-­contracting for the European market.1 The best years for the Moroccan clothing industry were in the 1980s, when production was based on orders from European fashion brands. Since they provided the designs and fabrics, the financial risks were minimal.2 However, in the 1990s, the first wave of competition came from Eastern Europe and the Moroccan clothing industry responded by improving its quality and production through industrialization.1 The real crisis came at the beginning of 2000 when the European market was invaded by Chinese products. In order to survive, Moroccan clothing companies had to come up with an alternative since competition based on price was not realistic. After a strategic market research study initiated by the Association Marocaine l’Industrie de Textile et Habillement (AMITH), it became clear that Morocco had to start offering semi-­finished and finished products, meaning conception, design and production. A shift had to be introduced from industrialization and commercialization to design and marketing,

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and new links had to be developed in the production chain, such as design and marketing departments.2 Therefore a need arose for Moroccan design, but the majority of the Moroccan fashion designers by then were designing Moroccan fashion based on local garments due to its (national) success. Also, the relationship between Moroccan industrialists and designers has been one based on mistrust and disdain. The Moroccan textile industrialists suffer from a bad reputation due to their activities in subcontracting (poor quality, low cost) European fashion for the European market (of which surpluses are dumped on the local market). The other way around, the industrialists share the opinion that Morocco does not have any ‘real’ fashion designers because all they are doing is ‘re-­inventing’ the qeft.an and jellaba.2 Therefore, only a small percentage of the Moroccan industrialists and designers have been collaborating through the development of products and pilot projects producing collections together. Most industrialists (continue to) rely on foreign expertise and/or buy their designs on foreign trend sites on the Internet. This was despite the fact that (foreign) fashion schools were introduced as early as the mid-1980s in Morocco with the main objective of training (technical) people for the Moroccan clothing industry. The first school to open in Casablanca in 1985 (and to close in 1998) was the Institut de Stylisme et Modelisme (ISM). Its programme mainly focused on pattern making and paid only minor attention to conception and design.3 One year later, in 1986, the renowned French ESMOD opened franchises in Casablanca and Rabat, which were much more focused on creativity and design. Unfortunately, because of managerial problems, they had to close the Moroccan franchises in 1996.4 From 1989 onwards, the Canadian College Lasalle has been present in Morocco with franchises in Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakech. The curriculum is based on the Canadian system, teaching European fashion business and design, but following the success of events like Caftan, they included a module on modern Moroccan fashion design in the late 1990s. The majority of the second generation Moroccan fashion designers were trained at this school. In 1996, AMITH created the École Supérieure des Industrie du Textiles et de l’Habillement (ESITH), which is a school that not only trains technicians especially for the industry, but also has a design department. The curriculum is closely developed according to the needs of the Moroccan industry and students are practically guaranteed a job after graduation. Finally, in 2010, Casa Moda Academy was launched as the result of collaboration between AMITH and the Moroccan government. The main objective of the school is to prepare students to help the Moroccan clothing industry make the necessary shift from production to design and, therefore, trend forecasting, fashion identity and styling are part of the student’s training. Furthermore, in the 1960s the Moroccan market was as good as closed off for foreign import through the imposition of high import taxes.5 But due to increasing international pressure and as part of Morocco’s ambition to join the

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European Union, the Moroccan market was increasingly liberalized and in 2001 completely opened up for foreign fashion brands, which initiated the phenomenon of franchishing in Morocco.1

Foreign fashion brands Due to its steadily growing economy and its politically stable climate, Morocco has been increasingly attracting foreign fashion brands to open up franchises in its main cities. The highest concentration can be found in the economic capital of Casablanca (38 per cent), the administrative capital of Rabat (18 per cent), the tourist capital of Marrakech (8 per cent), and finally Agadir (4 per cent), Tangier (4 per cent), Meknes and Fez (Maghri 2006). Estimates in 2006 were that only 10 per cent of the Moroccan population could afford to buy the garments offered by foreign fashion brands (Vallée 2006: 33), and that most buy European fashion on the informal market where it finds rejects from the export, black market items or locally produced counterfeits. Therefore, foreign fashion brands have had to adjust their prices to the buying power of the local market, which is sometimes 30 per cent lower than in Europe.2 Low- and middle-­priced Spanish and French brands like Mango, Zara, Promod, Etam, Bershka, Stradivarius and Massimo Dutti were the first ones to venture onto the Moroccan consumer market. Soon, however, high-­end brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent were ready for the experience, opening up stores in the economic capital Casablanca and the tourist capital Marrakech. In Casablanca, the foreign franchises are concentrated around the Boulevard Massira Al Khadra in the Maarif neighbourhood, and in Marrakech they are concentrated in the Gueliz neighbourhood in the French part of the city. Most foreign fashion brands in Morocco are being introduced through franchise licences, which are mainly obtained by two large investment companies: Nesk and Aksal. The first, Nesk Investment, is responsible for introducing foreign fashion brands like Mango, Promod, Stradivarius, La vie en Rose, Aldo and Okaïdi among others in Morocco.6 The first store they opened in the commercial heart of Casablanca was Mango. Of Spanish origin, the brand was already known and successful among the higher social classes in Morocco through their shopping in Europe, and therefore its introduction on the Moroccan market seemed safe. Some of the brands, however, are marketed differently in Morocco than in Europe, as is the case for the French brand Promod. Its image in Morocco is ‘classier’ than in Europe, where it is rather a lower-­middle range brand. Also, Nesk Investment was the first to target children by obtaining the franchise for the children’s fashion brand Okaïdi and opening stores in Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakech (Qattab 2004). The second investment company, Groupe Aksal, has been obtaining franchising contracts from major successful high-­street brands

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like La Senza, Zara, Massimo Dutti, H&M and GAP, department stores like FNAC and Galeries Lafayette, and luxury brands like Fendi, Dior and Gucci.7 A number of these brands were already producing (part of) their collections in Morocco (of which some would find their way on to the Moroccan market) and it seemed logical to introduce these brands ‘formally’. Although the Spanish brand Zara, for example, does not spend much on marketing, Groupe Aksal had to invest considerably in the building of their stores in Morocco, which are part of their image and which would come to have an important influence on Moroccan fashion boutiques (Sassi n.d.). But the piece-­de-resistance of foreign fashion franchising in Morocco, and the brainchild of Groupe Aksal, is the remarkable project of the MoroccoMall, which opened its doors in 2011. With a total cost of 240 million dollars and a total surface of 250,000 square metres, it is the largest shopping mall in North Africa. It offers over 600 brands including the French Galeries Lafayette, Louis Vuitton, Prada and Gucci, as well as the long expected Hennes & Mauritz and GAP.8 It was designed by the Italian architect Davide Padoa and includes a massive aquarium with sharks, a large musical dancing fountain as well as an IMAX cinema. Only a few months after its official opening, it won the prestigious MIPIM Award for ‘Best Shopping Centre’ at MIPIM in Cannes.9 The reactions within Morocco, however, are very diverse ranging from ‘a step forward for the country’s development’ to ‘a waste of money that could have been put to use for some more urgent developments’. Although official numbers are not made public, rumours have it that sales figures are disappointing and that customers especially hang out at the mall for entertainment and window-­ shopping.

Moroccan fashion brands Because of the success that foreign fashion brands have been experiencing on the Moroccan market, and due to the crisis the Moroccan clothing industry has been facing following foreign competition, Moroccan industrialists have started to experiment with their own fashion brands on the Moroccan market in relation to European fashion. After years of ignoring it because they considered it too small, too informal and too marked by opaque practices, they were encouraged by the success of foreign fashion brands.2 From a Moroccan consumer’s standpoint, Moroccan fashion brands have had to work hard to earn their trust because of a bad reputation gained from years of producing low-­quality fashion for the export market and dumping surpluses on the local market.2 The Moroccan clothing industrialist Karim Tazi, for example, created his brand Marwa in 2003 with his first store in the commercial area of Maarif, in downtown

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Casablanca. Ten years later, Marwa has numerous stores in all of the major cities, including Casablanca, Rabat, Marrakech, Tangier, Fez, Meknes and El-Jadida. His objective has been to render (European) fashion accessible in Morocco by creating a modern, innovative and fashionable Moroccan brand, offering mid-­range quality and price. Karim Tazi’s goal has been to create a Moroccan fashion brand with an international image that could work in any country, anywhere in the world, but simultaneously deliberately opted for a Moroccan girl’s name as a brand name in order to distinguish himself.2 The collections can be considered universal, although, he specifies, they are adapted to the Moroccan market. Occasionally, Marwa includes Moroccan garments in its collections such as semi-­machine made jlaleb and serwal, but not too frequently because it is not part of the brand’s image.2 Although the collections are produced entirely in Morocco, concept and design are done by freelance stylists based in Europe because Karim Tazi considers there are no qualified Moroccan stylists who are capable of interpreting and translating international fashion trends into prêt-­a-porter. Also, the fabrics are imported because the Moroccan textile industry cannot supply the variety of fabrics needed for his collections.2 Another successful Moroccan fashion brand is Océane by Hanane Imani. Although she has no formal training in design or styling, her husband has had a clothing production company for over thirty years producing European fashion. It all started when he, as a reaction to the competition on the European market, asked her to develop some items for the local market. At first, these items were sold to shops in the commercial area of Maarif in Casablanca, but soon they created their own brand with their own stores.10 The first Océane boutique opened in 1998 in the Maarif and in 2006 there were eight in total, two of which were in Casablanca, one in Rabat, one in Marrakech, one in Tangier, one in Agadir, one in Fez and one in Meknes, including five franchises. Océane as a brand is being exported to Libya, Senegal and Tunisia and, just like Marwa, is more oriented towards other North African and Middle Eastern markets for expansion than towards Europe (Maghri 2006). All the collections are designed and produced in Morocco and initially consisted exclusively of European fashion. It was only after Hanane Imani participated in Femmes du Maroc’s prêt-­a-porter event Semaine de la Mode in Marrakech in 2004, that she introduced Moroccan garments into her collections. She is convinced it is a successful way to differentiate herself from foreign fashion brands and therefore has been gradually introducing sleeveless jlaleb for the beach, cotton serwal, mejdul and machine-­ made qeft.an.10 When it comes to the Moroccan market, she explains, leisure wear works well in Marrakech because of its holiday mentality, while in Rabat customers prefer office wear and the highest sales are in Casablanca because of the buying power there, while in Tangier they have had to adjust their prices because of the competition with the Spanish enclave Ceuta.10

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The commodification of Moroccan fashion The introduction and success of foreign fashion brands in Morocco is incontestably part of the process of globalization, which Jonathan Inda and Renato Rosaldo (2002: 2–3) define as ‘the intensification of global interconnectedness, suggesting a world full of movement and mixture, contact and linkages and persistent cultural interaction and exchange’. The result, they say, is a world where borders and boundaries have become increasingly porous, allowing more and more people and cultures to be cast into intense and immediate contact with each other, and with a particular mobility of cultural flows – of capital, people, commodities, images and ideologies – through which the spaces of the globe are becoming increasingly intertwined (2000: 2–3). The increasing encounter with foreign lifestyles through media, travelling and (temporary) migration has accustomed Moroccans to foreign commodities, which have been progressively adopted and integrated into Moroccan lifestyles. According to Thera Rasing (1999: 239; see also Miller 1987: 1–12), commodities have come to play a dominant role in culture, cultural production and cultural politics. She argues that commodities constitute a significant nexus between the global and the local, and they are dominant in cultural transformations. Many of these brands were already familiar to Moroccans, particularly to the middle and upper social classes, due to their studies and travels abroad. However, a general connotation to globalization is that cultural flows would only move in one direction, namely from the ‘West/First World/Centre/North’ to the ‘Non-West/East/Third World/Rest/Periphery/South’, implying that the world is gradually being made over in the image of the so-­called West and suggesting that cultural diversity is disappearing. Numerous social scientists like Arjun Appadurai (1996), Jonathan Inda and Renato Rosaldo (2002), and Frank Lechner and John Boli (2008) to name a few, have disputed this point of view, arguing that receivers of cultural flows are not passive receivers and that globalization always entails interpretation, translation and customization on the part of the receivers. Also, cultural flows do not only move from the West to the Rest, but also in the opposite direction and influences from other non-­ western countries may be just as important. Jonathan Inda and Renato Rosaldo (2002: 21–2), among others, argue that the process of globalization is much too complex to be thought of merely as a westernizing affair, and that it is not merely a matter of homogenization but most certainly also of heterogenization. They suggest an alternative model to the core-­periphery one, namely to view the world rather as a dislocated cultural space, insofar as global cultural power has ceased to be concentrated in the West and become somewhat diffused. The way they see it, to think in terms of dislocation is to view the world not in terms of a monolithic core-­periphery model but as a complexly interconnected cultural space, one full of crisscrossing

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flows and intersecting systems of meaning (Inda and Rosaldo 2002: 26; Appadurai 1996: 32). Under the influence of foreign fashion brands, Moroccan fashion has not stagnated or disappeared but, on the contrary, its consumption has increased outstandingly. First, shifts occurred from the tailor to the designer, from the craftsman to the professional, from the apprenticeship to formal fashion training, and from the workshop to the boutique. Second, Moroccan fashion has become commoditized, introducing a shift from need to offer, and offer is consistently increased through the processes of commercialization. Moroccan fashion has become a brand and its success is linked to a revival of local culture/tradition as a counter-­reaction to increasing foreign cultural influences coming as a result of globalization.

From the tailor to the designer Before the rise of the Moroccan fashion industry in the 1990s, most Moroccan fashion was produced by anonymous tailors in anonymous workshops in the old Arab city centre medinat. The craft was learned through apprenticeship from a young age with a skilled craftsman, mʿellem, and only when accepted as a fully-­ trained tailor could one call himself a mʿellem. The wide range of production and decoration techniques required a wide range of specific skills and therefore a wide range of specific craftsmen and women; while the tailor was at the heart of this network and the intermediate with the client. One (female) garment could easily involve fifteen to twenty different and independent craftsmen and women. For example, a woman to make the buttons aqaad, several women to do the (different types of) embroidery tarz, several woman to realize the beadwork, a man to make the braided bands sfifa (either by hand or by machine), a woman to make the needle-­lace randa, a craftsman to make the belt mdemma (who also ˙ had several people working for him on the different steps of the production), and several craftsmen to apply the twisted, plaited cord decorations and to assemble the garment using this technique. The crafts carried out by women would be passed on from mother to daughter and produced at home as a means for women to earn an extra income. Furthermore, the consumption of Moroccan fashion used to be an elaborate ritual in which the consumer played a central part. Because Moroccan fashion was ordered custom-­made, clients themselves decided on the materials, the colours, the cuts and the decorations. It was very time consuming because fabrics had to be purchased in a different location and negotiations with the tailor could take weeks before agreeing on the work and the price. Female family members, especially, and friends would invest a large amount of time and effort in this process and specific knowledge was needed on materials, qualities and

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techniques. Also, Moroccan consumers used to be loyal to one tailor, who was usually a member of the family and new garments were either ordered for a specific set of social and religious occasions like weddings and Ramadan and/or for daily wear. Changes were mainly dictated by what fabric merchants and tailors would suggest to their clients (Alaoui 2003). Cuts, colours and decorations were easy(ier) to determine based on age, marital status and the occasion for which the garments were worn. However, under the influence of the Moroccan lifestyle media and their broadcasted fashion events, in particular, tailors started to be overshadowed by so-­called designers and stylists. While they became associated with professionalism, luxury and glamour, the tailor became increasingly associated with informality, low quality and low social status. Designers and stylists have come to be considered as professionals due to their training in fashion design and styling, whereas the tailor is seen as an uneducated craftsman. Ironically, however, stylists and designers remain dependent on Moroccan tailors and craftsmen, because they cannot master the wide range of skills required for the production of Moroccan fashion. Not only are fashion schools focusing on European fashion design and styling but, also, it still takes a wide range of craftsmen and women to master each production and decoration technique. Therefore, many of the tailors and craftsmen have disappeared into the workshops and ateliers of stylists and designers. In the meantime, small-­scale schools have been introduced where crafts are taught to both boys and girls and it becomes increasingly rare that young children become an apprentice or learn the techniques from their parents. Also, fashion schools teach their students fashion business including marketing strategies, brand management, customer services, etc. Consequently, the anonymous workshops of tailors and fabric merchants in the old city centres have become overshadowed by fashionable boutiques and showrooms of stylists and designers in the new city centres. Their settings correspond more to an image that has come to inspire Moroccan consumers’ confidence, suggesting a range of services and qualities Moroccan customers have grown accustomed to through their shopping for European fashion. Furthermore, under the influence of foreign fashion brands, Moroccan consumers are no longer loyal to one (family) tailor and, in the same way that they have grown accustomed to shopping around for European fashion, they shop around for Moroccan fashion. Tailors have become dependent on the fashion industry for the latest fashion trends and have to make use of Moroccan fashion media to attract clients. Also, a new generation of Moroccan consumers no longer has large amounts of time and knowledge to invest in the consumption of Moroccan fashion; for example, going through the ritual of purchasing the fabrics and garments separately or knowing about materials, qualities and techniques. Therefore, stylists and designers offer their clients ‘all-­in-one’ by proposing their own fabrics, designs and decoration techniques.

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From a craft to an industry Under the influence of foreign fashion brands Moroccan fashion has, moreover, become commoditized and a transformation has occurred from a use-­value to a market-­value (Rasing 1999: 239). It is no longer consumed based on need but on what is being offered, and the offering has been increased tremendously under the influence of fashion designers, the Moroccan fashion media and foreign fashion brands. Consumption is often related to social competition and modernity and, in this respect, Daniel Miller believes that being a consumer means to possess consciousness that one is living through objects and images not of one’s own creation (Miller 1987, 1995); symptomatic of what some, at least, have seen as the core meaning of the term modernity (Dahl 1999: 14). People in a consumer culture no longer consume for merely functional satisfaction, but in order to give meaning to their lives (Elliot and Davies 2006). Susan Ossman (1994: 40–1) considers that (conspicuous) consumption in Moroccan society was, at least partly, stimulated by direct competition with the French living in Morocco and, to a large extent, by an increasing involvement in international values of consumption and an appropriation of these values in the local context. In order to stimulate the consumption of Moroccan fashion, particular annual events have become commercially exploited; the highlights being Ramadan (the spiritual month of fasting) and the wedding season in summer. Since these are traditionally occasions when Moroccan fashion is consumed, the entire industry is focused on them. For example, the majority of the fashion events are organized prior to these two events, so people have the time to order their new garments based on the new fashion trends being proposed. Also, fashion magazines issue special editions with the latest collections for the particular occasion and a large range of boutiques and shops, including supermarkets, feature Moroccan fashion for them. However, the collections of Moroccan fashion designers are not only conceptual, but also limited to an exclusive and select clientèle. The trends they launch are translated into wearable and affordable garments by a maze of stylists and tailors for a much larger range of budgets and tastes. The peculiarity of the Moroccan context, however, is that consumers of every level (continue to) insist on the uniqueness of their Moroccan garments as well as the importance of hand-­work when it comes to Moroccan fashion. Therefore, the so-­called ‘prêt-­aporter’ of Moroccan fashion cannot be industrialized or mass-­produced, but rather it demands a network of stylists and traditional tailors with ateliers and craftsmen to translate the latest fashion trends into affordable wear. This particular phenomenon has made it very complex to structure the Moroccan fashion industry since, on the one hand, ‘one-­of-a-­kind’ and hand-­made are qualities of haute couture but, on the other hand, the range of qualities of materials and hand-­work and the degrees of creativity and innovation are very diverse, which

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makes it impossible to put everything in to one and the same category. Jennifer Craik (2009: 236), for example, defines prêt-­a-porter as the production of ready-­to-wear or off-­the-rack collections – as opposed to custom-­made – for department stores and boutiques at different price points. As such, they are mass-­produced and industrially manufactured without the special craft attention given to couture. However, this does not apply to Moroccan fashion and therefore the concepts of designer, stylist, tailors and craftsman are neither clearly defined nor well regulated. As was already mentioned in the previous chapter, Moroccan fashion designers are especially frustrated that their profession is frequently ‘abused’ by stylists and tailors who call themselves designers, claiming to produce haute couture, whereas all they do is copy the work of others, using low(er)-­quality materials and hand-­work.

