Turkish magazine redefines fashion for veiled women

Since its launch last year, "Ala" magazine has rapidly gained a following among Turkish women who want to look attractive and fashionable while adhering to Muslim regulations regarding women's appearance, such as covering the hair and wearing long, loose-fitting clothing.

Like other monthly women magazines, Ala offers the usual fare of health tips, travel and fashion advice for women. But its editor Hulya Aslan says the publication also wants to break the stereotypes many people have of observant Muslim women.

A fashion magazine in Turkey has become a mainstream glossy for Muslim women, offering tips for its conservative readers.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY (JUNE 19, 2012) (REUTERS) - In the streets of Istanbul, trendy, young women in headscarves have become a common sight in recent years. It is this section of women that a new Turkish magazine is targeting.

"Generally, the position of women in Islam has always been seen differently. Especially people coming from abroad -- they think a Muslim woman is sitting in her home, looking after her children, not working and is unsocial. And we break this stereotype with this magazine," Aslan said.

The headscarf remains one of Turkey's most divisive issues in this majority Muslim but officially secular country of 74 million.

From a simple headcovering, stigmatised in the early days of the Turkish Republic as backward and rural, it has become, in the last decades, a carefully crafted garment and highly marketable commodity, embodying the challenge of a new class of conservative Muslims to Turkey's secularist elites.

Around 69 percent of Turkish women cover their heads in some form, with 16 percent using the more concealing and self-consciously stylish "turban" style scarf, which tightly covers the hair and neck, according to a 2007 study.

The editor says the magazine appeals to observant women who are unapologetic about looking good.

"Muslim women must look well-groomed everywhere they go. They should pay attention to their clothes, whatever they wear. This could be an overcoat or a cloak but whatever she wears, I think she should be elegant everywhere she goes -- whether it's parties or meeting with her friends," Aslan said.

Ala -- which means beauty in Turkish -- now sells as many copies in Turkey as other women's fashion magazines such as Elle, Vogue and Marie Claire.

But Ala is different, says the editor.

"We could just call it a fashion magazine -- putting trendy colours like pink or green in it. However, we do not think like this. We are trying to stick to our tradition and keep in line with Islamic clothing," she said.

The magazine follows religious guidelines, featuring clothing which covers the woman's entire body with the exception of her face, hands and feet.

It has tapped into a lucrative market. Turkish daily Milliyet estimated the Islamic clothing market in the country to be worth $2.9 billion.

Despite its presence on the streets, women students and civil servants are officially banned from wearing the scarf in the institutions of the secular state.

The secular establishment fears any change to the ban could see uncovered women feel pressure to cover their heads.

A bid by the ruling AK Party government to lift the headscarf ban almost four years ago was blocked by the Constitutional Court, and almost led to the party being closed for anti-secular activities.

Continued discussions over the headscarf mirror Turkey's socio-economic development and the struggle over the defining line between the country's political and religious characters.