Journals

Journal 1

Introduction:

Fashion industry is a never ending evolution, one keeps on creating and picking up new trends. Muslim apparel seems to be accepted by the social, it has gained recognition and popularity in accelerated area. Muslim apparel doesn't pertain to any specific covering. Rather it are often outlined as any covering that follows the principle of modesty. Discovering the growing market of a global and young Muslim population, new designs in apparel, color and accessories are introduced. so it will be seen that Muslim girls all round the world square measure finding out these trends that answer not solely their spiritual alternative, however conjointly to their personal sense of fashion.

Name of Journal Article: Growing Popularity of Muslim Attire: Faith or Fashion?

Authors: Mashruha Zabeen, Shahpar Shams, Nayeema Sultana

Year of Publication: 2017

Conceptual Framework:

Figure 1: Conceptual framework

  

The research consists of relevant literature review to comprehend the concept of Muslim attire and reasons for its growing popularity. Also, to gain better understanding on these issues from the context of Bangladesh, a primary in-depth interview on ten women who dress in Muslim attire have been carried out. From the literature and in depth interviews, fourteen independent variables have been identified which can influence the choice of Muslim dressing among women. 

There are four factors that influence consumer behavior to purchase muslim attire which are personal, cultural, psychological and social. Possible reasons for choosing muslim attire is the dependent variable meanwhile the independent variable relies under the four factors which are personal factors; age and life cycle, occupation or institutional requirement, health reason, hair protection. Cultural factors; religious duty coming from Hajj/Umrah, occasional attire. Psychological factors; fashion consciousness, feeling of security, beauty enhancement. Social factors; positive social status, friend's inspiration, family tradition, opinion leader/celebrity. 

Age may play an important role to determine one's preference regarding to fashion. The young people may buy clothing that is more fashionable clothes than the older age people. Some groups tend to buy cozy and comfy clothes rather than aiming to something fashionable. Moreover, the design and pattern of clothing can stimulate the feeling of belonging to a particular society and the impact of purchasing behavior.

From the hypothesis that has been developed and tested, hypothesis 1 shows there is relationship between growing use of Muslim attire among women in Bangladesh with the 14 identified variables.

Questionnaire/Items:

Table 1: Frequency distribution of Survey Questionnaire 

From the frequency distribution table, it can be seen that, Most of the respondents wear Muslim attire all the time and also they wear Muslim attire as their belief in religion duty. Moreover, they accepted to wear Muslim attire due to the influences of family members and it is their family tradition due to it is view as a positive image in their culture to wear something modest and appropriate attire. From the perspective of Bangladesh, some of the women agreed that they are inspired by the celebrity to wear Muslim attire. However, a lot of them disagreed and they said that they wear it due to religious duty and the society view it as positively.

From the respondents’ point of view, Muslim attire is part of a fashion which not only enhances their beauty but also ensures their security. Most of the respondents disagreed that they only wear Muslim attire during occasion although few of them might agree. Nevertheless, from the frequency table, it is seen that, number of women wearing Muslim attire for health purpose or for hair care or for institutional requirement is very few. Some respondents have been identified who have started to use Muslim attire after coming from Hajj/Umrah.

Theories:
The fourteen (14) identified variables can be categorized into four types of factors based on the model of factors affecting consumer behavior (Kotler and Armstrong, 2016) which have been demonstrated in the framework.

Journal 2

Introduction
The hijab is a special symbol in the Islamic faith that assigns women to different roles that sets them apart from the opposite sex. With Islam as the official religion of Malaysia, a majority of Muslim women use the hijab to cover their heads; nevertheless it remains a choice to many as the use of hijab is not compulsory despite the implementation of shariah1 laws. Once considered a symbol of anti-modernisation because of strong postcolonial ties of the nation state, the meaning of the hijab has long been debated by the society particularly due to the resurgence of Islam in the 1970s. 