Moroccan fashion as a brand The commercial success of Moroccan fashion has reached unprecedented heights in the past few years. Moroccan fashion sells and it is exploited to a maximum, from advertisement, to entertainment on television. A wide variety of companies, from telephone providers to tile producers, are using modern Moroccan fashion in their advertisements to sell their products. Moroccan fashion has turned into a brand under the name beldi, which is Moroccan Arabic for ‘traditional/local/authentic’ as opposed to rumi, which is used to refer to everything that is ‘modern/foreign/industrial’. As Benoit Heilbrunn (2006) formulates it in his article ‘Culture Branding between Utopia and A-topia’, a brand is no longer just a sign added to a product to differentiate it from another product, but a semiotic engine whose function is to constantly produce meanings and values. Brands create value not just by the products or services they represent, but by the meanings they generate (McCracken 2005). As Clifford Geertz already mentioned in 1973, people are creatures of meaning, and questions of meaning and identity are being primarily answered by the culture in which one grows up. Cultures provide the symbolic tools needed to create a sense of identity (Geertz 1973). Brands, however, have come to work in exactly the same way in order to be relevant to consumers and sustainable over time. As ID Branding (2010: 7–8) formulates it, consumers will embrace a particular brand as part of their own identity and thus, in essence, join the brand’s culture and participate in that culture as a way of expressing to the rest of the world (and to themselves) who they are and what they believe in (2010: 7-8). In other words, brands have become cultures and cultures have become brands. Interestingly, only a few years ago beldi was still associated with the countryside, backwardness and old-­fashionedness but, in a rapidly globalizing Morocco and increasing processes of urbanization and industrialization, beldi

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allows people to ‘escape’ for a moment and dream about ‘the good old days’. The term beldi has come to represent everything that is ‘good’ about Morocco, from grandmother’s home-­made bread to Moroccan handicrafts. Moroccan fashion sells a fantasy materialized by Moroccan fashion designers through the skills of Moroccan craftsmen. Its success thrives on the (nostalgic) meanings consumers give to the concepts of nationalism, tradition and authenticity; something European fashion can never provide. It is not important, in this respect, that contemporary Moroccan fashion is hardly traditional or authentic in the sense that cuts, materials and decorations are either recent (re-)inventions or appropriated from foreign clothing styles; the emotions are more important than the facts. Wendy Gordon and Virginia Valentine (2000) remark that human beings make sense of the world around them by creating stories and myths. These myths, they say, are communicated consciously and unconsciously not only in the course of social interaction but also through overt brand communication and covert brand body language. They remark that it is not a company that owns a brand but rather the consumers by giving meaning to it (2000: 6, 10 and 12). In this respect, beldi enables people to dream of Morocco’s glorious past through the skilful handicrafts from the old mdina of Fez, which is considered the birthplace of Moroccan civilization and where an Arabo-Muslim heritage was moulded to perfection over the course of centuries. What is not included in this reverie, however, is that, due to the success of stylists and designers in the new city centres, these craftsmen are suffering from an ‘old-­fashioned’ image and therefore have had to trade their independence for the ateliers of designers and stylists.

New markets It is not only that Moroccan consumers continue to insist on hand-­work and the uniqueness of their garments that limits the commercialization of Moroccan fashion, but also that it is limited to specific occasions. As will be elaborately discussed in the next chapter, so-­called formal Moroccan fashion can only be worn during a limited number of social and religious occasions: including engagements, weddings, funerals and in religious contexts such as Ramadan, ʿid le-­kbir, the birth of the Prophet, etc. Simultaneously, only a limited number of garments are suitable for everyday wear like the gendura, the jabadur or the jellaba. Therefore, the industry has been particularly focusing on the market for so-­called informal Moroccan fashion for expansion in recent years, like beldi wear and touche Marocaine, which is not only cheaper in production (because consumers are less demanding on their quality and production methods), but can also be worn for a wider range of occasions. However, so far its success has been limited. On the one hand, this type of fashion is considered beldi and

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therefore meets Moroccan customers’ desires of proximity and authenticity, as was explained above, but on the other hand, formal Moroccan fashion sells a dream of luxury, craftsmanship and exclusivity, which informal Moroccan fashions does not. This may be the reason why fashion events like Djellaba or Semaine de la Mode never really caught on or reached the fame and success of Caftan. To recall the words of James Laver (1969 in Lurie 1981: 11–12), ‘no matter how frantically promoted, if particular garments do not reflect what consumers want to be at a specific moment in time, they will not be purchased’. Also, it seems like the market for informal Moroccan fashion is (still) experiencing too much competition from European fashion, because the occasions for which the two are worn are overlapping. At the same time, the industry has been looking to expand by concentrating on Moroccan fashion for men and children. As is the case for European male fashion, Moroccan male fashion is less subjected to fashion trends, which reduces its consumption. However, this does not mean that men are less influenced by consumerism and the Moroccan fashion industry tries to target this group by diversifying its offer. In the same way, children have been targeted by increasing the offering and commercializing specific events in the year like ʿšura. This is a religious celebration for which children are traditionally offered musical instruments, sweets and new clothes and, although it was on the verge of disappearing, it has been revitalized by the Moroccan fashion media and industry.

Moroccan prêt-­a-porter A rather remarkable attempt at Moroccan prêt-­a-porter is represented by the Moroccan fashion brand Yousra, which offers fully hand-­made Moroccan prêt-­a-porter for women, men and children. Created in 2003, all three stores in Casablanca, Marrakech and Rabat offer three collections for women, namely a Basic Collection for daily wear consisting of linen tunics, cotton gendura and informal little qeft.an and jlaleb. Then there is the so-­called Beldi Moderne Collection, which offers garments for ceremonial occasions but for a young and fashionable clientèle consisting of fashionable short jlaleb with pants and fashionable tekšit.a. And finally, the Beldi Classique Collection, which offers garments for formal occasions but for a more traditional clientèle containing formal jlaleb, classic tekšit.a and wedding qeft.an. The way Maria Madani, one of the associates of Yousra, explains it, three generations of women can come into their stores and all three can be satisfied, no matter what their age, the occasion or their size.11 Furthermore, they have both a modern and a classic collection for men as well as collections for youngsters (aged 8–14) and children (aged 2–8). The brand’s slogan is that they dress everybody for every occasion.

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As mentioned above, however, there are a number of peculiarities that the brand has to take into consideration in order to meet the market’s specific needs. Because Moroccan women especially continue to insist on the uniqueness of their Moroccan garments, a significant challenge for Yousra is to provide a series of four sizes for each garment, with (slight) alterations in colours and/or decorations for each garment. Also, they have to offer their clients free modifications in order to be able to compete with the tailor who offers custom-­ made; this sometimes means completely redoing a garment.11 Additionally, Moroccan consumers continue to insist on hand-­work when it comes to their Moroccan garments and, since hand-­work is more time consuming then machine made prêt-­a-porter, Yousra has to prepare its collections far in advance. But because fashion trends are introduced with an increasing pace and for specific occasions, they are limited as to how far in advance they can start preparing their collections. Since they work in large quantities, they are able to compete on price with, for example, tailors and stylists. They work with a fixed set of craftsmen and women in their ateliers, who are paid full-­time and fabrics are primarily imported. According to Maria Madani, the secret of Yousra’s success lies in the fact that their clients do not have to prepare far in advance to purchase their Moroccan garments. Moroccan consumers have grown increasingly used to the advantages of prêt-­a-porter through their shopping for European fashion. Also, Moroccans are becoming increasingly alienated with the ritual of ordering Moroccan fashion custom-­made, she says, which implies choosing a tailor, buying the fabrics, deciding on cuts and decorations and having knowledge of prices, quality and trends. Additionally, the clients of Yousra are not confronted with the risks related to ordering custom-­made, whether it is being disappointed with the result or not having the garments finished in time. Also, Yousra provides an image and services that customers cannot find with a tailor or stylist, which are an abundance of choice, different sizes and fixed prices.11 Nevertheless, the concept of Yousra is relatively new and Moroccan customers still have to get used to the idea of Moroccan fashion being ‘mass-­produced’. For example, Moroccan women continue to come into the stores with their own fabrics, wanting to order a garment custom-­made. Another common misunderstanding is the assumption that everything is machine made, because people cannot imagine that Moroccan prêt-­a-porter can be fully hand-­made, especially not for lower prices than the tailor.11

Beldi wear and touche Marocaine One type of informal Moroccan fashion that has been rapidly developing in recent years is so-­called beldi wear. It is Moroccan fashion adapted for daily life in the sense that it is more practical and more comfortable, less elaborately decorated

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and less expensive because the materials are less luxurious. Cuts are often shorter and narrower, which makes it more practical for daily activities. This type of fashion is based on Moroccan garments like the jellaba, the qeft.an, the jabadur, the gendura, etc. but not suitable for formal social and religious occasions. Because it is for daily wear, Moroccan customers seem to have fewer problems with it being (semi-)machine made, of lower quality and mass-­ produced. This type of fashion has become popular as leisurewear, as well as for less formal social and religious gatherings and during Ramadan (see Chapter 6). It developed under the influence of tourism in the late 1960s, when Moroccan fashion met international success under the influence of the hippie movement. Marrakech most notably became a popular tourist destination and started offering Moroccan prêt-­a-porter garments for foreigners, who did not have the time or the knowledge to order custom-­made. These garments were machine made and of inferior quality since their consumers were in most cases low-­ budget travellers and/or looking for cheap souvenirs. Over time, tailors in Marrakech have continued to produce these garments adapted to the taste and budget of foreign tourists and this is how beldi wear developed. The fact that foreigners were appreciating and wearing this type of fashion contributed to its modern and fashionable image within Morocco itself, and influenced its popularity among Moroccan consumers. Today, beldi wear can be found in all qualities and price ranges, and in all major cities of Morocco. Moroccan fashion brands like Flou Flou and Océane offer this type of fashion in their collections, which are often (semi-)machine made. A second type of informal Moroccan fashion that has been frantically promoted in recent years is called touche Marocaine. Contrary to beldi wear, it consists of European fashion in which characteristic Moroccan decoration techniques have been integrated. These decorations often consist of the application of little hand-­ made buttons, ʿaqad, the characteristic loop braiding, sfifa, and the couched plaited cord and/or Moroccan embroidery, .tarz∙. This type of fashion is in most cases a combination of machine production with hand-­made decorations and can be found in all quality levels and prices. Since it is based on European fashion, it is not considered suitable for formal social and religious occasions (see Chapter 6). It developed under the influence of foreign fashion designers who became inspired by Moroccan fashion and started integrating Moroccan decoration techniques into their work. Since they were not restrained by the cultural context of Moroccan hand-­work, they succeeded in giving it new meanings and innovative shapes. The most influential Moroccan fashion designer who is highly successful with this type of fashion is Fadila El Gadi. Trained by traditional tailors and embroiderers from the coastal town Salé, she gained a skilled know-­how of Moroccan production and decoration techniques, which she successfully blends with European fashion trends. She is convinced that the combination of European fashion and high-­quality Moroccan craftsmanship can

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contribute to the international success of Moroccan fashion. Her collections include haute couture consisting of high-­quality fully hand-­made unique pieces, and prêt-­a-porter consisting of machine-­made and hand-­decorated items and hand-­decorated accessories. Her collections target a high-­end clientèle through high-­quality materials and hand-­work.

Moroccan fashion for men and children Finally, two markets that have been in full expansion in recent years are Moroccan fashion for both men and for children. Moroccan fashion is less dynamic and more conservative and the way Susan Kaiser (2012: 125) formulates it, (Euromodern hegemonic) masculinity is more serious, changes in slower and more subtle ways, and eschews elaborate ornamentation. In the European context, there are debates about when and how this has happened, but most scholars agree that bourgeois men half-­way through the eighteenth century moved away from colour, silk, pattern, ornamentation, wigs, knickers and tights in favour of darker, more sombre, simple lines because this was considered modern (2012: 126). John Flügel (1934 in Kaiser 2012: 126), in Men and Their Motives, associates modernity with dark and simple clothes that lack ornamentation because they are geared primarily towards functionality. According to Flügel (1934 in Daniel Leonard Purdy 2004: 5), men gave up their right to brighter, gayer, more elaborate and more varied forms of ornamentation to the use of women. ‘Man abandoned his claim to be considered beautiful. He henceforth aimed at being only useful.’ Peter McNeil and Vicki Karaminas (2009: 6), the editors of The Men’s Fashion Reader, argue that a shift to more moderate appearance was also influenced by British aristocrats who in the late seventeenth century, as part of their puritanical convictions, wished to differentiate themselves from their French and other Catholic Continental counterparts whose rule they believed was tainted by luxury. The history of Moroccan fashion for men, too, includes both periods of colourful, rich and flamboyant extravagance, especially under the influence of Damascus as well as periods of austerity particularly under the influence of the Almohads, who adhered to a strictly puritanical form of Islam (Alaoui 2003) and later the salafi (see Chapter 2). During the twentieth century, however, and especially under the influence of European fashion, Moroccan men moved away from bright colours and elaborate decorations, which became associated with femininity. Today, as part of the commercialization of Moroccan fashion, Moroccan fashion for men has been developing, and an increasing amount of Moroccan fashion designers are providing collections for men in an attempt to cater for this group. As such, the Federation pour la Couture Traditionalle Marocaine (FCTM) included a Chamber for Male fashion under the supervision of the Moroccan fashion designer

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Noureddine Amir, who is probably the best-­selling designer for men. In 2006, a first all-­menswear Moroccan fashion show was organized in Marrakech by the Moroccan fashion designer Fuzia Kriman, who is based and works in Belgium. In addition, lifestyle magazines such as Version Homme and L’Officiel Homme Maroc have been playing an important role in the promotion of men’s fashion, both European and Moroccan. Shops such as Yousra, in particular, see their male clientèle growing considerably every year because an increasing percentage of Moroccan men prefer to buy their Moroccan garments prêt-­a-porter due to the fact that they have less time and interest to order their garments custom-­ made (see Chapter 6).11 Furthermore, in the wake of the growing success of Moroccan fashion and the processes of commercialization, the market for Moroccan fashion for children has been in full expansion over the past few years. Just like Moroccan fashion for women and men, Moroccan fashion for children can be found in all quality and price classes; from fully machine-­made prêt-­a-porter to exclusive hand-­made haute couture. Ghizlane Sahli’s haute couture brand for children, Alrazal, for example, offers high-­end garments in luxurious boutiques in the fashionable neighbourhoods of Marrakech and Casablanca. The idea of designing Moroccan haute-­couture for children came to her when her own children were small and she was having a hard time finding suitable garments for special occasions. When she custom-­ordered some garments at a tailor for her children, her friends were so enthusiastic that they encouraged her to start her own brand. In her shops she offers fully hand-­made, high-­quality, both ceremonial and casual, Moroccan fashion catering from new-­borns until the age of fourteen for both boys and girls.12 The confection brand Yousra also caters for children, offering Moroccan fashion for customers between the ages of 2 and 14 years old. According to Maria Madani, there is an important commercial interest in Moroccan prêt-­aporter for youngsters, because Moroccan fashion for this age is just as expensive as garments for adults when ordered from a tailor or stylist. The main reason for this is that the tailor or stylist has to buy an entire swatch of fabric to produce the garment, even though only part of it may be used, while Yousra can use the leftover of the swatch to make garments for a two-­year-old and therefore save on production costs.11 Also, the concept of prêt-­a-porter for children works well because parents and children do not like to go to the tailor several times for fittings.11

6 THE CONSUMPTION OF MOROCCAN FASHION The commercial success of the Moroccan fashion industry would not have been possible if Moroccan fashion did not (continue to) play an important socio-­cultural role in contemporary Moroccan society, which is the focus of this chapter. Moroccan fashion, as a means of dress, is an important way for consumers to express their individual and collective identity and characteristics – such as age, gender and social status as well as culture, nationality and religion – which are communicated through fashion. However, as Emma Tarlo (1996: 12) emphasized in her research on India, it is wrong to presume that consumers in non-­western societies are simply passive victims of static traditions, for fashion in non-­western contexts is just as much a deliberate and creative act. Simultaneously, under the growing influence of globalization, identity has become increasingly complex and people are dealing with dynamic multiple identities; one is not either traditional or modern, Moroccan or European, but rather both/and (Kaiser 2012). People do not feel the urge to choose between one and the other and use all types of fashions to shape and express their identities (Eicher and Sumberg 1995). Due to the processes of mutual influences and hybridization, borderlines are blurring and also the categorization of what is Moroccan and what is European fashion has become increasingly complex. Although Moroccan and European fashion clearly have different values and are used to express different aspects of one’s identity, the categories are neither static, nor mutually exclusive. As this chapter will show, new circumstances are asking for new categories. It will become clear that in the same way that tradition is constantly (re-)introduced, (re-)invented, (re-)defined and adjusted to (new) situations, notions of modernity continuously change too. At the same time, like European fashion, the endless and repetitive cycle of fashion change in Morocco is fuelled by ambiguity (Davis 1992: 191). People want change while simultaneously long for continuity; individuals want to identify with the group while simultaneously expressing their individuality. Because people are dealing with multiple realities, fashion is a powerful tool to negotiate borderlines between change and continuity, tradition and modernity, Moroccan and European, local and global.

