China and the far east represent such areas and naturally they are a threat to Turkey. One ways of fighting against this threat is by encouraging the local creativity to develop and by promoting it abroad.
Another important issue that can be discussed is repr4esented by the impact of fashion upon the Turkish society. One might argue that the Turkish society is so different from the western one that it is impossible for fashion to actually have a profound social influence. This is not true. On the one hand the attack of the media is extremely intense and there is no way to prevent girls and women to come in contact with them. On the other hand, keeping them away from the media is not a solution, even if the purpose would be that of defending culture. The right way to proceed about it is to allow women to decide for themselves. And a mere observation of reality demonstrates how open minded this society is concerning the values of the west.
The question is more delicate than in other countries because of the religious question, even if this is valid for a small minority. The veil that some Muslim women wear is a clear sign of their belonging to a certain ethnic group. The western media had depicted this type of woman as one who is a slave to tradition and to the men belonging to the same culture. Not wearing the veil and revealing one's face as well as showing more of one's body represent acts that were sold by the media as manifestations of emancipation and demonstrations of freedom.
From this point-of-view it can be stated that western fashion succeeded into influencing not only the fashion trends in Turkey but also the behavior of their targets. This resulted into buying certain type of products, no matter if clothes or cosmetics.
Does this mean that the Turkish designers were influenced in their visions as well? I don't believe that their visions were the ones which underwent influences. I believe that their choices depended much on the target and I also believe that their targets were not located in Turkey alone.
Haute couture targets people who can afford extreme large sums of money on clothes and this people are to be found in rich countries such as America, France, Italy, Germany, etc. Choosing to sell their products on other continents and not only in Turkey was also supported by the cultural differences that they would encounter, in the sense that the differences in this context are more likely to be perceived as being exotic and therefore become even more appealing.
Returning to the matter of the influence of fashion in Turkey, it must be underlined that the entire fuss which has been made about freeing the Muslim woman and allow her to become independent and strong just like the western woman- all this being summarized in the symbolic gesture of renouncing the veil has started to backfire. In other words some Muslim women, especially young ones have started wearing the veil and are covering their bodies with pride as a statement regarding their belonging to a certain ethnic community.
This wear however is far from a fairy tale like concept that the western culture is used to. The Muslim culture respects the woman in a manner which is different form the types of respect that are to be encountered in other cultures. The western woman is used to other standards, not only of respect and beauty, but of social customs, habits, etc. While for the Muslim woman beauty is something the contemplation of which must be done privately, the western woman wishes to be seen by a number as big as possible of people in order for her beauty to be acknowledged and admired. This is why it would be impossible to advertise such a strongly ethnic element as the veil worn in a manner that covers the face (even more wearing the veil that covers the face while revealing other parts of the body would be considered as an insult).
From this point-of-view it is fair to acknowledge...
From all the point which have been discussed so far the only conclusion that we can reach is that the ethnic elements might be a gold mine, but they might also represent a potential danger. Under these circumstances we understand why the Turkish designers operating in the haute couture field are not aggressive in promoting elements which belong to their Turkish background. Theirs is a both a choice based on marketing techniques, but also on the respect for this cultural patrimony.
If we were to ask ourselves once again: can these designers be identified as being Turkish judging from the clothes which they make the answer is yes, but only if you are a connoisseur. There are numerous ethnic elements in their works but they are very subtle and they are often transformed and stylized. In order to be able to recognize them as a group of Turkish designers one would have to know all of their collections very well, but also have a general culture vast enough in order to identify and understand these ethnic influences. Although the Turkish designers are not the only ones who have used the Turkish ethnic elements, especially in order to create the fairy tale concept, I believe that they all do it in a very personal and refined manner.
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"Orientalism and the Islamic philosophy" in http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/H014.htm accessed February 9, 2010