Name of Journal Article: A Comporative Analysis on Hijab Wearing in Malaysian Muslimah Magazines

Authors: Nurzihan Hassim

Year of Publication: 2014

Conceptual Framework:

The framing concept applied in this study focuses on the changes in an environment that provides social cues for a specific change in attitude or action rather than an analysis per se. Goffman (cited in Baran and Davis, 2000) argued that individuals sometimes do not realize their flexibility in adapting to changes as they move through time and space.

Questionnaire/Items:

The content analysis method was used to compare two popular Muslimah magazines for adult Malay women. The magazines chosen were Nur, a monthly Islamic women magazine and Hijabista, another monthly Islamic women magazine. Nur.

Table 2: Extent of coverage on hijab wearing

With reference to Table 2, hijab wearing was given extended coverage by Hijabista magazine with a total of 40 articles while Nur featured 33 articles. Stressing more on fashion compared to Nur, the stylised Hijabista played a pivotal role in framing the Muslimah as a modern fashion trend.

 
 Table 3: Extent of coverage on hijab wearing

The top sources of information used to produce articles for the two Islamic women magazines were feature writers from the editorial teams who wrote about “act-ofveiling” and served as an instrument of awareness

Theories:

The content analysis method was used to compare two popular Muslimah magazines for adult Malay women. The magazines chosen were Nur, a monthly Islamic women magazine and Hijabista, another monthly Islamic women magazine. The issues chosen for the analysis were from June 2012 to August 2012 as it coincided with the launch of the Hijabista magazine to identify similarities and differences with its sister publication, Nur. The sampling of issues within this quarter was also due to two important festivities observed in the Muslim calendar, the Ramadhan and Syawal celebrations that anticipate high volumes of product consumption during these holy months.

 

Journal 3

Introduction:

The purpose of this was to explore and determine the most important values like social, religious, theoretical, aesthetic, economic, exploratory, social and political. Also predominant identity like Muslim/ethnic identity, hybrid identity and national identity of female Muslim students attending a University in South Africa. This analysis study fills a very important discourse gap in existing data on the behavior of Muslim women in terms of their dress practices as associated with their values and identity. 

Name of Journal Article: The Role of Important Values and Predominant Identity in the Dress Practices of Female Muslim Students Attending a South African University

Authors:Milde Albrecht

Year of Publication: 2015

Conceptual Framework:

Figure 3: Conceptual Framework

Culture can be material and non-material. Dress practices creating a part of material culture area unit a likeness of essential ideas like values and identity. People are committed to the identities that best alter them to specific their most vital values. Values and identity open in nature, and people triggered to speak them to others through their appearances. The cultural perspective acknowledges the connection between the material and nonmaterial aspects of culture and provided a framework for this study to see however abstract ideas, like values and identity, manifest in dress. Culture refers to lifestyle with a bunch of different ethnics. These ethnic group might share the same language, place of origin and ancestor.

In south Africa, the Muslim culture consists of different ethnics which are African Muslim, Malay and Indian. Values, identity and dress are subject to change due to cultural relations. In the South African University, female Muslim students has made a modification of their traditional dress to more westernized or a mix of western and Muslim fashion.

Some important values as illustrated in the conceptual framework are theoretical, religious, economic, exploratory, aesthetic, social and political. Values are important motivational to drive an individual for their dress practices. Moreover, aesthetic values plays important role in fashion and enhancing personal appearance. Political values refer to the success and obtaining of power, it reflects the symbol of status. Social values refer to the connected agreement in dress as people feel that their acceptance is because of the way that they dress in the social expectations. Theoretical values refers to the comfy in the dress. Religious value refers to modest and low interest in fashion. Economic values refer to being adequate in the basic needs without wasting in time, money and energy. Exploratory values refers to individual experiment in finding their own style of dress in other word versatile.