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This chapter is to a large extent based on ninety interviews conducted in 2005–2006, of which thirty were in Fez, thirty in Marrakech and thirty in Casablanca. Respondents were selected from different age groups, male and female across different social classes, living in both the mdina and the ville nouvelle. The interviews were recorded and conducted based on a questionnaire featuring sixty open-­ended questions relating to personal context, vestimentary behaviour and opinions on the Moroccan fashion industry as well as the fashion media. The questionnaire also included ten pictures for female and male respondents respectively, featuring different outfits in order to gain insight into the complex process of categorization of Moroccan and European fashion. Because the research is predominantly qualitative and the coding and interpreting of the data is significantly subjective, I have preferred to quote my respondents in support of my arguments and to portray tendencies rather then to produce (misleading) generalizations, statistics or quantified data in relation to social class, education, age, location, etc.

Constructing identity Dress is more than the clothes we put on our bodies. As Ruth Barnes and Joanne Eicher (1992: 15) formulate it, it is everything that a person does to or puts on one’s own body, including perfume, make-­up, tattoos, hair extensions, etc. as well as the phenomena of anorexia, bulimia, plastic surgery, etc. ‘Dress is the sum of body modifications and/or supplements displayed by a person in communicating with the other’ (1992: 15). For example, a Moroccan woman can wear a modest jellaba and headscarf, but still be considered offensive by the amount of her make-­up, perfume or henna-­decorated hands during a funeral or the sacred month of Ramadan. Over time, different explanations have been given by social scientists for the need for human beings to modify their appearance. After theories of functionalism and the ‘instinctive human urge for modesty’, which could not convincingly explain the wide variety of dress, a psychological approach offers more possibilities, explaining dress as a social behaviour and a means of visual communication. Erving Goffmann (1959 and 1963), for example, argues that dress plays a role in social interaction and explains that dress is consciously or unconsciously used to manipulate a situation to one’s benefit. When people dress, he says, they locate themselves within their social and cultural environment. Simultaneously, and in the same way, they locate others through symbolic meanings attached to their dress. In this sense, dress is used as a non-­verbal form of communication with a shared vocabulary (Goffman 1959 and 1963). According to Linda Arthur (2000: 2), by using dress to play a role successfully, people recognize that they have both a personal and a social identity. Every time

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a person gets dressed, she explains, he or she deals with issues of identity, wondering who he or she is or wishes to be, for all societies have complex social norms predicated on non-­verbal and symbolic behaviour (2000: 2). Ruth Barnes and Joanne Eicher (1992: 1) believe people establish visual communication through dress, which determines whether a verbal one is even desirable. They see body adornments simultaneously as an expression of one’s individual identity and collective or cultural identity and therefore dress both includes and excludes. However, contrary to the general agreement among social scientists that people adorn their bodies to communicate in a social context, the way this communication takes place is subject to discussion. The anthropologist and linguist Edward Sapir (1931: 5) suggests that visual communication of dress occurs through symbols. However, the chief difficulty with this approach is the lack of an exact knowledge of the unconscious symbolism attached to forms, colours, textures, postures and other expressive elements of a given culture. Simultaneously, the ability to understand is even more difficult because some of the expressive elements tend to have quite different symbolic references in different areas. The French structuralist Roland Barthes (1954 in Lurie 1981: 4) speaks of dress as a type of writing, of which the basic element is the sign. He considers dress as a language, with a vocabulary and a grammar like verbal languages. The problem with this approach, however, is that the meanings of the signs used in non-­verbal communication are more ambiguous and can change according to the situation or location.1 Fred Davis’s approach (1992: 5), in his turn, is more nuanced and rather speaks of codes that are radically dissimilar from those used in cryptography, writing or speech. He believes dress can best be seen as an initial or quasi-­code, which must necessarily draw its meaning from the conventional visual and tangible symbolism of a culture, but it does so allusively, ambiguously and inchoately. Therefore the meanings evoked by a combination and permutation of the code’s key terms, e.g. fabric, texture, colour, pattern, volume, silhouette and occasion, are forever shifting or ‘in process’ (1992: 5). This way, it is important that people speak the same ‘language’ or have a common ‘vocabulary’ in order to understand the sense of the messages in the way that they were intended by their authors.

Individual identity Age and age-­related status, for example, are individual characteristics that are communicated through dress and, according to Judith Perani and Norma Wolff (1999: 36), sexual maturation, parenthood and full adulthood, marked by elder status and the accumulation of knowledge, are all factors that influence dress. Susan Michelman and Tonye Erekosima (1993: 164) argue that often increasingly greater amounts of the body are covered as individuals move to adulthood and

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positions of social power. In the case of Moroccan fashion, respondents explain that both colour and shade, as well as cut and decoration, change in relation to age. They argue that because it is socially more acceptable for young people to attract attention to their person, they will prefer to wear bright colours, fashionable and revealing cuts and elaborate decorations, whereas sober and plain colours, classic and modest cuts as well as moderate decorations are considered more appropriate for adults and elderly people. As one respondent formulates it, ‘the models for old or young people are different: for the young, shorter, more colour, more chic; when older more basic/classic in dark colours or white’.2 Also, elderly men and women will more often prefer to wear Moroccan fashion full-­time. ‘When you get older you have a need to go back to your traditions and people more often wear Moroccan dress.’3 Age, however, is not so much a matter of years, but more of life-­cycles and an accumulation of social power, whereby the cycle of status change is often not based on the same criteria for both genders. Status changes for women, for example, are more often based on biological and moral maturation, while for men the stages are rather associated with economic, political and personal achievements that accrue with age (Perani and Wolff 1999: 36). In Morocco, dress changes especially when people get married and the ‘rules’ related to Moroccan fashion are applied more rigorously, whereas European fashion becomes more modest and concealing. According to one respondent, ‘the older you get, the more you are socially obliged to wear it [Moroccan fashion] and a point of transition is when you get married’.4 Another important personal characteristic that is expressed through fashion is gender. Again, Judith Perani and Norma Wolff (1999: 35) explain that the structure of garments, the parts of the body covered, the accessories thought necessary and the type of cloth differ according to gender. George Bush and Perry London (1960 in Arthur 1999: 5) believe that a distinction of dress based on gender is often used to maintain traditional gender roles. When roles are restrictive, they say, greater restrictions are applied especially to women’s dress in the form of either dress codes or physically restrictive clothing. The majority of the respondents believe gender differentiation in Moroccan fashion is especially based on principles of Islam, stipulating that there should be a clear difference between garments for men and women. Interestingly, all Moroccan garments for both sexes are generally the same but differentiated by colour, material and decorations. Although garments like the jellaba and the gendura used to be worn by men only, these were adopted by women in the course of time and indeed represented significant life-­style and gender role changes (see Chapter 2). While velvet and silk fabrics are associated with women, male garments are made of wool (cashmere or bziwi) or (synthetic variations of) cotton. Also, male attires are rather mono- or bi-coloured, whereas women’s garments generally display an abundance of colours. Additionally, the decorations for male garments are more subtle compared to the decorations for female garments. As one respondent

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explains, ‘the Moroccan caftan [for men] is black, white or cream with decorations in the same colour’,5 but Moroccan fashion designers have been trying to challenge these established norms through the introduction of innovative colours and styles for men as was explained in Chapter 5. One of the most influential personal characteristics expressed through dress is social class, but it is also the trickiest and most unstable characteristic because not only is it always in relation to the class of others (Kaiser 2012: 98), but people ‘dress up’. As Bourdieu formulates it (1984 in Kaiser, 2012: 101), class is a complex concept located by combined demographic variables such as income, education level, occupation and family background. He adds that class, in a cultural sense, encompasses the ambiguous issues of cultural ‘taste’ and everyday habitus. Simultaneously, since lower social classes copy the styles of the classes to which they aspire, dress does not necessarily express the actual status but possibly a desired status (Hollander 1978, 357). As one respondent says, ‘social class plays a role in the sense that some people wear more expensive clothes than they can afford just to impress and some people who can afford it prefer to be modest’.6 An interesting remark by Anne Hollander (1978: 365) is that while the higher social classes can actually afford to dress ‘unfashionably’, lower social classes are more pre-­occupied with fashion because they constantly need to confirm their (desired) social class. Today, social class in Moroccan fashion is especially expressed through brands and the quality of garments rather than a particular cut/colour/material/ decoration or type and/or the frequency by which it is worn. However, before the democratization of fashion at the turn of the twenty-­first century, Moroccan fashion was mainly associated with the lower social classes because not only were they believed to be more traditional (by the higher social classes), but also because they could not afford to buy European fashion. The jellaba, for example, was often referred to as a cache-­misère because it could hide whatever was underneath it. But today both Moroccan and European fashion are available in all price and quality ranges and everybody has access to whatever he or she prefers.

Collective identity Furthermore, fashion is used to express collective identity, including cultural, political/national and religious identity. Often referred to as ‘traditional’ or ‘ethnic’, Joanne Eicher (1995: 1–4) suggests that non-­western dress in particular is believed to capture a (common) past, to represent tradition and to display cultural heritage. She adds that ethnic dress is said to be connected with ‘the preservation of an identity that is linked to a meaningful heritage’. Susan Kaiser (2012: 88) defines ethnicity as the place or space from which people articulate their identities

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and communities. According to her, it implies a kind of self-­awareness or self-­ reflexivity about a group’s own cultural uniqueness; it is a process of belonging-­ in-difference, she explains. But when the cultural histories of any given form of (ethnic) dress are examined, she continues, they frequently reveal complex cultural appropriations and hegemonic processes, as well as invented traditions. Moroccan fashion is no exception to this, but still the most important reason provided by the majority of the respondents as to why they consume Moroccan fashion, is indeed because ‘it is part of tradition’, considered ‘typically Moroccan’ and an expression of Morocco’s cultural heritage. Cultural heritage is also the main reason why the majority of the respondents are convinced that Moroccan fashion will ‘never disappear’; because they are persuaded that their cultural heritage will never disappear. It is not unusual for dress to be used to express political and/or national identity, which is often closely linked to cultural identity. However, as Susan Kaiser (2012) points out, national fashion identities are often hegemonic, representing the politically dominant group while ignoring cultural minorities. Moroccan fashion, in this respect, is a clear representation of Arabo-Muslim . cultural identity that does not represent the aboriginal ʾamazig identity. Nevertheless, the very success of Moroccan fashion is based on its national identity and its connotation with a common ‘glorious’ politico-­cultural past. As was explained in Chapter  2, Moroccan fashion is closely linked to the socio-­ political developments of the country and turned into a national symbol in the course of the twentieth century. In mixed company especially and/or abroad, many respondents testified to feeling national pride in relation to Moroccan fashion. Finally, dress is a means of communicating religious identity and at the same time one’s membership of a religious group. As mentioned in Chapter  2, it is important to differentiate between fashion in a Muslim country and Muslim fashion (Moors and Tarlo 2007). While fashion in a Muslim country is uncontestably influenced by the socio-­cultural heritage of Islam (just like European fashion is influenced by a Christian socio-­cultural heritage), Muslim fashion is deliberately worn to express one’s Islamic identity; the country aspect is predominantly influenced by culture (including religion), while the Islamic aspect is mainly influenced by religious prescriptions (although susceptible to personal taste and interpretation as well as to trends). As one respondent explains it, ‘it is more tradition that influences my dress than my religion’.7 Islam in Moroccan society is so deeply interwoven with culture and national identity that several respondents answered ‘Moroccan’ when asked for their religion and ‘Muslim’ when asked for their nationality. Although the majority of the respondents say they do not (consciously) express their religious identity through their dress, they are (unconsciously) influenced by prevailing socio-­cultural values based on Islam. Most of the adult/married respondents testified to rarely wearing revealing or

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tightly fitted clothes and to feeling uncomfortable, for example, in revealing bare legs in public. The majority said they do not feel the explicit need to stress their religious identity, because they are among Muslims in Morocco. While most female respondents who adopt the veil and correspondingly modest fashion testified to doing so in order to underline their Muslim identity, some female respondents, due to social pressure, confessed to wearing the veil and modest fashion to be ‘left alone’ (instead of religious devotion) – while some girls even admitted taking off their veil and jellaba once out of their neighbourhoods.8 As one respondent formulates it, ‘religion does not necessarily play a role for me in the choice of my dress, but it is more about what people will say about you, so you have to adapt’.9 In the past ten years, the introduction of so-­called Muslim fashion has considerably increased in Moroccan society and is deliberately adopted by a minority to express their Muslim identity. Contrary to many other Muslim countries, however, the Moroccan modest fashion scene is rather underdeveloped and, besides one successful Moroccan fashion brand Diamantine that specializes in trendy headscarves and jlaleb, there are (so far) no well-­known Moroccan fashion designers specifically catering for this market. Furthermore, imported Muslim fashion is not only considered foreign by most of the respondents, but is also disliked by most. As one respondent says, ‘when I see them [fully covered women] in the street I am afraid because I do not know if it is a woman or a man’.10

Interacting identities Nowadays, the concept of identity has become increasingly complex under the growing influences of globalization and, as mentioned earlier, it is no longer a matter of either traditional or modern, Moroccan or European, but rather of both/ and. As one respondent explains it, ‘Moroccan dress is neither old nor modern, old traditions are coming back.’11 Thera Rasing (1999: 238) speaks in this respect of ‘interacting identities’ since people are dealing with the processes that go on simultaneously. On the one hand, she explains, people adopt ‘new’ ways of living under external influences but, on the other hand, they hold on to ‘old’ customs and beliefs; this is not contradictory, she says, but shows interacting identities. She adds that globalization leads more specifically to the strengthening and new construction of a variety of parochial identities of local and regional specificity and people invent new things, new rituals, or add new things to old ones. While people try to live according to new practices, she specifies, they simultaneously stick to old customs and rituals (1999: 238).12 Loubna Skalli (2006: 30) perceives identity as a dynamic construct rather than a static given because ‘as a construct it is constantly shaped and remodelled

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through its repositioning within tradition, religion, national and transnational influences’. She speaks of concepts like ‘third cultures’, by which she refers to the emergence of new cultures in which more and more people are increasingly involved with more than one culture; and ‘hybrid cultures’, which to her are a basis for explaining modes of cultural affirmation in the face of increasing globalization (2006: 40-2). The way Victoria Korzeniowska (2005: 19) formulates it in the context of Moroccan lifestyle magazines, ‘Moroccan women, between tradition and modernity, between the weight of society and their personal aspirations, between family and work, between the private and the public space, are completely entirely Moroccan and proud to be so.’ Self-­fulfilment, she explains, is not shown to be solely predicated on the adoption of western values, but on a negotiation between western values and Moroccan tradition. Citing Madan Sarup, she argues that ‘every person’s identity is a site of struggle between conflicting discourses’ (2005: 18). World, ethnic and/or national dress is so interrelated in today’s global community, Joanne Eicher and Barbara Sumberg (1995: 305) argue, that expecting people to confine themselves to wearing only one type is not realistic. Instead, they say, individuals’ wardrobes in different regions of the world contain a wide variety of fashions, which allows them to ‘adapt with ease to communicate effectively with others and establish their desired image as any given situation demands’. Ann Bridgwood (1995: 51) adds to this that it is important not to look only at the type of dress, but also at the meanings surrounding it and the environment in which it is worn. In relation to her research on Turkish society, for example, she explains how western dress can be simultaneously an agent for change and a preserver of tradition. ‘It symbolizes the complex relationships between gender, tradition and modernity and acts as a vehicle for exploring new ideas’ (1995: 51). Therefore, it is important to emphasize how context determines to a large extent the meanings drawn from, expressed by, and attributed to particular types of dress, contrary to some of the theorists who exclusively focus on the objects themselves (1995: 51). This is most certainly the case for Morocco, whereby different types of fashions are associated with different circumstances and can imply different messages. While respondents say they effortlessly switch between Moroccan and European fashion, European fashion for a wedding can be just as much out of place as a qeftan or jellaba in a bar or when out dancing. ˙ Simultaneously, both can be deliberate statements either of rebellion or conformity, of individuality or group identity, and of tradition or modernity.

Defining Moroccan fashion What is considered ‘appropriate’ dress in relation to one’s age (related status), gender, social class, religion and the context, is determined by a set of ‘unwritten

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rules’ that is part of one’s collective cultural heritage. The way Susan Kaiser (2012: 127–8) formulates it, cultural discourses provide scripts that prescribe what men and women are expected to do (or not to do), including how they are supposed to dress. Emotions as value, morality and religious belief permeate perceptions of what is appropriate, especially in times of social transformations (Phyllis M. Martin in Allman 2004: 229). It is extremely complex to extract and explain these rules, for not only are they mainly unconscious and fluid, but also there are always tensions between a desire for personal freedom to express one’s own ideas (which inevitably represents a threat to the group cohesion) and the wish to conform to and identify with the group. Because these rules are especially transmitted through education, women are generally believed to be the guardians and principle transmitters. According to the majority of the respondents, both Moroccan men and women are taught through their education what is considered appropriate fashion, which for women especially applies to their indoor garments, the qeftan and the more elaborate tekšita, and for men ˙ ˙ principally concerns their outer garment, the jellaba. Because the jellaba has only relatively recently been adopted by women, it was never considered appropriate for formal occasions, but due to recent developments some jlaleb are so elaborately decorated that they have even become suitable for formal occasions such as weddings. As will become clear in the next section, it is the perception of authenticity – which is a construct rather than a given (see Chapter  7) – of the cut of the garment and the richness of the fabrics and decorations that determine the importance of a Moroccan garment and, therefore, its suitability for formal occasions. The majority of the respondents agreed that the most important/ formal occasions for which the rules are most strictly related to Moroccan fashion are wedding ceremonies and socio-­religious occasions such as ʿid le-­kbir and ʿid . s.-s.gir. Engagements, birth(day)s, henna-­ceremonies, circumcision ceremonies, family gatherings, etc., as well as Friday prayer, ʿid al-­mulud and ʿšura are categorized as less important/formal and therefore rules are less strict.13 Today, while Moroccan fashion for women is more regulated during social contexts, men’s Moroccan fashion is more regulated during religious events. Additionally, the rules determining appropriate Moroccan fashion are less strict for young people, who are more free to choose both their Moroccan and their European garments based on personal preferences. As one respondent formulates it, ‘when you are young, you are more free to wear European dress for traditional occasions, but now it is “not done” anymore. Also your personality changes and your taste.’14 Furthermore, the position of the wearer affects the rules because in the context of a wedding, for example, one’s choice of garments is influenced by the relationship with the bride or groom; close family, and especially women, will preferably wear formal Moroccan fashion, while the more one is dissociated from the bride or groom, the less strict the rules become.

