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Dress Culture

From the Windrush Generation to British Bangladeshi Muslim men in the East End of London - how culture, stigma and discrimination impact clothes choices.

Laurie Taylor talks to Fatima Rajina, Senior Legacy in Action Research Fellow at the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester, about changing perceptions of dress among British Bangladeshi Muslim men in London鈥檚 East End. Why has the thobe, a garment traditionally associated with the Arab States, come to signify a universal Muslim identity? And why have Muslim men's clothing choices attracted so little scrutiny, compared to Muslim women's? Also, Teleica Kirkland, Lecturer in the Cultural and Historical Studies Department at the London College of Fashion, explores the performative elegance of the Windrush generation, whose respectable presentation was a route to seeking dignity and respect in British society. What were the limitations of using fashion as a way to gain acceptance?

Producer: Jayne Egerton

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29 minutes

Last on

Sun 16 Mar 2025 06:05

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Guests and further reading

- , lecturer in the Cultural and Historical Studies Department at the London College of Fashion听

Performative Elegance: the Windrush Generation and the Politics of Respectability听 by Teleica Kirkland in Dangerous Bodies听 New Global Perspectives on Fashion and Transgression (edited by and 听) Springer

- , Senior Legacy in Action Research Fellow at the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre, at De Montfort University, Leicester

Paper: British Muslim Men and Clothes: the role of stigma and the political reconfigurations around sartorial choices 听in Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power

British Bangladeshi Muslims in the East End The changing landscape of dress and language By听Fatima Rajina (Manchester University Press)

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  • Tue 11 Mar 2025 15:30
  • Sun 16 Mar 2025 06:05

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