Identity refers to a self-definition and can be defined as ‘‘the organized set of characteristics an individualperceives as representing or defining the self in a given social situation’’ (Kaiser, 1997, p. 186). A hybrid identity is a combination of ethnic and national identity. A hybrid identity can be communicated through dress. African women found to construct their dress in hybrid identity. Ethnic group is derive from one's cultural heritage. A hijab and veil gives a strong ethnic identity to that individual. To cover the body parts is moral commitment in Islam.National identity refers to a common public culture that unites the members of one community orsociety and distinguishes it from others (Henderson & McEwen, 2005).

Questionnaire/Items:

Table 3: Items 

In the table above, Students want their clothing to be more practical due to the campus environment. The garment is suitable at the South Africa climate which can be hot in summer months, they also discard the traditional dress and wear something that is suitable for the weather so they feel comfortable moving around the campus.

Moreover, some of the respondents from modest group responded that although they are surrounded by other culture they still wear traditional garments to show respect to their religion and to their parents. Next, the university students does not have a stable income due to they are still studying. Hence, the garments that they choose to buy should value the money and is timeless which means does not become outdated. The respondents scored this as high value because they want it to last long time and can wear it more than one occasion.

In addition, women are rewarded for their appearance to always want to look beautiful, so many of the respondents responded that the modest garments makes them feel more attractive and enhances their beauty. In social values, respondents said that wearing the same as their friends makes them feel blend in with others. They also feel that they are accepted in the social. This means that they are more concern on the individuality than the dress practices. In the political values, the garments looks expensive because comes from impressive brand. However, respondents said that they cannot afford expensive clothing but they had rather buy affordable clothing that will not become outdated quickly.

Theories:
The cultural perspective recognizes the relationship between the material and nonmaterial aspects of culture and provided a framework for this study to determine how abstract concepts, such as values and identity, manifest in dress (Kaiser, 1997) . 

Journal 4

Introduction

Men and women perceive fashion in the same way and it holds importance for both genders equally. However, women’s fashion holds more prominence as women are considered more fashion conscious than men, it tends to attract lots of people. Giving this fact, every year new designer clothes are made on a large scale keeping in view the current fashion (Kaiser and Chandler, 1984). Apart from this, another aspect that greatly impacts women’s fashion is beauty. Therefore, it becomes quite important to be mindful about various beauty trends to match with the latest fashion. Being acknowledged about beauty trends may include various facets, for instance: makeup, footwear, accessories, clutches, matching belts, etc. In simple words, anything that helps in beautifying oneself (Park, 1996, Tan, 1987; Sureshchandra, 2001).

In Malaysia, fashion items are the most purchased items through online sites. Besides clothing, which contributed 54% of all purchases done in the festive seasons, bags and accessories are also a favorite item (53%).In fact, it was reported in the Malaysian Ecommerce Index of August 2013 that, clothing, accessories and jewelry items are the most bought items online contributing 59.5% of all online purchases, more than health and beauty and consumer electronics. Jewelry is also another fashion items for Malaysian women. Malaysia has become a potential market for various international brand costume jewelry as it is favored over real ones for safety reasons. The market for real jewelry is also in demand, with many outlets such as Habib Jewels, Poh Kong, Wah Chan, to name a few.

 The market for cosmetics has also been encouraging. Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MA), reported that the total market for cosmetics was valued at RM321.2 million with imports of cosmetics and toiletries accounting for 72.3% of the domestic consumption in 2012. Clothing for the Muslim women has evolved from the modest Baju Kurong and Kebaya to the more elegantly decorated jubbah worn with modern looking head scarfs, blouses, pants, and skirts. A lot of online shopping sites offer the women abundance of choices in materials, designs and colours. Some of these are, Summaya, Zalora, Lazada, and many others. Fashion is perceived in many ways.