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European fashion, on the other hand, is associated with ‘European contexts’ like the office, leisure, sports, the beach, etc., and in most cases it is considered ‘inappropriate’ to wear Moroccan fashion or even forbidden, as in certain offices, restaurants or nightclubs.15 However, there are special circumstances during which Moroccan fashion becomes acceptable and even desirable to wear in these contexts, for example, during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, when the wearing of informal Moroccan dress to the office has become fashionable.16

Moroccan and European fashion According to Emma Tarlo (1996: 15), the classification of fashion is not only about the process of identification but also about the process of differentiation. Therefore, choosing a certain type of clothing is one of the means whereby individuals consciously participate in these processes. In her research on Indian fashion, for example, she argues that the classification of clothing styles was actually created in official and public intercourse between Indian and British men, whereby the British sought to reinforce their separateness from the Indian population by rigorously adhering to British standards of dress and by encouraging Indians to dress in an ‘oriental manner’ (1996: 13). However, the classification of clothing styles is much more complex than is insinuated in the literature. What is qualified as Moroccan or European fashion by the respondents is a complex, fluid and mainly unconscious process whereby the most important criteria have to do with an assumed value of cultural proximity/ distance. The most important criterion for Moroccan fashion, therefore, is that it is believed to be traditional and local, even if the garment was adopted only relatively recently or a as a result of foreign cultural appropriation at some point in time (and some even relatively recently). European fashion, on the other hand, is considered to be foreign; mainly from Europe and introduced into Morocco by the French during the Protectorate, and yet it is worn more often than Moroccan fashion. It is important to note here that not once did a respondent refer to Muslim fashion or its influence on Moroccan fashion. Muslim fashion is not considered as a category in the classification of Moroccan fashion and is only mentioned when explicitly asked for. Furthermore, the respondents use a number of terms to distinguish between so-­called Moroccan and European fashion, which are vêtement marocain, vêtement traditionnel, mode Marocaine, and mode beldi for the first category; and vêtement Européen, vêtement modern, and mode rumi for the second category. Rarely do respondents use the term western fashion (mode occidentale), and the terms ‘dress’ (vêtement) and ‘fashion’ (mode) are used interchangeably. The different garments that are referred to with these terms are shown in Table 6.1.

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Table 6.1  Most commonly mentioned garments by the respondents to describe Moroccan and European fashion. For Moroccan fashion For women

For men

For European fashion

jeans, pants, shirt (long sleeve, qeft.an, jellaba, tekšit.a (with several short sleeve and sleeveless), other names like lebsa, mans.uriya, dfina and even la tenue), tšamir, fuqiya, T-shirt, dress, skirt, suit, farajiya, bedʿiya(t), jabadur, gendura, high-­heels, sneakers, shoes and also training suits, pyjamas kmis, šerbil or babuš, md.emma, h. zam, mejdul . jeans, pants, shirts (long sleeve, jellaba, serwal khendrisa, belga or short sleeve and sleeveless), babuš, kmis.ʾ, gendura, jabadur and also the bernus or selham, rza, .terbuš T-shirts, business suits, shorts, sneakers, shoes and .tagiya

However, Moroccan and European fashion have influenced each other deeply over the course of time and some characteristics of European fashion have been incorporated into Moroccan fashion and vice versa; especially under the influence of Moroccan fashion designers. These processes of hybridization have resulted in a range of new categories, going from (i) Marocain traditionnel, Marocain ancien, and beldi classique to (ii) Marocain modern, Marocain Européen, and beldi modern, (iii) beldie wear and touche Marocaine, and (iv) mode Européene, based on the degree of ‘Moroccanness’. So instead of two categories, respondents categorize fashion according to four, whereby garments are placed according to their suitability for formal occasions. The first category (Marocain traditionnel, Marocain ancien, and beldi classique) refers to Moroccan fashion that is considered traditional, even though changes have been introduced over time and sometimes under the influence of European fashion. The way some respondents formulate it, these garments respect the ‘true spirit’ or the ‘essence’ of Moroccan fashion and are considered suitable for formal Moroccan occasions.17 The second category (Marocain modern, Marocain Européen, and beldi modern) is referred to by the respondents as garments that are believed to have been modernized (too much), meaning that (too many) characteristics of European fashion have been introduced, alienating the ‘essence’ of Moroccan fashion. In most cases, this refers to garments that are too revealing or include European components such as corsets, skirts or pants. Therefore, these garments are considered suitable only for less formal Moroccan occasions, or for formal occasions but only for young/unmarried persons. The

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third category (beldie wear and touche Marocaine) refers to garments that have become too informal through the introduction of European fashion or that are European but with Moroccan details, which renders them suitable for informal Moroccan occasions as explained in Chapter  5. The final category, mode Européene, then, is believed to be ‘pure’ European fashion and is considered suitable only for ‘European occasions’.

A complex process of classification Respondents categorize fashion according to four principal characteristics, which are cut, fabric, colour and decoration, and each feature inspires a different level of tolerance towards change. As one respondent formulates it, when you take off the sleeves or make it short, you take away the respect of Moroccan fashion because these are garments to cover the body. (. . .) Only the fabrics, the colours and the decorations should change, but not the cut.18 Simultaneously, however, when Moroccan garments do not change at all, they are considered old-­fashioned and eventually are discarded, as happened with the ksa for men and the hayk for women. This long piece of cloth, which people used to wrap around themselves as an outer garment, stopped evolving and therefore stopped being worn around the middle of the twentieth century. Although a large majority of the respondents recognized these garments and categorized them as ‘truly Moroccan’, no-­one would consider wearing them, not even the eldest respondents, explaining they were too old-­fashioned. The fact that subtle changes make garments survive became clear when looking at the images, by comparing an image of an old garment with a contemporary interpretation of that same garment. For example, a women’s qeftan dating from ˙ the first half of the twentieth century was considered too wide, too heavy, the sleeves too large, and too elaborately decorated by most of the female respondents. A contemporary version of this very same qeftan, however, dating ˙ from the 1990s by the Moroccan fashion designer Zineb Joundy, was largely preferred because of its narrow and more adjusted cut to the body, its silk fabrics that are considered more fluid and light, and its more contemporary colours. Therefore, the cut of Moroccan garments is the most conservative characteristic and may not change too rapidly in order to retain its qualification as Moroccan. Garments must especially retain their concealing characteristic, although it is generally accepted that especially women’s garments have become closer to the body and that the waist has become more accentuated. Features that may change are the width/length of the garment as well as the shape of

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the sleeves and collar without jeopardizing its qualification as Moroccan. Nuances are very subtle and, for example, the absence of a belt in the qeftan or ˙ tekšita can be a sign of informality, which can make it offensive during ˙ formal occasions. For the fabrics, different degrees of tolerance towards change apply for both genders. Based on the answers from female respondents, fabrics used for female garments have very little effect on the classification of a garment as either Moroccan or European. Therefore, fabrics are strongly influenced by fashion trends, which may include denim, fleece, leather, leopard skin, etc. But for male garments, based on the answers of the male respondents, certain materials are ‘off limits’ such as silk and velvet, which are associated with female garments. As mentioned in the previous chapter, however, under the influence of fashion designers, garments made out of these materials have been introduced for men, but these are qualified as modern Moroccan and considered unsuitable for formal occasions. The same arguments are used by the respondents for colour; where female garments can be of any kind and any number of colours in order to be categorized as ‘true Moroccan’, male garments are much more limited. Nevertheless, as was explained earlier, less and/or more modest colours are believed to be appropriate for married or senior people, while bright colours are considered appropriate for youngsters. Again, under the influence of Moroccan fashion designers, bright colours for men have been introduced but this is qualified as ‘modern Moroccan’. Furthermore, although the decoration techniques used in Moroccan fashion are susceptible to fashion trends and have diversified significantly under the influence of Moroccan fashion designers, it was made clear by the respondents that a number of them remain crucial in the qualification of Moroccan fashion, like the loop-­braided bands, sfifa, and the twisted plaited cord decorations. Nevertheless, many foreign techniques have been introduced and incorporated, especially for women, like the application of beads, Swarovski crystals, semi-­ precious stones and foreign embroideries, but this has not affected the classification process and the qualification as Moroccan. However, respondents agreed that the amount of decorations on female garments is much more important than on male garments, and for women are much more colourful than for men and, as before, introducing too many or too colourful decorations on male garments is qualified as ‘modern’. Finally, besides gender, the amount of change tolerated in Moroccan garments also depends on the type of garment. For example, change is tolerated less for men’s jlaleb, while the jabadur and gendura may change more (rapidly). An explanation may be that the jellaba is worn for formal occasions, whereas the gendura and jabadur are for more informal wear. The same goes for women, where the qeftan or tekšita are less tolerant towards change than for example the ˙ ˙ jellaba or gendura.

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The invention of tradition Although Moroccan fashion is considered traditional, it is far from static and constantly (re-)invented, (re-)defined and adjusted to changing circumstances. As specified by Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (1983: 1) traditions, which appear or claim to be ancient, can actually be quite new and even literally invented in a single event or over a short period of time. Eric Hobsbawm deems that there is probably no time or place that has not seen the invention of tradition, although he argues that this phenomenon occurs more frequently at times of rapid social transformation when ‘old’ traditions are disappearing (1983: 4). In this respect, Wim van Binsbergen (1999: 8) argues that the selective nature of encounters due to globalization leads to the transformation of pre-­existing local cultural idioms as well as the emergence of new cultural expressions. Many aspects of contemporary Moroccan fashion can be qualified as ‘invented’ in the sense that they are new and/or foreign cultural appropriations. For example, most of the characteristic Moroccan decoration techniques that respondents categorize as Moroccan are cultural appropriations from Europe, the Ottoman Empire or India; and some have only recently been introduced in Moroccan fashion especially by Moroccan fashion designers. Also, besides a very low production of brocade weaves in Fez and wool weaves in Bzou, there is very little local fabric production for garments and therefore most is imported. All these developments result from foreign influences, but nevertheless they have been incorporated in the notion of ‘Moroccan tradition’ over time. Furthermore, Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (1983: 4–5) state that traditions are not only ‘invented’ but also ‘re-­invented’. Besides adaptations and new uses of old traditions for new purposes, people also re-­use ancient elements in new contexts. This way, ‘extinct’ traditions can become ‘(re-)invented’ when they are revived. The way Loubna Skalli (2006: 6) formulates it, people recycle their culture and traditions in both the national and international markets. Recycling could take several forms ranging from the commodification of cultures by local entrepreneurs to opening up progressive spaces for the negotiation of cultural and political identities. Besides the recent commercial success of Moroccan fashion due to the process of commodification, contemporary Moroccan wedding ceremonies in particular are full of re-­invented traditions. Although strongly influenced by European traditions, such as the exchanging of rings, the cutting of a wedding cake and the wearing of a white European style wedding dress, ‘old’ Moroccan traditions have been re-­introduced recently and given new meanings, as was addressed in

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Chapter 2. For example, the carrying in of the bride on a decorated plateau now provides a theatrical entrance, whereas it used to be a way to hide the bride from view while carrying her from her father’s house to her future husband’s house. Also, the wearing of the old fessi wedding dress adds to the spectacle and excitement of the evening, as does the carrying around the room of the couple in this outfit, which is a re-­interpretation of a custom when the bride used to be carried around the courtyard of her father’s house before being taken to her future family-­in-law’s house. Also, the arrival of the groom on horse-­back, even just for a few metres, is a re-­introduction of an old custom when the groom actually used to arrive on horse-­back. Today, it merely adds to a grand entrée that occasionally includes the groom literally entering the room on horse-­back. Additionally, a recent fashion trend for women is the pulling up of the hems and sleeves behind decorated elastic bands and the belt like Moroccan women used to do during domestic chores to facilitate their movement and keep their garments from getting dirty. Today it no longer has a practical use but rather an aesthetic one, allowing for the showing off of extra layers of decorated garments underneath.

Consuming Moroccan fashion Thanks to its geographical location on the crossroad of three continents, Morocco has a long history of reconciling and appropriating seemingly opposing cultural influences. While culturally embedded in Arabo-Muslim and Berber traditions, which constitute the ‘core’ of its system of values, ideologies and practices, already its name, al-Maghrib al-Aqsa (the Extreme West) translates the country’s ambiguous geopolitical position within the Arab community (Skalli 2006: 2). The way Loubna Skalli (2006: 3) formulates it, Morocco is considered European from the standpoint of the Arabs in the Middle East, who find it rather strongly westernized in perspective, while simultaneously Morocco is perceived as Oriental from a European standpoint. She argues that this ambiguity, in turn, plays a considerable role in the country’s self-­definition and delineation of its cultural identity. ‘Multiple codes of behaviour and expectations can create multiple-­layered visions and definitions about almost every aspect of Moroccan society’ (2006: 3). It is as if there are a number of parallel realities that are neither static nor mutually exclusive, between which people constantly shift; between Europe and the Middle East, between the mdina and the ville nouvelle, between the private and the public, between tradition and modernity, as well as between the local and the global. Even on the micro-­level of the average Moroccan house, one can often both find a Moroccan and a European living room, no matter how small the space, whereby the two are used for different occasions (Rachik 1997: 294). Adding to that, contemporary Moroccan society is facing large disparities in mentality between the cities and rural areas, the higher and lower social classes,

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and between men and women, due to economic developments, education and exposure to external influences. This is the case in most post-­colonial countries in transition and the way Loubna Skalli (2006) explains it, contemporary Moroccan society is faced with ‘multiple modernities and temporalities – pre-­modern, modern and even post-­modern’ (2006: 6). It would be frustrating at best, she adds, and unrealistic at worst, to want to draw clear-­cut distinctions between tradition and modernity, and between Moroccan and European in Moroccan society (2006: 6). The way sociologist Fatima Mernissi (in Skalli 2006: 182) formulates it, using the metaphor of two widespread commodities in Moroccan society, the mosque and the satellite, Moroccans want to reconcile both realities by constantly travelling back and forth between tradition and (post-)modernity. [. . .] They want, as it were, the mosque and the satellite without sacrificing the one or the other. [. . .] The mosque provides them with cultural anchorage and rootedness, while the satellite seems to offer alternatives to some repressive mechanisms of tradition.

The invention of modernity Just like traditions, notions of modernity in Moroccan society are constantly (re-)invented, (re-)defined and adjusted to new circumstances over time. For example, in the years after independence, modernity in Morocco was mainly associated with the public, with ideologies of progress and a Euromodernity – due to the strong presence of the French – while tradition was linked with the intimacy of the private sphere and stagnation. Toby Slade (2009: 8) notes in this respect that the experience of modernity – speed, mobility, mutability, mass transport, new employment, early consumerism and access to mass information, both visual and written – often occurs in public before it is brought into the home. Change in clothing, he says, is something public long before it becomes something private, whereby taste becomes a divided phenomenon; while modern attire becomes considered appropriate in public, private interiors and dress remain traditional for a much longer period. By the 1990s, the concept of modernity in Morocco had not only become associated with larger foreign influences due to increasing processes of globalization, but also with a possible threat (to identity), while as a counter-­ reaction, ideas of tradition had become dominated by conservatism based on (religious) nationalism in a search for cultural anchorage. At the turn of the century, still, modernity became associated with a Moroccan modernity, that is more in harmony with local circumstances, while tradition has rather become

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associated with modern concepts of national branding and as a potential tool to distinguish oneself in a globalized world. So where modernity used to be seen as ‘a solution’ for tradition, it is almost as if tradition has become a solution for modernity. The way Loubna Skalli (2006: 56) formulates it, an ideological ‘retraditionalization’ refers to a politicization of tradition to combat, in a self-­ conscious defence, traditional norms that are threatened by others. In relation to Moroccan fashion, notions of tradition and modernity have also clearly changed over time. For example, modernization for the first generation of Moroccan fashion designers in the 1960s especially meant the ‘liberalization’ of Moroccan women (according to European standards) by the reduction of the width of the garments as well as the amount of layers, and the introduction of European fashion aesthetics through the introduction of European haute couture fabrics. For the second generation, however, modernization not only meant an increasing introduction of European tailoring into Moroccan fashion, but also a re-­introduction of ‘authentic’ Moroccan fashion traditions. Moroccan fashion designers of the second generation, like Simoha­med Lakhdar for example, became immensely successful by (re-)introducing (contemporary interpretations of) ‘old’ brocade weaves and large belts; the very same brocade weaves and large belts the first generation of Moroccan designers had discarded for their rigidity, heaviness and limitation to women’s freedom of movement. So while modernization in the 1960s meant ‘liberating’ Moroccan women according to European standards, modernization in the 1990s meant reconfirming Moroccan identity based on ‘ancient’ traditions. Daniel Leonhard Purdy (2004: 9) notes in this respect that fashion has the tendency to constantly turn against itself, whereby styles compete against themselves. The way one respondent formulates it, ‘Moroccan dress is influenced by fashion but they [the designers] always go back to tradition.’19 For a third generation of Moroccan fashion designers, in its turn, the modernization of Moroccan fashion seems to mean liberating it from ‘folkloric stereotypes’ and a post-­colonial heritage. They have come to see fashion as an artistic expression where constructs of tradition, modernity and national identity are free for personal and critical interpretation, while simultaneously they can be used as a powerful marketing tool to differentiate oneself on the global market.

Ambiguous behaviour Like European fashion, the consumption of Moroccan fashion is embedded with ambiguous behaviour. While, on the one hand, respondents claim it should remain traditional, on the other hand they agree that it should also modernize. Susan Kaiser (2012: 45) notes in this respect that what contributes to fashion’s ambiguity (mixed meanings) is its relation to ambivalence (mixed emotions). She

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argues that fashion suggests what is to come and it is a process that allows articulating abstract ideas and negotiating ambiguity. Both fashion and culture, she argues, simultaneously undergo continual change and continuity and these simultaneous processes are complex and even contradictory (2012: 12). The way she formulates it, ‘fashion can best be understood as change within continuity, whereas culture reveals practices that emphasize continuity within change. Each concept, in its own way, offers a lens through which to make sense of simultaneity: how different ideas or processes not only coexist but also interact dynamically’ (2012: 13). Fred Davis (1992: 18 and 43) argues fashion articulates and represents collective tensions and moods that it makes visual and material and sheds light on potential meanings and opportunities for change. As Jennifer Craik (2009: 234) formulates it, fashion is a relentless cycle of anticipating the future yet drawing on resonances of the past. This involves balancing the present with the future and the past, she says. Potential clients may be frightened by trends that are too different from what they wear now, she explains, but reject anything that looks old fashioned or out of fashion, so a careful balancing act is needed to predict a newness that is exciting but still has some familiarity. Furthermore, respondents simultaneously experience Moroccan fashion as a burden (on an individual level) and a duty (on a collective level). This perception results from the entanglements between an individual’s subjectivity (i.e., agency, ability to represent) and his or her ‘national fabric’ (i.e., power, hegemony) (Kaiser 2012: 54). Fashion, in this respect, functions both as a vehicle for personal expression and as a force that creates conformity and these processes can be contradictive, she says. Numerous are the respondents, both men and women, who dislike Moroccan fashion, but who simultaneously stress its importance and the importance to preserve it for future generations. Many are those who feel ‘obliged’ by a parent, spouse or social pressure to wear Moroccan fashion and as one female respondent formulates it, I do not like to wear Moroccan fashion because it is very uncomfortable and I do not feel at ease. (. . .) I would much rather prefer to wear a [European] gown that is not so long and does not have a belt, but my sister would never allow it.20 However, this very same respondent expressed in the same interview that it would be undesirable to discard Moroccan fashion or to replace it by European fashion all together because it is so ‘rich and beautiful’. Moroccan fashion is frequently described as ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘impractical’ by respondents because they say the width and length of the garments and sleeves limit them in their movement; several respondents went as far as to say that they ‘cannot run in it’. One cannot help but think to what extent a European

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evening gown or suit, high heels or a necktie are comfortable, practical or easy to run in without drawing the conclusion that comfort is culturally defined as well as subjective. Also, many respondents complain that Moroccan fashion is too expensive and time consuming to purchase while, simultaneously, the majority (continues to) insist on custom- and hand-­made when it comes to their Moroccan garments. The majority testified to be willing to spend a larger budget on Moroccan fashion than on European fashion, even if they have fewer occasions to wear it. Because not only have the occasions for which Moroccan fashion is worn decreased but, also, it has become socially unacceptable for women in particular to be seen wearing the same outfit too many times. This problem is partly solved by the fact that respondents exchange outfits with family members and sometimes girl-­friends. As became clear in the previous chapter, prêt-­aporter is still pretty much taboo for formal Moroccan garments, although male respondents are starting to change. Men particularly dislike the time and effort they have to invest in purchasing the fabric, deciding on the cut and decorations and having to go to the tailor repeatedly for fittings. As one respondent formulates it, in the beginning I would go to the tailor, but it would take so much time, so I started buying them ready made. It is easier. I hated going to buy the fabric and then go to the tailor and come back to try it and come back again, etc. I hated it and it was especially my wife who forced me. I would buy more than one at a time so I did not have to go for a while.21 Nevertheless, the majority of the male respondents testified preferring to order their Moroccan garments custom-­made by a tailor than to buy them ready-­made because of tradition.

