Sometimes, fashion can become as a signify for one country. Different country has different fashion culture and aethestic standard. I used this film to study how fashion culture in a place influence other women from other country to follow the culture.
What is Sex and The City about?
This film is a 2010 romance comedy film which is the sequel to the 2008 film Sex and The City. It is about 4 different ages womens' lifestyles in New York. The main thing of this film that could not be miss out is the high fashion trend costume they wear. There are few scenes that I would like to study is how culture related to fashion.
Short synopsis of Sex and The City II.
Carrier, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda are 4 best friends, they all are married accept Samantha, who is the oldest one among them and trying to keep her libido with hormones while dealing with menopause. She was invited by a Arab business man (devise a PR campaign for his business) to visit Abu Dhabi. She requested to bring all her best-friend together.
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| New York |
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| Abu Dhabi |
As you can see that, when they visited to one of the desert in Abu Dhabi, they dressed themselves differently compare to what they usually wear in New York. I believe that there's some reasons cause them to wear in that way.
Women in Abu Dhabi usually wear Abaya (a long black robe) with a Sheila (a black head scarf to cover the neck and head) and some may add a Niqab to cover their face (only the eyes are expose) if some of them are very religious. Black Abaya outfit is an identity and sign that says" I am a U.A.E women."
Women in Abu Dhabi are not allow to wear indecent outfits. Guidelines such as shorts and skirts need to reach an appropriate length and same to swimwear as well.
I remember the scene when they were having their breakfast beside a pool. Samantha dressed herself a maxi long dress with super low-cut design in front of her chest. The rest of the girls tried to persuade her to wear more clothes because they respect the culture in Abu Dhabi ( local women usually dressed their body with black- Arab's cultural) while the others 3 girls wore scarf, vest/cardigan to cover their shoulder and neck.
But even though there are many rules and laws for the fashion code for women in Abu Dhabi, but some of them still love to follow trendy fashion from other country. For example, this reminds me of one scene when they chased after some Arab guy because Samantha's condom accidentally fall out from her bag in the public. After that, there are 5 Arab women guide them out from the crowd. They show the girls what they usually wear inside their Abaya("their real character"). However, they had to follow the law but what they actually love is the trend and fashion of New York city.
In my conclusion, I think that fashion has no national boundaries and everyone are free to pursue it, no matter which country they belongs to. And I believe that since UAE is a muslim state, women in this country has instructed to wear what they had ordiniert. Moreover, based on my observation, women in this country has less "power" then men, they did not play significant role in politic and religious life. In addition, I feel that why they had to wear all black is because to avoid being exposed to male-dominated society and these women can only reveal their real identity to their family and husband.
Research & References
Sites.goole.com. (n.d.) Traditional wear in the UAE. [online] Available at:https://sites.google.com/site/exploringtheuae/presentation/culture/traditional-wear [Accessed at:28 July 2013]
Leigen.M. (2012) UAE laws you must know to stay out of trouble. [online] Available at:http://www.emirates247.com/news/emirates/uae-laws-you-must-know-to-stay-out-of-trouble-2012-02-28-1.445519 [Accessed at:28 July 2013]
Expatwoman.com.(n.d.) ExpatWoman Guide to Abu Dhabi Etiquette. [online] Available at:http://www.expatwoman.com/abudhabi/monthly_abudhabi_faqs_ExpatWoman_Guide_to_Abu_Dhabi_Etiquette_9129.aspx [Accessed at:28 July 2013]
Festy.(2010) Sex and the city 2-the movie. [Images online] Available at:http://festyinstyle.blogspot.com/2010/04/sex-and-city-2-movie.html [Accessed at:28 July 2013]
Amber.P. (2012) My Favourite Pastime: Watching Bad Movies. [Images online] Available at:http://www.mamapop.com/2012/06/my-favorite-pastime-watching-bad-movies.html [Accessed at:28 July 2013]
Saraqaseem. (2013) Orientalism. [Images online[ Available at:http://saraqaseem.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/orientalism/ [Accessed at:28 July 2013]
Deleere.S. (2012) Why Sex and The City is possibly one of the most offensive movies ever made. [Images online] Available at:http://lafinestproche.wordpress.com/ [Accessed at:28 July 2013]
Mtholyoke.edu. (n.d.) The Veil. [online] Available at:http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~skalmutt/uae/veil.html [Accessed at 28 July 2013]
