Pluralism in the Arab world will,hopefully,be followed by a flourishing of art and fashion One of the more delicious media slip-ups took place last month. While most of us were away for the summer hols,the American Vogue was made to squirm after its March issue carried a fawning puff piece on Asma al-Assad,the British-born and very attractive wife of Syrias president Bashar al-Assad. Vogue called her thin and long limbed and glamorous,young and very chic even as her husband was killing hundreds and jailing over 10,000 demonstrators as well as teenage bloggers demanding freedom from militancy. By May,the al-Assads had fled Syria,and Vogue had removed the first ladys profile from its website. It was made to explain by many top-lining newspapers,including The Washington Post and The Telegraph. In this months issue of the British Vogue,its editor Alexandra Shulman offers: It can seem,at times,the task of putting together a fashion magazine might appear a little like Neros proverbial fiddling while Rome burns. Moreover,it carries a brilliant and very sensitive article by a veteran Syrian writer,Rana Kabbani,on what it means to be a Syrian in the time of a revolution. But Vogue is not alone. Western media has been highly obsessed with the obscenely rich lives of dictators and,by extension,their couture-clutching wives. The good-looking Bashar al-Assad was hitherto glorified for allowing foreign banks and international companies into Syria and was feted as a much softer version of his bullying father. (Of course,the global opinion changed as soon as he began rule by force). Libyas Muammar Gaddafis son Saif has been written about as a partying Anglophile. And the very westernised Queen Rania is an inspiration for every beauty-pageant aspirant even though shes loathed at home in corruption-stricken Jordan for being a part of an extremely autocratic monarchy. Two of the greatest services fashion provides to mankind are contradictory. On the one hand,it offers an escape. Dressing up is a game you play with your mind and yourself when you want to be someone else or someplace else. On the other hand,it is one of the most significant diarists of the events and economics of our times. Designers may claim to create in isolation but are hugely influenced by the trends of the day in order to be relevant. It is naïve of a designer to say that he makes clothes to please himself; it is akin to a novelist saying he writes for only himself and then goes looking for a publisher. Fashion doesnt exist in a vacuum. As Shulman writes,No matter how difficult the times,the urge for many of us to make the most of how we look is primal. Dissenting Arab nations Egypt,Syria,Tunisia,Libya,Yemen will soon be (hopefully) hotbeds of a new-found pluralism that will be fertile territory for the arts novels,paintings and fashion. Lebanons Elie Saab is already a recognised couturier in syndicates in Italy and France,and celebrated the world over,promoted by celebrities from Beyonce and Angelina Jolie to Aishwarya Rai. Zuhair Murad is another Lebanese designer making his mark in the international fashion circuit with a boutique in the centre of Paris,and Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera wearing his dresses to the Golden Globe this year. A new freedom will mean new opportunities for young Arabs,hungry to straddle different cultures. Will the young and upcoming taste-makers offer an avant twist to the elegant abaya? Will the hijab be Pradas new turban? Will the arabesque propensity for colour and ornamentation take on a paradigm shift to a globally popular minimalism? Do look now,the Arab world is changing. namratanow@gmail.com