Cultural anxiety Another important aspect that contributes to ambiguous behaviour in the consumption of Moroccan fashion is cultural anxiety, which can be defined as a collective sense of free-­floating uncertainty, coupled with emotions ranging from fear and dread to hope and anticipation (Kaiser 2012: 44). Fashion, according to Susan Kaiser (2012: 23), plays an important role in the ongoing creation, revision and blurring of ‘borderlines’ while simultaneously challenging them. Fashion, she says, not only challenges borderlines between self and other, but also between social classes as well as other subject positions (e.g., gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, age). She adds that these borderlines are tenuous, fragile, and elastic and therefore require ongoing negotiation, construction and maintenance (Freitas et al. 1997 in Kaiser 2012: 23). As the Moroccan case-­study testifies, fashion is

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also a powerful tool to negotiate borderlines between tradition and modernity, and between local and global. As was discussed earlier, borderlines in contemporary Moroccan society between private and public, tradition and modernity, Moroccan and European, local and global have been increasingly blurring due to the processes of hybridization as a result of increasing foreign influences, and this is clearly experienced as exciting and threatening whereby people are constantly looking for an ‘acceptable balance’. On the one hand, the modernization of Moroccan fashion under the influence of the Moroccan fashion industry is praised by the respondents for its innovative force but, on the other hand, they criticize it for alternating its ‘essence’, that is, its authenticity. As one respondent explains it, ‘the changes are good and bad. It became prettier and more colourful than it used to be and it stimulated young girls to wear Moroccan dress, but the bad thing is when it changes too much. Too naked. Too European.’22 Nevertheless, the majority of the respondents agree that it is due to the modernization of Moroccan fashion that it has become so popular and successful and acknowledge using the collections of Moroccan fashion designers as a source of inspiration for the designs of their own garments. The fear of too many changes too rapidly is very well summarized by the newly introduced term belduš, which comes from the word beldi and is a demeaning word to refer to Moroccan fashion that is, as one respondent formulates it, ‘traditional modern in a bad way’.23 Furthermore, Susan Kaiser (2012: 23) argues that the process of subject formation reflects an ongoing negotiation within cultural discourses that supply limits to personal agency. Both social and legal processes, she explains, regulate the course of subject formation whereby regulations may be formal (e.g., lab­our laws, dress codes, uniforms) or informal (e.g., social pressures, cultural discourses, self-­regulating tendencies, and the integration of all of these). Referring to the work of Stuart Hall (1997) and David Scott (2005), she says individuals continually navigate and negotiate between the processes of belonging and differentiating. ‘Styling-­fashioning-dressing the body enables articulations of what cultural studies scholars call belonging-­in-difference’ (Kaiser 2012: 75). She argues that a simultaneous need for a sense of identity with others and a sense of social difference from some others is what she refers to as the intersectionalities among subject positions (2012: 165). Again, while accusing Moroccan fashion designers of changing Moroccan fashion too much, the majority of the respondents simultaneously agreed that the modernization of Moroccan fashion has created more possibilities to express one’s individuality and challenge traditions. For example, as was explained earlier, married people are not supposed to draw attention to themselves and therefore should wear sober colours, modest cuts and less ostentatious decorations but, due to the stigmatization of age in contemporary society, they use fashion trends to challenge these rules. The other way around, sometimes traditions are very hard

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to let go, as becomes clear through the ritualized process of purchasing Moroccan fashion. Respondents are on the one hand attracted and reassured by the commodification of Moroccan fashion and are confident that modern designers and stylists, as opposed to the traditional tailors, are able to provide them with better services as professionals concerning the delays and quality of the work – even though the actual production is still performed by traditional tailors and craftsmen, only this time behind a façade of modernity. On the other hand, they are not (yet) ready to fully let go of the privileges they enjoy as customers of traditional tailors, whereby they can impose their own wishes as to the choice of fabrics, cuts and decorations and most of all, where they can negotiate the price. Many respondents turned out not to choose a particular fashion designer or stylist based on his or her talent, but rather on his or her reputation, which in turn is based on the fact that he or she participated in the high profile fashion event Caftan. Rarely do respondents actually select a ready-­ made design by the designer or stylist, or even fully go along with the ideas he or she proposes; they would much rather continue to impose their own fabrics (because it is cheaper) and ideas illustrated by pages (of other people’s work) ripped out of Moroccan fashion magazines.

7 CONCLUSION As became clear in the previous chapter, it is difficult to formulate generalized conclusions in regard to the consumption of Moroccan fashion based on social class, the level of education or the locations where people live. Prejudices that, for example, lower social classes would consume more Moroccan fashion or more traditional Moroccan fashion were not confirmed by the data. The only genuine generalizations that I was able to formulate were in relation to age and gender, whereby marriage is clearly an important turning point in regard to vestimentary behaviour. After marriage, people conform more to the social rules in regard to appropriate dress and apply them more rigorously; while bright colours, fashionable and revealing cuts and elaborate decorations are believed to be appropriate for unmarried people, sober and plain colours, classic and modest cuts as well as moderate decorations are considered more appropriate for married and senior consumers. The most interesting conclusion to me, however, is that contrary to presumptions related to so-­called traditional dress being orchestrated by fixed and rigid traditions, the consumption of Moroccan fashion is most of all regulated by personal taste and choices. Although what is considered appropriate dress according to the wearer’s social position and the context is regulated by social control, it is an individual choice to obey these rules and to what extent. A wedding for a married woman, for example, uncontestably implies wearing Moroccan fashion, but within that category she has a wide range of choices as to what style, ranging from classic to modern. The more I tried to understand the rules regarding the regulation of Moroccan fashion, the more I came to realize that they are not that unique. In the same way that evening-­wear would be considered inappropriate for informal occasions in a European context, be it to go shopping or to go to the office, a qeft.an is judged inappropriate for informal occasions in Morocco, be it to go to the beach or a nightclub. In the same way that certain Moroccan garments are considered ‘too informal’ for formal occasions based on their fabrics, cuts or decorations, a shirt, a pair of pants or a jacket can be considered inappropriate for a wedding in Europe based on the same criteria. In the same way that a French or Dutch grandmother can be considered inappropriately dressed for her age, a Moroccan grandmother can be judged to be dressed beneath her age (related status). In all cases, these unwritten rules are part of one’s cultural education and are applied

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as a result of social control. Simultaneously, it can be a personal choice not to respect those rules or at least to try to bend them. This concluding chapter summarizes the development of Moroccan fashion as a result of contemporary Moroccan history, under the impact of three generations of Moroccan fashion designers, following the Moroccan lifestyle media, influenced by the introduction of foreign fashion brands in Morocco and as a commodity in contemporary Moroccan urban society. Because Moroccan fashion is mainly classified based on its authenticity, I have devoted the second section to this highly complex concept. Finally, I conclude this book by putting Moroccan fashion’s contemporary success in a larger context of a global phenomenon whereby cultural heritage is increasingly used as a powerful marketing tool to construct distinctive national fashion identities. On the one hand, it enables fashion designers and nations to distinguish themselves on the highly competitive international fashion scene while, on the other hand, on a national level it meets a growing revaluation of local cultural heritage as a counter-­ reaction to cultural globalization.

The dynamics of Moroccan fashion The main aim of this research has been to analyse Moroccan fashion as a materialization of social, cultural, political, economic and religious developments in Moroccan society, because until now Moroccan fashion has been predominantly studied as physical objects in which the materials and construction of the garments have been given primacy over their social and cultural meanings. Simultaneously, this research has aimed to contest prevailing misconceptions concerning traditional dress as being static, authentic and symbolic rather than aesthetic and incompatible with (Euro-)modernity and to show that it is just as much susceptible to rapidly changing fashion trends. Using a combination of anthropology of dress, fashion theory and cultural studies, it has made an attempt to ‘unframe’ some of the frameworks that have previously been taken for granted and to question a number of assumptions regarding traditional dress as a result of a hegemonic Eurocentric fashion discourse. Although coded as traditional, Moroccan fashion is far from static or embodying a timeless, closed society but, on the contrary, results from centuries of weaving together foreign influences and adapting to local developments. Even though Morocco was a French Protectorate for less than fifty years, the French had a considerable impact on Moroccan culture through the introduction of French culture, lifestyle and fashion. But because they chose to build their European city centres outside of the existing Arabic city centres, they created a cultural buffer for foreign influences. Over time this division came to compartmentalize the Moroccan cultural capital whereby modernity, European

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lifestyle and fashion became associated with the French villes nouvelles, while Moroccan tradition, lifestyle and fashion became associated with the Arab medinat; but both became uncontestably an integral part of Moroccan identity. Also, with the aim of breaking the political and economic power of the élite based in Fez, the French moved the political and economic centres of the country to Rabat and Casablanca, forcing Morocco’s conservative élite – the gatekeepers of Moroccan tradition – to trade their Arab medina houses for European villas, which had a deep impact on their lifestyle. For one, these villas no longer accommodated extended families as did the ryad, which diminished social control of the family considerably. Also, Casablanca represented a cosmopolitan and freer environment in comparison to the imperial cities. Furthermore, as a reaction to the French presence, a Moroccan nationalist movement developed that turned Moroccan fashion into a symbol of silent resistance and nationalism. Because they founded their legitimacy and authority to a great extent on their Arabo-Muslim identity, which not only allowed them to clearly distinguish themselves from the French but also to associate with the pan-Islamic community, all other cultural and religious minorities were overshadowed and excluded from national identity. Another important aspect of their philosophy that would come to affect Moroccan fashion considerably was the schooling of girls. They considered that Moroccan women, who represented at least half of the population, were not actively contributing to the development of the country and therefore had to be educated (but not emancipated). However, the long piece of cloth they would wrap themselves in when entering male-­ dominated public spaces was far from practical for young girls to attend school and therefore they were dressed in the male outer garment. This is when the jellaba for women not only became a symbol of nationalism but also of female emancipation (Nicholas 2005). Additionally, three generations of Moroccan monarchs used Moroccan fashion to materialize their political ambitions and to construct a national Moroccan identity based on an Arabo-Muslim cultural heritage. Also, as influential role models, they have considerably influenced fashion in Morocco. Mohamed V, for example, by having his eldest daughter Princess Aicha deliver a speech in public in 1947 with her face uncovered and wearing European fashion, gave his royal blessing for all Moroccan women to take down their face veil and to adopt European fashion. A few years later, European fashion came to dominate the public sphere while Moroccan fashion was confined to the private sphere and to social and religious celebrations. By the mid-1960s, the élite schoolgirls of the nationalist movement had grown up and become accustomed to an active lifestyle. Some of them had gone to France to finish their education, adopting a European way of life. The first generation of Moroccan fashion designers, therefore, consisted of women of the Moroccan élite who inherited a Moroccan fashion consisting of multiple layers of heavy velvet and brocade, which made it substantial and impractical. With the

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rapid lifestyle changes introduced in Moroccan society, they no longer considered their vestimentary heritage adequate and therefore ‘liberated’ Moroccan women by making comfortable and elegant garments with a modern look, suitable for a cosmopolitan and active lifestyle. They especially re-­invented Moroccan fashion by introducing European haute couture fabrics and aesthetics, and by reducing the amount of layers, cuts and decorations. Simultaneously, because these women had extensive (international) networks, they had opportunities to present their collections abroad, where they met with a remarkable success. Their international success uncontestably contributed to their national success, since it confirmed the fact that they had succeeded in giving Moroccan fashion both a modern and cosmopolitan allure. Although this was the first generation of Moroccan women to wear European fashion more frequently than they wore Moroccan fashion, it did not stagnate or disappear because these designers successfully adapted Moroccan fashion to a number of fundamental changes in ideals. Furthermore, the Morocco of the 1990s in which a second generation of Moroccan fashion designers emerged was considerably different from that of the first generation. Due to significant economic, political and cultural developments from the mid-1980s onwards, Moroccan fashion underwent the processes of professionalization, industrialization and commodification, and fashion in general became democratized. This generation owes its success to a large extent to the Moroccan fashion press and their widely mediatized fashion events. The fact that they were featuring in glamorous fashion spreads and being broadcast on national television not only elevated them to stardom, but also enabled them to reach a much larger audience. Due to the establishment of fashion schools, this second generation was also formally trained in fashion design and, as a result, they significantly altered Moroccan fashion by increasingly mixing their know-­ how of European fashion design with the production and decoration techniques carried out by Moroccan craftsmen. They incorporated European fashion components such as pants, skirts, corsets and revealing necklines while simultaneously (re-)introducing so-­called traditional Moroccan materials, patterns and decoration techniques. As a counter-­reaction to (too much) European cultural influences in Moroccan society and the impact of cultural globalization in general, they responded to an increasing revaluation of Moroccan cultural heritage as a means of emphasizing local distinctiveness. Despite the presence of a French lifestyle and fashion magazines on the Moroccan market, national lifestyle magazines were introduced in the mid-1990s and became an instant success. This was because not only were the products featured actually available on the local market, but particularly because their editorial lines were more adapted to Moroccan women’s daily realities. Their main aim was to show Moroccan women how to be simultaneously modern as well as Moroccan, and used Moroccan fashion to illustrate this. The most

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important influences of the Moroccan media on Moroccan fashion have been the processes of modernization, democratization and commodification. First, by taking Moroccan fashion out of its traditional contexts of socio-­religious ceremonies and putting it into modern settings – whether a magazine cover, a catwalk or a television screen – the media have played an important role in transforming the image of Moroccan fashion. Second, by featuring collections in magazines and on television, fashion trends became accessible to all social classes as well as to a wide range of stylists, tailors and seamstresses to translate into accessible collections. Third, the lifestyle media have made significant contributions to the commodification of Moroccan fashion by stimulating consumption through commercializing yearly socio-­religious events like Ramadan and the wedding season in summer. Adding to this, the introduction of foreign fashion brands on a large scale in Morocco did not threaten the continuity of Moroccan fashion but, on the contrary, boosted its development through the introduction of new consumption patterns and marketing strategies, resulting in the commodification of Moroccan fashion. Shifts occurred from consumption based on demand to consumption based on offerings and from anonymous tailors and craftsmen in imageless workshops in the Arabic city centres to glamorous stylists and designers with fashionable boutiques and showrooms in the French city centres. However, while the context in which Moroccan fashion is sold has altered considerably, the actual production of Moroccan fashion has hardly changed with an army of craftsmen working in large ateliers, hidden from view, to produce the actual garments. Also under the influence of foreign fashion brands, Moroccan fashion has increasingly diversified in order to stimulate consumption, introducing new markets such as informal Moroccan fashion and Moroccan fashion for children. Nevertheless, some peculiarities of the consumption of Moroccan fashion have limited its industrialization, such as the continued insistence on hand-­work and exclusivity. Finally, a third generation of Moroccan fashion designers has been emerging at the turn of the twenty-­first century that has been analysing and re-­inventing Moroccan fashion against a global background and far from folkloric stereotypes. The turn of the twenty-­first century has been met by increasing cultural globalization as well as by fundamental national developments such as in­cre­asing demands for individual and cultural rights, urbanization, growing religious extremism and mounting social segregation. This new generation of designers uses fashion to challenge hegemonic notions of Moroccanness inflicted by the ruling élite by re-­inventing and conceptualizing Moroccan cultural heritage in explicit individual styles. They are more likely to use the medium of fashion to materialize their ideas on Moroccan (national) identity, contemporary Moroccan society, and the (Arab) world in general. Much more than their predecessors, they claim an increasing freedom for individuality, criticism and artistic expression in their collections. They no longer wish to limit themselves to the stereotypical

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Moroccan garments that have been monopolizing the Moroccan fashion scene for so long, but shape their collections by taking the artistic liberty to re-­invent and re-­shape, with an individual signature as a result. However, the commercial success of the Moroccan fashion industry would not have been possible if Moroccan fashion did not (continue to) play an important socio-­cultural role in contemporary Moroccan society. Although both Moroccan and European fashion are equally important in the expression of individual and collective identity, they do not compete with one another because they have different values, fulfil different needs and, therefore, represent different markets. Simultaneously, due to the processes of mutual influences and hybridization, borderlines have blurred and the categorization of Moroccan and European fashion has become increasingly complex. Most of all, Moroccan fashion is associated with localness, tradition and authenticity, while European fashion is associated with foreignness, modernity and change. Authenticity, however, is a construct rather than a given, as will be discussed in the next paragraph.