 

Name of Journal Article: Malaysian Muslim Women Perspective  

Authors: Muhammad Tahir Jan, Kalthom Abdullah

Year of Publication: 2015

Conceptual Framework:

Figure 4: Conceptual Framework

The broad examination of the existing literature brought up four main constructs related to fashion; namely, shoes, makeup/cosmetics, Apparel & accessories and Hijab. These facets, as emerged from the literature, are also measured carefully by the authors in assembling the planned model for Hijab as a symbol of fashion. In the projected model (see Figure 4) the four main constructs are treated as independent variables. All these independent variables are supported by the literature and are testified to have positive effect on fashion consciousness.

Journal 5

Introduction

This article is highlighting the Elwarda’s company, a Modest Fashion Online Retailer. The aim of this articles is to find  out  if  there  is  a  need  for  modern  contemporary  yet  modest fashion that is linked to Islamic requirement. With the growing number of online Islamic-Modest clothing retailer, research needs to be done to find out what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong.

 

Name of Journal Article: Research on Online Retailing for Modest Fashion

Authors: Nazihah Ab Mumin

Year of Publication: 2010

Conceptual Framework:

 

Figure 5:Conceptual Framework

Elwarda is a company that provide modest-muslim fashion special for Muslim women in English-speaking countries and market their business in many platforms. So they need to build the strategies. In  looking  to  build  Elwarda’s  E-loyalty  strategy,  I will  look  at  the  E-Loyalty  Framework  by (Gommans, Krishnan, & Scheffold, 2001). 

It is important for online retailers to build e-loyalty. The activity of brand building is the key in gaining sustainable competitive advantage. However, for online  retailers  to  be  successful  the  concept  of  brand  loyalty  needs  also  be translated  into  e-loyalty. There is 5 factors will discussed on this framework that Elwarda used ad modest-Muslim fashion producer to drive e-loyalty which are customer service, trust security, website and technology, value preposition and brand building.

Based  on  the  findings  of  the  questionnaire,  this  is the  framework  that  is  most  efficient  for Elwarda’s target market in developing their e-loyalty. Customer service is also of high importance. By offering a fast and reliable delivery service with excellent  return  policies, Elwarda customers  will  feel  valued  and  this  will  also  enhance  their loyalty to the business.

Elwarda  offers  a modern and  stylish  Modest  clothing to  women who wants to  strike  a  balance between modernity and modesty in clothing. Elwarda is to create a women’s only event that also function as the meeting point of online retailers and customers to get a trust from customers or who interest on modest fashion so that relationship between retailers and customers are mainly transactional.

Next, the online modest fashion market is increasing at a rapid speed. With the advancement of technology boosted by social media, the modest fashion online retailers are finding new ways and new markets every day.

Questionnaire/Items:

As  it  shows  from  the  table,  the  online  purchase  of  Clothes. In  terms  of  non-retail  values,  e-commerce  keeps  on  increasing  with  a  significant  growth  every year.

Theories:

There are a few theories why human being dress and adorn themselves in modest-Muslim fashion.

Theory of Protection

One  of  the  most  basic  is  theory  is  that  human  being wants  to  be  protected  by  the  natural elements. (Entwistle , 2000). However, the theory is debatable because as observed in a western and some non-western cultures, skimpy clothes are still worn in a very cold climate in name of fashion. This people survive in extreme environment and temperatures in limited protection from clothing.

Theory of Modesty

This theory argues that clothes are worn to cover the sexual body parts (Entwistle, 2000). However, this view is contested by (Rouse, 1989) starting the idea of modesty and shame is ‘relative to social context’. What is considered modest is some cultures is not the same in other cultures.

Theory of Display

(Flugel, 1930) argues that clothing as a function of decoration and display is more significant than the theory of protection and modesty. The argument is that clothes are worm to make us more sexually attractive, not less.

Theory of Communication

The last theory for clothing and adornment stems from human’s desire to communicate using symbols (Entwistle, 2000). This theory is both well-received by anthropologist on dress and fashion theories (Entwistle, 2000).