Fashion faschists

I've been pondering clothing and fashion since the French courts saw sense and overturned the ban on burkinis on beaches. This came after French police were seen taking action against a woman on the beach in Nice wearing Islamic garb recently. Well, I saw the pictures and she could easily just have been covered up to protect from sunburn, with leggings and a headscarf. There was something deeply unpleasant about her having to take clothes off until her dress was deemed appropriate for the beach, with four male police officers standing by:

I understand why the French feel they have to do something, or be seen to be doing something, about Islamic extremists after the various terrorist attacks. And I get banning covered faces in public places, which strike me as every bit as sinister as balaclava helmets or masks. But taking this fight to the beaches was daft and I don't see how it was meant to help.

The Mayor of Cannes had said that burkinis were "not respectful of good morals and secularism". Dominic Lawson, writing in the Sunday Times, pointed out that there is something gloriously silly in the mayor of Cannes complaining about women showing their lack of morals by their choice of beachwear (actually, it's sillier than that - by choosing to cover up!)

I'm all in favour of secularism and I find burkas and burkinis deeply distasteful. OK, maybe they just make me uneasy, as they seem strange and oppressive. But banning headscarves on the beach is problematic for me. After all, what about an old lady dressed like Nora Batty? And the Mayor of Florence tweeted a picture of nuns in habits delightedly paddling in the surf, a sight that presumably would offend some French mayors or even be deemed illegal.

Risibly, the Deputy Mayor of Marseille has brought elf 'n' safety into the debate, claiming that a burkini is unsafe if you put your head under water. He doesn't seem to have noticed that most people on the beach don't actually go for a swim and many are wearing clothes unsuitable for swimming.

I think there is a real difficulty in defining  any dress style as offensive. The French mayors went for what I'd call the golf club formula (i.e. clothing intended for the golf course is accepted) hence they said something like "clothing intended for wear on the beach". Well, you see all sorts of clothing on the beach - and why not? It's a beach!

Nevertheless, Nicolas Sarkozy launched his presidential campaign by calling for the burkini to be banned as the garment is a "political act, it's militant, a provocation". I'm struggling a bit to see how Nicolas would legislate for the spectrum of clothing between a burkini and a wet suit with a face mask.

Basically, I don't think the authorities should tell people what they can and can't wear. It offends my hippie streak. As Jimi Hendrix sang in If 6 was 9 (used in the counter-culture  film "Easy Rider", in which two travelling bikers become victims of small town oppression and prejudice - as well as taking on board a cocktail of drugs and alcohol):

"Dig, 'cos I got my own world to live through,
And I ain't gonna copy you."

Notwithstanding all of that, I think the treatment of women in many Arabic and Islamic countries is a disgrace. I've been saying since the mid 1990s, following the fall of communism and apartheid, that it's the last remaining major human major rights issue. (Er, ok, North Korea, China etc excepted maybe!). My hero Roy Harper was banging on about it even earlier, singing in 1990:

"And women in veils walking paces behind
Doesn't sit easy in my kind of mind
It speaks of oppression and no other choice
Than rigid compliance with the loudest voice...."

You can see the full lyric of this angry polemic - well, rant actually - here

Harper cuts to the real point here: you should be free to wear what you want and free not to wear what others want you to, whether there is a daffy French mayor or a chauvinistic husband trying to tell you otherwise.

To avoid any doubt, I don't like any strongly religious garb in an everyday setting. I can't imagine why anyone would want to wear a burka and I admit I feel uneasy when I see one. I thought it wierd to come across a family in full Jewish orthodox garb 1500ft up a Welsh mountain recently. I'm not even fond of seeing an Anglican dog collar in social setting. It makes me feel mildly uncomfortable, even though it is culturally familiar. But I still don't agree with the fashion police who want to dictate what people can and can't wear. To paraphrase Voltaire, I disapprove of what you are wearing, but I'll defend your right to wear it. Not to the death, of course and as long as you don't cover your face.

P.S. Just checking the above quotation, I found another pertinent Voltaire saying: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. Radicalisation clearly isn't a new concept.