The slippery concept of authenticity Authenticity plays a central role in the classification of Moroccan fashion, yet it is hard to speak of authenticity when it comes to it. It is largely the product of recent developments and foreign influences in regard to the materials, the cuts, the colours or even the decoration techniques. Most of the fabrics are imported, cuts have been strongly influenced by European fashion aesthetics in particular, and decoration and production techniques are either relatively recently introduced into Moroccan fashion by fashion designers or authenticated foreign (European, Ottoman and Indian) influences. According to Charles Lindholm (2008: 2), there are two overlapping modes for characterizing something as authentic: genealogical or historical (origin) and identity or correspondence (content). These two forms of authenticity, he says, are not always compatible nor are both invoked equally in every context, but both stand in contrast to whatever is believed to be fake, unreal or false (2008: 2). Most of all, he argues, authenticity gathers people together in collectives that are felt to be real, essential and vital, providing participants with meaning, unity and a surpassing sense of belonging (2008: 1). In general, authenticity does not apply well to dress because it is always a product of cultural encounters and the processes of hybridization (Reinach 2010: 206 in Kaiser, 2012: 59). Even so-­called traditional or ethnic dress is never completely indigenous but comes from many sources (Eicher and Erekosima 1995). Through a process of what Joanne Eicher and Tonye Erekosima (1995: 145) call cultural authentication, foreign elements become authentic by being assimilated into an already existing system, whereby foreign influences come to

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symbolize ethnic identity. ‘The construct of cultural authentication applies to specific articles and ensembles of dress identified as ethnic and considered indigenous when the users are not the makers or when the material used is not indigenous in origin’ (1995: 140). This cultural authentication process (CAP), they explain, consists of four steps, which are selection, characterization, incorporation and transformation (SCIT) (1995: 145). The first step is when a particular practice or product is selected as appropriate and desirable by members of another culture out of an almost unlimited number of other cultural options or offerings. The second step is when the selected item is characterized in some symbolic form within the meaning reference-­frame of the receiving culture. The item may be renamed in the members’ own language or it can be translated into any other expressive form. The third step is when the innovation occupies some functional role within the receiving cultural system by being incorporated towards meeting some adaptation need in society, at either individual or collective levels, and often at both. The fourth step is when the adopted artefact or practice (which may initially have been foreign or else from another generation or another segment of the same society) is transformed in itself. This entails an accommodation of its old form and purpose to the new setting in a holistic way. The outcome of this final phase invariably involves a creative or artistic change that envelops the product and the setting (1995: 145). Joanne Eicher and Tonye Erekosima (1995: 145–6) emphasize that symbols that are available to a culture from both its past and its present, and which are applied to express ethnicity, ‘are not fixed points of tradition, but rather frames of reference and meaning within which ethnics respond to social, political, religious or economic pressures’. Marilyn Halter (2000: 17), in her book Shopping for Identity: The Marketing of Ethnicity, argues that the increasing popularity of authenticity in the past few decades is related to nostalgia for an idealized and fixed point in time when folk culture was supposedly untouched by the corruption that is automatically associated with commercial development. Hence, she says, the more artificiality, anonymity and uncertainty apparent in a post-­modern world, the more driven are the quests for authentic experiences and the more people long to feel connected to localized traditions seeking out the timeless and true (2000: 17). Although commercialism is the arch-­enemy of cultural purity, she shows how corporate interests are vying with one another to claim their particular output as the most authentic in the marketplace (2000: 18). She argues that when individuals purchase something considered representative of a culture, whether buying a piece of their own heritage or branching out to expose themselves to another’s, they expect a certain level of legitimacy, but at the same time the determinations of authenticity are extremely arbitrary and which items are and are not considered genuine expressions of ethnic identity is based on highly subjective criteria (2000: 19). As such, authenticity is increasingly used to add value to an object as a commodity (Appadurai 1986: 56–7 and Clifford 1988: 215, 228) and has

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become a powerful marketing tool. In that way, Moroccan tradition has been commoditized under the brand name beldi and Moroccan fashion is its most successful product. Yet it is neither static nor mutually exclusive with modernity as the term beldi moderne testifies. Even though only a few years ago beldi was still as­sociated with the countryside, backwardness and old-­fashionedness, due to the increasing consequences of cultural globalization and the processes of modernization, urbanization and industrialization in Moroccan urban society, beldi now allows people to escape and dream of a time that everything was ‘better’. Beldi has come to represent everything that is ‘good’ about Morocco, from grandmother’s home-­made bread to Moroccan handcrafts. Moroccan fashion sells a fantasy materialized by Moroccan fashion designers through the skills of Moroccan craftsmen. Its success thrives on the nostalgic values consumers give to concepts of nationalism, tradition and authenticity; something European fashion will never be able to provide. It is best formulated by the highly popular Moroccan fashion blogger Sofia El Arabi, who argues she wishes to turn away from international fashion brands in order to move to ‘an horizon that is more traditional and authentic’.1 She uses Moroccan cultural heritage to distinguish herself from international bloggers, and judges that the main attraction of her blog is ‘a nostalgic longing for an authentic Morocco’. For her online fashion brand Bakchic, she recently introduced a clothing and . accessory line called Berberism whereby she mixes ʾamazig fashion aesthetics with European fashion aesthetics. Although it is not clear whether she actually lays claim to this ethnic origin herself, she clearly uses (rural) Moroccan cultural heritage to meet growing desires for cultural purity and authenticity. The way Marilyn Halter (2000: 8) formulates it, one of the latest innovations to galvanize consumers and hold out the promise of that magical potion that mixes the security of the old with the excitement of the new is a broad-­based appeal to our romantic search for an ethnic identity. She observes a growing desire especially among the prosperous middle class of ethnic minorities in the United States for products that could suggest more permanence or stability in their lives (2000: 11). Although her research focuses on ethnicity within twentieth century American society, I believe it just as much applies to a global context. For example, she argues that the requirement of optional or part-­time ethnicity is a prior sense of belonging enough to be able to freely distinguish oneself from mass society on the basis of cultural difference. In the same way, I believe a growing number of (non-)western countries in today’s global context feel secure enough about their global integration to emphasize their cultural differences. Also, she explains that in the American context it is especially the educated and financially successful ethnic minorities who are getting back to their cultural roots (2000: 10), which is the same on a global level.

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She argues that the ethnic revival represents the search for recognizable or familiar points of reference in a ‘cold, impersonal and fragmented world’ (2000: 12). Ethnic identities are continually being re-­invented, she says, to fulfil a longing to feel anchored to a secure, harmonious and localized past, although living amid the vast and chaotic landscapes of consumption that characterize the present (2000: 12). According to her, these consumer products and services are increasingly replacing traditional neighbourhood and community affiliations as the connective tissue of post-­modern life (2000: 13).

National fashion identities So rather than a faithful respecting of ancient traditions, the unprecedented contemporary success of Moroccan fashion should be understood as part of a global phenomenon, whereby cultural heritage is used to formulate a distinctive and unique identity that enables us to both define as a group and differentiate from others. As Sandra Niessen (2003: 258) already formulated it, on the two sides of fashion’s conventional divide, those who protect the exclusiveness of western fashion and those who defend the purity of traditional dress are speaking high and low dialects of the same global fashion language. Not only the West, but also the non-West needs a conceptual Other for self-­definitional purposes. Therefore the impact of cultural globalization has not only resulted in global fashions, such as European, African, Latin, Asian and Muslim fashion, but as a counter-­reaction also in an increasing formulation of national fashion identities based on local tradition. Fashion designers as much in the West as the non-West are increasingly branding their national heritages as a successful marketing tool, while simultaneously modernizing it. On the one hand, in a globalized world, it allows them to differentiate themselves on a highly competitive international fashion market while, on the other hand, on a national level it makes them successful as a result of a general revaluation of national cultural heritage. In the same way that fashion brands convince consumers of their authenticity by emphasizing their brand history and heritage, fashion designers use their national heritage. By referring to characteristic styles and icons from the nation’s past, they place themselves explicitly in national history and tradition and give their work an aura of authenticity. Simultaneously, by choosing certain icons of cultural heritage and omitting others, they contribute to a large extent to the creation of a distinctive national fashion identity. National (fashion) identity, however, in the same way as tradition and authenticity, is not a given but a dynamic construct that is subject to the ideological context in which it is formulated. Neither completeness nor historical accuracy are decisive in its construction. The way Susan Kaiser (2012: 53) formulates it, the identification and storytelling of national fashion identities has

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more to do with categorical thinking – the drive to classify and compare in order to develop a sense of identity – than it does with distinguishable cultures or characteristics. She argues that there is no single natural or authentic link between nations and their national fashion identities. Referring to the work of Craig Calhoun (1997: 7 in Kaiser 2012: 53), she explains how essential national identities are most of all created to make people feel that they are internally united and yet different from people in other nations. The way Alison Goodrum (2005: 62) formulates it, national identity is a confection of selective memories, generating traditions and rituals in order to reinforce ideas of permanence and longevity and also supplying the plebeian masses with a collection of codified emblems through which to foster national belonging and a sense of identification. Toby Slade (2009: 8) argues that the universalization of national identity is part of the processes of modernity. Through deliberate propaganda, he says, regions are transformed from loose abstractions to a far more established and significant idea – from a collection of feudal domains to a unified nation-­state – in the minds of the people who inhabited it. He sees it as a centrally modern process to create a collective identity through the fabrication and propagation of national mythology. Simultaneously, he argues that modernity everywhere repeatedly clothes itself in reconstructions of the past, recreating a national costume and inventing traditions to authenticate this past and to authenticate the very idea of the nation itself. Often the clothing most typical of the period of industrialization and modernization, he adds, is in opposition to the scientific and rational values that industrial society is supposed to produce and constitute (2009: 5). Especially in an era of cultural globalization whereby fashion trends and ideas are increasingly borrowed from others, nations increasingly feel the need for a sartorial symbol of national identity such as the Indian sari, the Mexican poncho, the Scottish kilt, the Japanese kimono, the Ghanaian kenté, the Korean hanbok, the Afghan burka, the American baseball cap, the Vietnamese ao dai, the Saudi Thobe, the Moroccan caftan, the Indonesian sarong, etc. The example of China as explained by Juanjuan Wu (2009: 103) shows how national fashion identities are especially important in relation to others. Because of its long self-­imposed isolation from the rest of the world after 1949, she explains, in a way China’s need for a symbol of national identity was obscured, even though nationalism remained a prominent feature of Chinese politics. It was only after China opened up to the world in 1978, she says, that the need for such a national identity symbol became apparent. She argues that rapid modernization coupled with the collapse of both the Marxist–Leninist–Maoist and Confucian value systems in the post-Mao era led to a pervasive sense of anomie and alienation in Chinese society as people lost their moral and spiritual moorings. China found itself in the throes of a

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national identity crisis, she says. On the one hand, many Chinese resented the idea of being culturally assimilated by the West, while on the other hand, many Chinese were reluctant to appear merely traditional. Therefore, she concludes, the Chinese attempted to create something new enough to differentiate themselves from the traditional Chinese image, yet familiar enough to make a meaningful connection with its cultural heritage (2009: 03). While today the qipao is uncontestably the globally recognized national sartorial symbol of China, this case study especially illustrates how national fashion identities are a relatively recent phenomenon (even though they claim an ancient history). As David Harvey (1990 in Kaiser 2012: 178) describes it, the significance of place increases with globalization because the concept of place is threatened with the speed and flexibility with which goods and ideologies flow across national boundaries, which is called time–space compression. As globalization blurs and threatens national boundaries, he explains, new circuits of production– distribution–consumption relations offer new opportunities to articulate national and local identities (Kaiser 2012: 173). Moroccan fashion, for example, first became a national symbol within Morocco as a reaction to the French before it relatively recently became a symbol to the rest of the world through diplomatic missions and nation branding activities abroad. Simultaneously, national fashion identities are a powerful marketing tool in the branding of nations, lifestyles and cities on a global scale (Paulicilli and Clark 2009: 2). That is how Paris and France became the fashion centre in the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth, while New York and the USA became the centre for sportswear and ready-­to-wear from the inter-­war period onwards. Milan and Italy took over from Paris in the late 1970s as the centre of couture, while London and the UK became the centre for street-­fashion from the 1960s onwards. In the 1980s, Japanese designers came to dominate the international fashion scene and in the 1990s Antwerp and Belgium became the centre for avant-­garde design (2009: 2). The success of national fashion identities, however, is mostly the result of strong marketing. Valerie Steele (1988: 9 in Kawamura 2004: 11), for example, argues that the fashion leadership of Paris was never due to any particular spirit of frivolity or progressiveness on the part of Parisians, nor is Paris fashion the product of individual creative genius, although this concept continues to play a large part in the mythology of French fashion. Lise Skov (1996: 133 in Kawamura 2004: 11), in her turn, states that it is hardly a criticism to say that Paris is but a myth, because this in fact is one of its strongest selling points. In the past decades the majority of the haute couture houses – which for many signify the superiority of Paris fashion because every single garment is bespoke – have experienced severe economic difficulties, she continues, and their main income is no longer from selling haute couture but perfumes, cosmetics and accessorizing items that sell precisely because the mythical place of their origin – ‘Paris’ – is part of their logo (in Kawamura 2004: 11).

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Moroccan fashion designers, in the same way, have played a crucial role in the construction of a national Moroccan fashion identity and, consequently, in the promotion of Morocco abroad. They are continuously modernizing, re-­ inventing and re-­introducing icons of Morocco’s cultural heritage with characteristic garments such as the qeft.an, jellaba, gendura, jabadur, and bernus as well as typical decoration techniques like t.arz. (embroidery), sfifa (braided bands), randa (needle lace) and couched plaited cord in combination with local weaves like brocade and wool weaves combined with characteristic materials like henna dye, vegetable silk (sabra) and felt. Although all these elements have been introduced into Morocco at some point from abroad, Moroccan fashion designers are styling them as symbols of a distinctive Moroccan fashion identity. Also, although many of these elements used to be particular to a specific region in Morocco with specific socio-­cultural meanings, fashion designers have ‘neutralized’ them by combining and re-­inventing elements from different regions as they please and turning them into an expression of national identity. However, the elements that designers are selecting from their cultural heritage are not ‘empty’ stylistic quotations that simply lead to a specific aesthetic, but become part of a visual language that implies symbolic meanings (Feitsma forthcoming 2014). Through the use of icons, designers express the connotative message ‘this is Moroccan’ whereby the designs communicate ‘coded messages’ (Barthes 1977: 35 in Feitsma forthcoming 2014). The garments, techniques, materials and accessories gain an emblematic character, which turns them into distinguishing marks for a particular nation (Craik 2009: 410–11), also referred to as globally recognized signifiers (Mazzarella 2003). At the same time, Moroccan fashion designers mix characteristic local elements with foreign (European) fashion aesthetics in order to construct transnational dialogues. As discussed earlier, countries want to globally integrate while simultaneously safeguarding their local distinctiveness. Therefore, I believe that cultural globalization does not lead to cultural homogenization but, on the contrary, to cultural heterogenization due to a revaluation – and even (re-)invention – of tradition as a means of emphasizing local distinctiveness. Traditional dress is only defined and categorized in relation to foreign dress and, therefore, is a relatively new phenomenon. It is only with the introduction of foreign fashions that the need occurs to protect local fashion and, in the case of Morocco, there has never been as much invention of tradition as in the past few decades. Furthermore, the contemporary success of Moroccan fashion is particularly the result of its representation of a Moroccan modernity as a desirable alternative to Euromodernity, represented by European fashion. While modernity reflects critical thinking and the challenging of traditional sources of political, religious and ideological authority as well as scientific and technological advances and social and economic reforms, it also simultaneously feeds a search for authenticity, continuity and (cultural) anchorage, as argued by Toby Slade (2009: 4).

TRANSCRIPTION OF ARABIC1   CONSONANTS '

‫أ‬

b

‫ب‬

t

‫ٽ‬

th/t

‫ث‬

j

‫ج‬

h·

‫ح‬

h

‫خ‬

d

‫د‬

d

‫ذ‬

r

‫ر‬

z

‫ز‬

s

‫س‬

š

‫ش‬

s·

‫ص‬

d·

‫ض‬

t·

‫ط‬

z·

‫ظ‬

ʿ

‫ع‬

g·

‫غ‬

f

‫ف‬

q

‫ق‬ (Continued)

126

TRANSCRIPTION OF ARABIC

k

‫ك‬

l

‫ل‬

m

‫م‬

n

‫ن‬

h

‫ه‬

w

‫و‬

y

‫ي‬

VOWELS MSA a i u a¯ ¯ı u¯ VOWELS MA e u˘ ı˘ a˘ a i u Source: Transcription of Moroccan Arabic words according to Jan Hoogland (1996)

GLOSSARY

ʿid al-ʾad.h.aˉ celebration approximately one month after the end of   Ramadan, during which a sheep is sacrificed ʿid le-­kbir see ʿid al-ʾad.h.aˉ ʿid s.-s.g.ir see ʿid al-­fit.r celebration for the end of Ramadan ʿid al-­fit.r ʿšura religious celebration especially for women and children couched plaited button ʿu˘qda (pl. ʿaqaad) . ʾamazig literally meaning ‘free people’, indicating the Berber   population of Morocco ʾumaa the Muslim community ajr religious merits Far West al-Maghrib al-Aqsa amir l-­muʾminin Prince of the faithful; religious title of the King babuš leather slippers blessing baraka bakšiš bribe money bedʿiya(t) sleeveless caftan traditional, local, authentic beldi beldi wear informal Moroccan dress belduš traditional in a tasteless way . . leather slippers belga (pl. blagi) cloak bernus bziwi a fine woollen fabric from Bzou a local law d. ahıˉr darija Moroccan Arabic Moroccan currency derhem dfina long garment in the same cut as the caftan but of a thin   transparent material farajiya garment of a light transparent material in the same cut   as the caftan worn by men fasi from Fez a religious man fqih breakfast; breaking of the fast during Ramadan ft.ur fuqiya long garment in the same cut as the caftan fus.haˉ Modern Standard Arabic gendura (pl. gendurat) long sleeveless garment hanout small workshop or grocery shop h.ayk long piece of material used to wrap around the body as   an outer garment h.emmam Moroccan steam bath

128

GLOSSARY

h.enna herbal mixture used to decorate hands and feet h.rira Moroccan soup h.zam large silk belt jabadur outfit consisting of wide pants and several shirts and   coats long outer garment with hood jellaba (pl. jlaleb) kmis. long shirt with long sleeves ksa long piece of material used to wrap around the body lailat al-­qadr ‘night of the decisions’ (26th night of Ramadan) lebsa long garment in the same shape as the caftan le-­mlak engagement face veil ltam mans.uriya long garment in the same shape as the caftan but of thin   transparent material mʿellem(a) (pl. mʿellmin) master craftsman belt md. emma (pl. md. ami) mdina (pl. mdun) Arabic city centre mejdul an elaborately decorated couched plaited cord mekhzen royal authority mekhzeni royal mudawwana Islamic family law nayda movement nbita evening of the henna ceremony traditional wedding planner neggafa (pl. neggafat) nqab face veil qeft.an (pl. qfat.en) long garment with long sleeves and a round collar, open   in the front with couched plaited buttons randa needle lace foreign, machine made, new rumi rza male headscarf synthetic and/or vegetable silk sabra salafi current within Islam šebka type of needle lace selham woollen cloak šerbil (pl. šrabel) leather slippers serwal wide short low-­crotched pants wide short low-­crotched pants serwal khendrisa sfifa braided band suq market t.agiya type of headgear for men t.ahaara purity or purifying . tʾamazigt language spoken by the ʾamazig˙ t.arz. embroidery tekšit.a outfit consisting of two long garments in the same shape   as the caftan, held together with a belt t.erbuš type of headgear for men t.erbuš wat.ani type of headgear for men tšamir long shirt with long sleeves zakat l-­fit.r money given to the poor at the end of Ramadan zellij traditional mosaic

NOTES

Chapter 2 1 For an elaboration on the choice of Rabat, see Janet Abu-Lughod, Rabat: Urban Apartheid in Morocco (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980), 138–9. 2 For more details on the Plan de Réformes, see Roger Le Tourneau, Histoire du Maroc modern (Provence: Publications de l’Université de Provence, 1992), 196–8. 3 For more information, see Stephen Hughes, Morocco under King Hassan (Reading: Ithaca Press, 2001), and Gilles Perrault, Notre ami le roi (France: Éditions Gallimard, 1990). 4 For more information on the reign of King Mohamed VI, see Issa Babana El Alaoui, Mohammed VI: Un style de gouvernement (Paris: Éditions Souffles, 2002). 5 Personal communication Paolo de Mas (researcher), November 17, 2012. 6 For more information on Islam in Morocco, see Dale F. Eickelman, Moroccan Islam: Tradition and Society in a Pilgrimage Center (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1976), and Pessah Shinar, Modern Islam in the Maghrib (Jerusalem: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2004). 7 A motion picture that illustrates this very well is Les Chevaux de Dieu (Nabil Ayouch 2012). 8 It is impossible to give a representative description of a Moroccan wedding ceremony for it varies according to region, social status, circumstances and personal choice. In the literature, numerous descriptions have been given of Moroccan weddings in the past and these were always of wealthy families (Westermarck 1914; Le Tourneau 1978; El Khayat 1994; Sorber, 1997). Therefore, the general description given here is also based on a number of weddings by wealthy urban families.

Chapter 3 1 Personal communication Tamy Tazi (fashion designer), July 9, 2004. 2 Personal communication Zhor Sebti (fashion designer), November 17, 2006. 3 Personal communication Karima (Kouki) Guessous (daughter of fashion designer Zina Guessous), December 14, 2013. 4 Personal communication Mouna Lotfi (daughter of fashion designer Naima Bennis), December 20, 3013.

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5 Personal communication Zhor Sebti (fashion designer), November 17, 2006. 6 Personal communication Tamy Tazi (fashion designer), July 9, 2004, August 2013 and December 21, 2013. 7 Personal communication Zineb Joundy (fashion designer), November 21, 2006. 8 Personal communication Karim Tassi (fashion designer), July 19, 2006; see also http://www.karimtassi.com/ 9 Personal communication Albert Oiknine (fashion designer), July 9, 2004 and July 18, 2006. 10 ‘Tendance Caftan a Paris,’ Bladi, April 2, 2006, http://www.bladi.net/8505-tendance-­ caftan-paris.html. 11 Personal communication Noureddine Amir (fashion designer), July 2, 2004. 12 Personal communication Noureddine Amir (fashion designer), April 2006. 13 Personal communication Noureddine Amir (fashion designer), July 2, 2004; see also ‘Noureddine Amir,’ Couleur Marrakech, (2006), no. 6, July retrieved from http://www. couleurs-­marrakech.com/numero6/mode-­marrakech.htm 14 Personal communication Amina Agueznay (designer), July 12, 2006 and May 3, 2007. 15 Personal communication Salima Abdel Wahab (fashion designer), May 19, 2006 and April 20, 2007. 16 Personal communication Fadila El Gadi (fashion designer), June 26, 2006.

Chapter 4 1 Personal communication Nesma Didi-Boughaleb (Editor in Chief Ousra), August 4, 2006; Personal communication Ilham Benzakour (Fashion editor Citadine), December 27, 2006; Personal communication Aïcha Zaïmi Sakhri (Editor in Chief Femmes du Maroc), December 15, 2006. 2 For an overview of the early feminist press, see Loubna Skalli, Through a Local Prism: Gender, Globalization and Identity in Moroccan Women’s Magazines (New York: Lexington Books, 2006). 3 Personal communication Nesma Didi-Boughaleb (Editor in Chief Ousra), August 4, 2006. 4 Personal communication Aïcha Zaïmi Sakhri (Editor in Chief Femmes du Maroc), December 15, 2006. Aïcha Zaïmi Sakhri left her post as Editor in Chief of Femmes du Maroc in February 2009 and since has created her own magazine called Illi. 5 Personal communication Ilham Benzakour (Fashion editor Citadine), December 27, 2006. 6 Personal communication Layla Benyassin (Editor in Chief Nisaa Mn Al Maghreb), July 20, 2006. 7 Personal communication Touria Horaira (Fashion editor Nisaa Mn Al Maghreb), July 25, 2006. 8 Personal communication Laurence Oiknine (Editor in Chief Version Homme), December 25, 2006.

NOTES

131

9 http://www.editionsjalou.com 10 Personal communication Maria Daif (Editor in Chief Parade), December 26, 2006 and revised on August 22, 2013. 11 Personal communication informal Moroccan fashion model who wishes to stay anonymous, September 1, 2006. 12 http://www.marocpremium.org 13 http://federationdelacouturemarocaine.com/ 14 http://casablancafashionweek.com/2006-i-­ledition-0/ Translation by the author. 15 http://www.casablancafashionweek.com 16 http://www.worldpressphoto.org/joseph-­ouechen 17 http://www.youarethestyle.blogspot.be 18 Written interview with Zineb Diouri El Oulam (Editor in Chief Wassakh), March 20, 2013. 19 Written interview with Sofia El Arabi (fashion blogger), March 31, 2013. 20 http://ethnitcitiesbureau.com/tag/fashion-­bakchic/ 21 http://www.itinerairebiscompany.com/interview-­fashion-­bakchic 22 http://www.missoutlet.com/Fashion-­bakchic-meets-Miss-Outlet 23 http://fashion-­bakchic.blogspot.be/2012/04/closeterie.html#.UXVUayuPhRA

Chapter 5 1 Personal communication President of AMITH, January 29, 2006. 2 Personal communication Karim Tazi (CEO Marwa), July 27, 2006. 3 Personal communication Noureddine Amir (fashion designer), July 2, 2004. 4 ESMOD Paris is the world’s first private fashion school, originally founded in 1841. 5 Personal communication Mohamed Lahlou (CEO Liliane), December 14, 2006. 6 http://www.neskinvest.com 7 http://www.groupeaksal.com 8 http://www.moroccomall.net 9 ‘Morocco Mall wins “Best Shopping Centre” MIPIM Award 2012’ on http:// designinternational.com/morocco-­mall-wins-­best-shopping-­centre-mipim-­ awards-2012-0 10 Personal communication Hanane Imani (Director Océane), January 27, 2006. 11 Personal communication Maria Madani (Co-­founder Yousra), January 25, 2006. 12 Personal communication Ghizlane Sahli (Director Alrazal), May 23, 2006.

Chapter 6 1 In this respect it is interesting to compare the approaches of cultural studies. See for example, Stuart Hall, Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying

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Practices (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1997) and John Storey, Cultural Studies and the Study of Popular Culture: Theories and Methods (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 2003). 2 Respondent 26, male, aged 54, Muslim, living in the mdina of Fez, middle social class. 3 Respondent 26, male, aged 54, Muslim, living in the mdina of Fez, middle social class. 4 Respondent 45, male, aged 22, Muslim, living in the ville nouvelle of Marrakech, lower social class. 5 Respondent 10, male, aged 26, no religion, living in the mdina of Fez, lower social class. 6 Respondent 23, male, aged 54, Muslim, living in the ville nouvelle of Fez, lower social class. 7 Respondent 35, female, aged 67, Jewish, living in the ville nouvelle of Marrakech, higher social class. 8 Respondent 76, female, aged 25, Muslim, living in the mdina of Casablanca, lower social class. 9 Respondent 13, female, aged 39, Muslim, living in the ville nouvelle of Fez, middle social class. 10 Respondent 8, male, aged 13, Muslim, living in the mdina of Fez, lower social class. 11 Respondent 13, female, aged 39, Muslim, living in the ville nouvelle of Fez, middle social class. 12 See also Nancy Lindisfarne-Tapper and Bruce Ingham, Languages of Dress in the Middle East (London: Curzon Press, 1997). 13 Respondent 81, female, aged 28, Muslim, living in the ville nouvelle of Casablanca, middle social class; and Respondent 26, male, aged 54, Muslim, living in the mdina of Fez, lower social class. 14 Respondent 76, female, aged 25, Muslim, living in the mdina of Casablanca, lower social class. 15 Respondent 9, male, aged 13, Muslim, living in the mdina of Fez, lower social class; and Respondent 38, male, aged 22, Muslim, living in the ville nouvelle of Marrakech, higher social class. 16 Respondent 39, female, aged 25, Muslim, living in the ville nouvelle of Marrakech, higher social class. 17 Respondent 70, female, aged 26, Muslim, living in the ville nouvelle of Casablanca, higher social class; and Respondent 68, female, aged 22, no religion, living in the ville nouvelle of Casablanca, higher social class. 18 Respondent 14, female, aged 36, Muslim, living in the ville nouvelle of Fez, middle social class. 19 Respondent 43, female, aged 22, Muslim, living in ville nouvelle of Marrakech, lower social class. 20 Respondent 14, female, aged 36, Muslim, living in the ville nouvelle of Fez, middle social class. 21 Respondent 37, male, aged 60, Muslim, living in the ville nouvelle of Marrakech, higher social class.

NOTES

133

22 Respondent 40, female, aged 34, Muslim, living in the mdina of Marrakech, lower social class. 23 Respondent 39, female, aged, 25, Muslim, living in the ville nouvelle of Marrakech, higher social class.

Chapter 7 1 Written interview with Sofia El Arabi (fashion blogger), March 31, 2013.

Transcription of Arabic 1 Moroccan Arabic darija is not a written language and therefore all words are written phonetically and can vary considerably.

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WEBSITES http://casablancafashionweek.com/2006-i-­ledition-0/ http://www.casablancafashionweek.com http://www.editionsjalou.com http://ethnitcitiesbureau.com/tag/fashion-­bakchic/ http://fashion-­bakchic.blogspot.be/2012/04/closeterie.html#.UXVUayuPhRA http://federationdelacouturemarocaine.com/ http://www.groupeaksal.com

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http://www.itinerairebiscompany.com/interview-­fashion-bakchic http://www.karimtassi.com http://www.marocpremium.org http://www.missoutlet.com/Fashion-bakchic-meets-Miss-Outlet http://www.moroccomall.net http://www.neskinvest.com http://www.worldpressphoto.org/joseph-­ouechen http://www.youarethestyle.blogspot.be

141

INDEX

I20 February Movement, 16, 22, 26 2M, 61 Abadi, Najia, 64 Abdelwahab, Salima, 49, 50 Abdennassar, Jamal, 65 added value, 8, 9, 84 adornment, 3, 5, 93 advertisement, 53, 54, 84 advertiser, 57 aesthetic, 2, 5, 8, 18, 33, 53, 61, 62, 74, 105, 107, 114, 116, 118, 120, 124 Africa, 5, 9, 15, 26, 28, 45, 78, 79, 121 Agadir, 62, 77, 79 agency, 108, 110 Agueznay, Amina, viii, 48–9 Agueznay, Malika, 48 Alaoui, Mohammed Belarbi, 22 Alaouite Dynasty, 19, 20 Aldo, 77 Alphadi, 42 Alrazal, 90 Aman, 42 Amazig, 19, 45, 48, 120 Amazig identity, 98 Amazig, language, 21, 61 ambiguity, 8, 9, 91, 105, 107, 108 ambition, 13, 15, 17, 19, 39, 54, 65, 66, 76, 115 ambivalence, 3, 8, 107 American Centre Casablanca, the, 35 Library Tangier, the, 35 Amir, Noureddine, viii, 47, 48, 49, 90 Amsterdam Fashion Week, 51, 66 Anthropology,2, 13, 114 anxiety, 8, 10, 14, 109 apparel, 8, 74

appearance, 3, 8, 20, 74, 89, 92 apprenticeship, 81 Arab Spring, 16, 22, 26 Arabi, Sofia El, 69, 70, 120 Arabian Peninsula, the, 29, 37 Arabic city centre, 114, 117 culture, 24, 29 language, 23, 35, 39, 55, 57, 58 Moroccan, 46, 67, 68, 69, 70, 84 Standard, 58, 61 architecture, 18, 41, 48 artistic, 13, 47, 49, 119 director, 66 experience, 47 expression, 48, 107, 117 freedom, 46, 118 identity, 22 movement, 46 restrain, 65 value, 51 Asia, 15, 121 ASOS, 69, 70 Association Marocaine de l’Industrie de Textile et Habillement (AMITH), 66, 75, 76 authentic, 1, 2, 13, 15, 69, 84, 85, 107, 114, 118, 119, 120, 122 authenticate, 11, 118, 122 authenticity, 14, 72, 74, 85, 86, 99, 110, 114, 118, 119, 120, 121, 124 authority, 10, 17, 19, 24, 28, 29, 70, 115, 124 avant-garde, 18, 34, 45, 60, 123 awareness, 22, 55, 57, 96 babus, 101 bead, 38, 44, 45, 81, 103 Beatrix, Queen, 35

144

beldi, 74, 84, 85, 86, 100, 101, 110, 120 wear, 87, 88, 102 Belgium, 70, 90, 123 Benbrahim, Sofia, 59 Bendriouich, Amine, 66 Benkirane, Abdelilah, 26 Bennis, Naima, 36, 37 Benyassin, Layla, 57 Berber, 12, 19, 21, 105, 120 dahir, 19 bernus, 101, 124 Bershka, 77 Best Designer Award, 44, 63 black market, 77 black pages, 55, 58 Blunt, James, 69 body, 8, 32, 53, 92, 93, 94, 102, 110 language, 85 modifications, 92 bourgeois, 5, 89 boutique, 14, 28, 35, 36, 37, 38, 50, 51, 56, 73, 74, 78, 79, 81, 82, 83, 84, 90, 117 brand fashion, 56, 95 foreign fashion, 11, 14, 33, 41, 54, 57, 66, 69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75, 77, 78, 80, 81, 83, 114, 117, 120 haute couture, 51 luxury fashion, 8, 57, 61 Moroccan fashion, 70, 78, 79, 81, 84, 86, 87, 88, 90, 97, 120 name, 35, 38, identity,73, 85, 86, 121 branding, 73, 82, 84, 120, 121 nation, 107, 123 bride, 30, 31, 99, 105 Britain’s Next Top Model, 61 broadcasting, 61, 62 brocade, 20, 33, 45, 104, 107, 115, 124 bziwi, 47, 94 Bzou, 47, 104 Caftan, 12, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 49, 56, 58, 62, 63, 76, 86, 95, 111, 122 capitalism, 3

index

Carrousel du Louvre Paris, 42, 43, 44, 45, 62 Casa Moda Academy, 76 Casablanca, viii, ix, 11, 12, 13, 16, 18, 29, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 56, 58, 60, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 69, 70, 76, 77, 79, 86, 90, 92, 115 cashmere, 94 catholic, 36, 89 nuns, 36, 89 catwalk, 14, 41, 44, 53, 117 celebrity, 36, 40, 53, 69 censorship, 46, 54, 67 Cervantes Institute, 66 Ceuta, 79 Chaba Couture, 44 Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture Paris, 38, 41, 42 Chanel, Coco, 34 China, 1, 4, 5, 59, 68, 122, 123 Christian, 19, 27, 96 circumcision, 99 clientèle, 34, 36, 37, 40, 42, 50, 61, 74, 75, 83, 86, 89, 90 Closeterie, the, 70 clothing, 5, 8, 10, 48, 50, 70, 75, 94, 100, 106, 120, 122 category, 14 company, 75, 79 industrialist, 78 industry, 75, 76, 78 style, 14, 85, 100 College Lasalle, 43, 76 colonial, 4, 7, 9, 13, 19, 28, 106, 107 coloniser, 24 colonization, 5 Comité d’Action Marocaine, 19 commercialization, 14, 73, 75, 81, 85, 89, 90 commodification, 14, 40, 53, 54, 61, 73, 74, 80, 104, 111 commodity, 114, 119 communication, 7, 8, 14, 67, 69, 71, 74, 75, 85, 92, 93 confection, 36, 74, 90 industry, 40, 42, 74

index

conservatism, 17, 57, 106 conservative, 18, 20, 24, 25, 26, 29, 89, 102, 115 Constitution, the, 19, 24, 26 consumer, 5, 9, 13, 39, 61, 71, 74, 78, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 91, 113, 120, 121 culture, 83 market, 77 product, 59 consumerism, 4, 86, 106 consumption, 7, 9, 12, 14, 28, 41, 54, 73, 74, 81, 82, 83, 86, 91, 107, 109, 114, 117, 121, 123 pattern, 1, 14, 41, 73,117 conventional, 2, 93, 121 corruption, 26, 119 cosmopolitan, 6, 18, 33, 34, 115, 116 costume, 2, 3, 5, 11, 12, 44, 47, 122 cotton, 79, 86, 94 couched plaited cord, viii, 48, 88, 124 counterfeit, 77 craft, 15, 37, 45, 64, 81, 82, 83, 84 craftsman, 81, 82, 84 craftsmanship, 34, 42, 86, 88 Createurope, 66 creativity, 44, 45, 51, 76, 84 cultural anchorage, 8, 106, 123 anxiety, 14, 109 appropriation, 6, 83, 96, 100, 104 authentication, 10, 118, 119 baggage, 47 discourse, 8, 99, 110 encounter, 118 heritage, 8, 13, 14, 15, 16, 25, 28, 33, 34, 42, 45, 46, 48, 62, 95, 96, 99, 114, 115, 116, 117, 120, 121, 123, 124 proximity, 100 purity, 119, 120 custom-made, 81, 84, 87, 88, 90, 109 cut, 23, 26, 31, 33, 34, 43, 44, 51, 64, 81, 82, 85, 87, 88, 94, 95, 99, 102, 106, 109, 110, 111, 113, 116, 118

145

DabaMaroc, 25 Daif, Maria, 60 daily wear, 74, 82, 86, 88 decoration, 15, 23, 36, 37, 38, 43, 47, 51, 64, 81, 82, 85, 87, 88, 89, 94, 95, 99, 102, 103, 109, 110, 111, 113, 116 pattern,42 technique, 37, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 81, 81, 88, 103, 104, 116, 118, 124 democracy, 10, 26, 27, 74 democratization, 68 of fashion, 14, 33, 53, 54, 61, 68, 73, 74, 95, 117 Deneuve, Catherine, 35 denim, 44, 103 Desmottes, Michèle, 64 Diamantine, 97 diaspora, 13, 61, 67, 70 Diba, Farah, 36 Dior, Christian, 38, 39, 77, 78 Diouri El Oulam, Zineb, 67 dresscode, 94, 110 École Supérieure des Industrie du Textiles et de l’Habillement (ESITH), 76 Éditions la Gazette, 58 editor, 14, 36, 56, 57, 58, 59, 63, 89 editor-in-chief, 58, 59, 60, 64 editorial board, 57, 58, 63, 67 editorial line, 53, 55, 67, 116 education, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 29, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 54, 55, 68, 92, 95, 99, 106, 113, 115 elections, 26 elite, 4, 7, 16, 17, 18, 19, 25, 33, 34, 35, 37, 41, 54, 57, 115, 117 Elle, 69 emancipation cultural, 14, 16, 22, 24, 25 female, viii, 14, 15, 17, 21, 22, 23, 115 political, 14, 16, 22, 26 embroidery, 38, 40, 46, 50, 81, 88, 124 engagement, 5, 85, 99 English (language), 12, 23, 24, 35, 39, 67, 68

146

Esmod, 43, 45, 47, 76 Etam, 77 ethnic, 3, 4, 7, 35, 50, 63, 95, 96, 98, 118, 119, 120, 121 ethnicity, 4, 7, 95, 109, 119, 120 Euro centric, 2, 4, 5, 9, 10, 114 centricity, 2, 6, 11, 13 modern, 5, 6, 7, 34, 35, 39, 89 modernity, 2, 3, 6, 10, 16, 22, 24, 106, 124 Excentrica, 49 fabric, 5, 15, 34, 37, 38, 40, 42, 47, 51, 75, 79, 81, 82, 87, 90, 93, 94, 99, 102, 103, 104, 107, 108, 109, 111, 113, 116, 118 face veil, viii, 23, 24, 28, 35, 65 fashion blog, 68, 69, 70, 71, 120 blogger, 27, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 120 blogging, 25, 68, 69, 70, 71 column, 70 critic, 63 event, 28, 32, 34, 36, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 56, 58, 60, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 76, 79, 82, 83, 86, 111, 116 icon, viii, 20, 35, 36, 39, 40, 41 industry, 1, 7, 11, 13, 28, 32, 41, 42, 49, 51, 60, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 69, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78, 81, 82, 86, 91, 92, 110, 118 journalism, 71 magazine, 14, 17, 21, 25, 28, 32, 34, 40, 41, 42, 44, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 69, 71, 74, 83, 90, 96, 111, 116, 117 male fashion, 48, 68, 89 media, 8, 11, 14, 45, 49, 50, 53, 54, 71, 73, 80, 82, 83, 86, 92, 114, 117 model, 41, 59, 60, 69 modelling, 49, 60 modest fashion, 97 photographer, 50, 59, 60, 68 school, 33, 40, 47, 60, 62, 64, 66, 76, 82, 116

index

show, 9, 38, 40, 43, 49, 50, 51, 60, 62, 64, 65, 66, 69, 90 studies, 2, 5, 6, 13 stylist, 54, 60, 64, 73, 74, 79, 82, 83, 84, 85, 87, 90, 111, 117, 124 Fashion Bakchic, 69, 70, 120 Fashion Museum Antwerp, 48 Fashion TV, 62 Fashion Week, 43, 44, 46, 49, 50, 51, 65, 66, 69 fashionable, 2, 3, 7, 13, 14, 23, 31, 32, 36, 38, 61, 62, 69, 79, 82, 86, 88, 90, 94, 100, 113, 117 FashionOne, 62 Federation de la Couture Traditionelle Marocaine (FCTM), 64, 89 felt, 124 Femmes du Maroc (FDM), 42, 55, 79 FestiMode Casablanca Fashion Week, 46, 49, 50, 51, 65, 66, 69 Festival International de la Mode Africaine, 42 Fez, viii, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 25, 35, 36, 37, 39, 41, 45, 77, 79, 85, 92, 104, 115 film, 44, 47, 62, 66 Flou Flou, 88 FNAC, 78 folkloric, 14, 34, 107, 117 franchise, 41, 43, 47, 59, 66, 76, 77, 79 franchising, 77, 78 freedom, 10, 25, 26, 30, 33, 46, 99, 107, 117 of press, 54 freelance, 42, 79 French administration, 18, 19, 20 culture, 15, 16, 114 fashion, 18, 35, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 114, 123 language, 23, 35, 39, 58, 59, 61, 67, 68 lifestyle magazines, 53, 116 Protectorate, 16, 17, 19, 33, 114 Gadi, Fadila El, ix, 50, 51, 62, 88 Galeries Lafayette, 18, 66, 70, 78 GAP, 78

index

Gaultier, Jean-Paul, 42 gender, 7, 12, 22, 54, 75, 91, 94, 98, 103, 109, 113 gendura, 36, 37, 85, 86, 88, 94, 101, 103, 124 Geomedia, 59 Getty, Thalita, 70 glamour, 40, 53, 63, 82 global, 2, 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, 29, 34, 67, 68, 80, 91, 98, 105, 107, 110, 114, 117, 120, 121, 123 globalization, 3, 5, 9, 12, 16, 25, 34, 46, 54, 80, 81, 91, 97, 98, 104, 106, 114, 116, 117, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124 Goethe Institute, the, 66 Gothic, 45 government, 27, 65, 76 Granada, 39 groom, 30, 31, 99, 105 Groupe Aksal, 66, 77, 78 Groupe Caractères, 55 Gucci, 77, 78 Gueliz, 77 Guessous, Karima (Kouki), 35 Guessous, Zina, 35, 36 Gulf States, the, 61 handmade, 1, 38, 48, 61, 64, 83, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 109 Hassan II, 16, 17, 20, 21, 23, 24, 27, 29, 32, 35, 36, 37 haute couture, 6, 8, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 41, 43, 51, 63, 64, 65, 83, 84, 89, 90, 107, 116, 1123, 138 hayk, 102 headscarf, 24, 92, 128 hegemony, 5, 46, 108 henna, 48, 92, 99, 124 Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), 70, 78 High Atlas, 47 hippie movement, 35, 88 Horaira, Touria, 58 Hotel Hilton Rabat, 37 Hotel Mamounia Marrakech, 36 Hotel Royal Mansour Casablanca, 35 Hotel Sofitel Casablanca, 51 Hotel Tour Hassan Rabat, 36 hybridization, 13, 91, 101, 110, 118

147

icon, viii, 20, 23, 35, 36, 39, 40, 41, 45, 121, 124 identity Arab, 16, 17, 18, 19, 27, 28, 115 artistic, 22 collective, 10, 91, 93, 95, 118, 119, 122 cultural, 7, 13 design, 41 individual, 10, 22, 23, 91, 93, 98 Muslim, 17, 19, 27, 29, 96 national, 7, 15, 16, 17, 19, 27, 29, 46, 95, 96, 107, 115, 117, 121, 122, 123, 124 religious, 13 ideology, 28 illiteracy, 21, 26 Imani, Hanane, 79, 131 imperial, 29, 33, 115 Independence, 13, 17, 19, 20, 23, 24, 33, 43, 66, 85, 106 India, 4, 5, 40, 42, 91, 100, 104, 118, 122 indigenous, 6, 10, 13, 16, 47, 118, 119 individuality, 91, 98, 110, 117 industrialization, 40, 74, 75, 84, 116, 117, 120, 122 industry clothing, 75, 76, 78 fashion, 1, 7, 11, 13, 32 textile, 65, 66, 75, 79 innovation, 2, 16, 37, 51, 53, 74, 83, 83, 119, 120 inspiration, viii, ix, 6, 43, 45, 47, 48, 50, 67, 69, 110, 136 Institut de Monde Arabe Paris, 43 Institut de Stylisme et Modelisme (ISM), 42, 76 International fashion scene, 51, 63, 114, 123 success, 34, 35, 36, 37, 88, 89, 116 Internet, 14, 67, 68, 71, 76, 135 Islam, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 57, 89, 94, 96, 115, 128, 129, 136, 137, 140 Islamist Party for Justice and Democracy (PJD), 26, 27, 29 Israel, 38

148

jabadur, 85, 88, 101, 103, 124, 128 Japan, 4, 10, 40, 122, 123 Jardin d’Acclimatation Paris, 43, 44, 45 jeans, 43, 45, 101 Jeddah, 38 jellaba, 12, 16, 20, 21, 23, 24, 36, 37, 38, 47, 58, 65, 76, 85, 86, 88, 92, 94, 95, 97, 98, 99, 101, 103, 115, 124, 128, 138 jersey, 39, 43 jewellery, 1, 30, 31, 36, 37, 43, 48, 49 Jewish, 15, 38, 43 Joundy, Zineb, 35, 36, 41, 42, 102 Kalthoum, Oum, 37 Kennedy, Jacky, 38 know-how, 40, 88 Kravitz, Lenny, 69 Kriman, Fuzia, 90 L’Atelier du Style, 70 L’Officiel Homme Maroc, 90 L’Officiel Maroc, 59, 60, 61, 70 La Senza, 78 La Vie en Rose, 77 lace, viii, 40, 44, 81, 124 Lagerfeld, Karl, 41 Lakhdar, Simohamed, 44, 45, 107 Lalla Salma, 17, 21, 25 Lanvin, 41 Laurent, Yves Saint, 6, 38, 39, 42, 50, 77 Le Bon Marché, 18 leather, 103 leisure, 100 wear, 79, 88 Les Années de Plomb, 20 Les Éditions Jalou, 59 liberalization, 107 economic, 12, 41 lifestyle, 14, 15, 16, 18, 33, 34, 50, 54, 55, 58, 60, 75, 80, 114, 115, 116, 123 magazines, 17, 21, 25, 40, 53, 55, 57, 58, 61, 64, 65, 90, 98, 116 like-minded, 25, 68, 71 local, 1, 2, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 25, 27, 28, 34, 42, 46, 50, 53, 54, 58, 65, 68, 73, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80,

index

81, 83, 84, 91, 97, 100, 104, 105, 106, 110, 114, 116, 118, 119, 121, 123, 124, 137 localized, 119, 121 London, 38, 42, 67, 123 Lord and Taylor, 36 Louis Vuitton, 77, 78 luxury, 8, 34, 53, 57, 61, 63, 64, 78, 82, 86, 89 Lyautey, Louis Hubert Gonzalve, 17, 18 Lyon, 20 Maarif, 77, 78, 79 Maasai, 45 machine-made, 79, 89, 90 Madani, Maria, 86, 87, 90 Maghreb, 57, 61 Mahfoudi, Bechar El, 65 Mahrouf, Said, vii mainstream, 35, 49, 50, 71 Maison et Objets Paris, 43 Maison Fadéla, 38 Maison Félina, 38 Maison Joste, 38 Malaga, 49 Mango, 77 Manifeste de l’Indépendance, 19 Marbella, 39 marketing, 75, 76, 78, 119 communication, 71 strategy, 1, 14, 73, 82, 117 tool, 46, 65, 67, 69, 107, 114, 120, 121, 123 Maroc Excellence Milan, 44, 45 Maroc Premium, 64 Marrakech, viii, 12, 13, 29, 36, 38, 43, 44, 47, 49, 50, 51, 58, 61, 62, 69, 70, 76, 77, 79, 86, 88, 90, 92 Marwa, 78, 79 mass-produced, 74, 83, 84, 87 Massimo Dutti, 59, 77, 78 Massira el Khadra, 77 Mazagan Beach Resorts, 65 mdina, 18, 37, 85, 92, 105, 128, 132 Mediterranean, the, 15, 36 mekhzen, 17 Meknes, 77, 79 Melehi, Kenza, 62 mentality, 18, 22, 51, 53, 55, 79, 105

index

middle class, 4, 7, 18, 47, 58, 59, 75, 80, 120 Middle East, the, 15, 28, 61, 62, 79, 105 Milan, 44, 45, 123 mini-skirt, 24 minority, 27, 28, 57, 73, 97 Miss Fashion TV, 62 Mode Made in Morocco, 50, 64, 65 model, 41, 59, 60, 61, 69 modelling, 49, 60 modernization, 53, 56, 58, 61, 107, 110, 117, 120, 122 Mohamed IV, King, 17, 21, 25, 26, 27 Mohamed V, King, 17, 20, 22, 24, 35, 115 Moroccan Arabic, 46, 58, 61, 67, 69, 70, 84 dream, 25 formal fashion, 85, 86, 99, 109 formal occasion, 86, 88, 99, 101, 103, 113 informal fashion, 32, 85, 86, 87, 88, 100, 103, 117 informal occasion, 102, 113 modernity, 11, 14, 16, 17, 21, 25, 34, 40, 58, 62, 124 touch, 69, 70, 74, 85, 87, 88, 101, 102 Moroccanness, 27, 34, 46, 49, 101, 117 MoroccoMall, 66, 78 Morrison, Jim, 35 Mouvement alternative pour les liberté Individuelles (MALI), 25 movida, 46 mudawwana, 21, 29, 55, 128 Musée des Beaux-Arts Lille, 48, 49 music, 25, 35, 46, 62, Muslim fashion, 13, 28, 29, 96, 97, 100, 121 nationalism, 15, 17, 19, 20, 85, 106, 115, 120, 122 nationalist movement, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 54, 115 nayda, 46 needle lace, viii, 40, 81, 124

149

nepotism, 63 Neshat, Shirin, 47 Nesk Inverstment, 77 Netherlands, The, ix, 35, 49 New York, 36, 41, 42, 47, 67, 69, 123 Nisaa Mn Al Maghreb (NMM), 57, 58 North America, 35, 37, 61, 74 Not Just a Label, 68 nudity, 67 Oceane, 79, 88 Oiknine, Albert, 43, 44, 45 Oiknine, Laurence, 58, 59 Okaïdi, 77 old-fashioned, 1, 2, 18, 84, 85, 102, 120 open-minded, 13, 68 Orientalism, 46, Ouechen, Joseph, 68, 69, 70 outfit, 11, 30, 31, 32, 36, 56, 69, 92, 105, 109, 128 Parade Magazine, 60 Paris, 38, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 48, 51, 59, 62, 67, 115, 123 photography, 66, 68, 69, 70 Plan de Réformes, 19 popular culture, 22, 27, 29, 74, 75 Prada, 78 Prince of the Faithful, 24, 29, 127 private, 23, 42, 44, 70, 71, 98, 105, 106, 110, 115 professionalization, 40, 116 Promod, 77 Prophet Mohamed, 23, 27, 29, 31, 85 Prost, Henri, 18 prostitution, 24, 60 proximity, 16, 18, 27, 53, 55, 58, 86, 101 public domain, 20, 75, 97, 98, 105, 106, 110, 115 life, 16, 21, 23, 24, 31, 32, 35 role, 17, 38 services, 26 Pucci, Emilio, 36 qeftan, 36, 48, 58, 60, 62, 63, 65, 113, 124

150

Rabat, ix, 16, 18, 35, 36, 37, 47, 50, 51, 58, 76, 77, 79, 86, 115 Radio et Television Marocaine (RTM), 61 raffia, 48 Ramadan, 16, 24, 25, 28, 31, 32, 54, 56, 58, 59, 82, 83, 85, 88, 92, 100, 117 Reagan, Nancy, 38 reform, 10, 12, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 26, 27, 29, 124 religion, 17, 22, 24, 25, 27, 55, 91, 96, 97, 98 religious extremism, 27, 29, 34, 46, 48, 57, 117 reputation, 60, 64, 76, 78, 111 resistance, 15, 19, 78, 115 ritual, 9, 30, 31, 81, 82, 87, 97, 122 role model, 16, 17, 20, 21, 24, 25, 115 Royal Family, 12, 16, 17, 20, 23, 24 Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, Paris, 44 rural, 3, 6, 11, 12, 27, 45, 48, 61, 105, 120 Sahli, Ghizlane, 90 Saint, Lucien, 19 Sakhri, Aïcha Zaïmi, 55, 56, 57, 62, 63 Salafi, 28, 29, 89 Sanz, Bernard, 50 sari, 40, 122 Scherrer, Jean Louis, 42 seasonal trend, 73 Sebti, Zhor, viii, 35, 37, 38 segregation, 18, 22, 34, 46, 117 self-Orientalism, 46 selham, 47, 101 Semaine de la Mode, 63, 79, 86 Senegal, 9, 79 sequence, 42 serwal, 79, 101, sexuality, 7, 55, 109 SG Models, 60 Shimou, Zineb, 62 shopping, 34, 41, 54, 69, 73, 74, 77, 78, 82, 87, 113, 119 show room, 45, 51, 65, 82, 117 silk, 20, 40, 48, 89, 94, 102, 103, 124 Smalto, Francesco, 21 Socialist Union of Popular Forces, 27 Spain, 39, 49

index

spangles, 15, 35, 39, 44, 46, 49, 66, 77, 78, 79 spiritual brotherhood, 28 stereotype, 14, 34, 107, 117 Stradivarius, 77 street style, 16, 27, 68, 69, 75, 123 stylist, 54, 59, 60, 64, 73, 74, 79, 82, 83, 84, 85, 87, 90, 111, 117, 124 hair, 59, 60 make-up, 59, 60 subcontracting, 40, 76 subculture, 49, 50 Sukarno, Lady, 36 Sultan, 17, 19, 20, 35, 66, 70 taboo, 55, 109 tailor, viii, 14, 15, 20, 21, 30, 35, 38, 44, 51, 54, 64, 73, 81, 82, 83, 84, 87, 88, 90, 107, 109, 111, 117 Tangier, 23, 35, 49, 50, 51, 77, 79 target group, 13, 55, 57, 58, 77, 86, 89 Tassi, Karim, 42, 43, 45 taste, 21, 39, 83, 88, 95, 96, 99, 106, 113, 127 Tazi, Karim, 66, 78, 79 Tazi, Tamy, viii, 12, 39, 40, 42 television, 34, 40, 54, 54, 61, 62, 63, 84, 116, 117 Temps du Maroc, 42 Tendance Caftan, 44 terbus, 20, 101 textile industrialist, 66, 76 textile industry, 65, 66, 75, 79 theatre, 25, 39, 44, 46, 47 Thorel, Paul, 50 Tokyo, 67 tourism, 26, 88 trade, 15, 66, 74, 85, 115 transformation, 80, 83, 99, 104, 119 transnational, 6, 14, 98, 124 Treaty of Fez, 17 trendsetter, 16 Tunis, 38 Tunisia, 17, 26, 37, 79 unemployment, 26 University of Quito, 42 urbanization, 18, 34, 46, 84, 117, 120 USA, the, 68, 123

index

velvet, 33, 94, 103, 115 Vero Moda, 70 Version Homme (VH), 58, 90, 130 ville nouvelle, 18, 37, 92, 105, 115 visibility, 55, 61, 67 visual communication, 92, 93 Vogue, 36, 39, 136 Vreeland, Diana, 36 Washington Post, the, 36 Wassakh, 67 weaving, viii, 9, 15, 45, 114, 82 wedding, 16, 28, 30, 44, 54, 56, 59, 83, 85, 99, 113, 117 ceremony, 99, 104

151

dress, 31, 86, 98, 104, 105 planner, 30 West, Kanye, 69 women’s association, 24 wool, 37, 47, 48, 94, 104, 124, 127, 128 World Museum Rotterdam, 48, 49 youarethestyle.com, 68, 69 Young Talent Award, 66 Yousra, 86, 87, 90, 131 Zalando, 70 Zara, 68, 70, 77, 78, 140 zeitgeist, 53