by Torchwood » Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:15 pm
Clothes do send a signal: urban and immigrant Muslims pre-1990 dressed Western, now second generation immigrants are tarting themselves up in Arabian dress which was never indigenous to where they came from (the Punjab, or, to be honest, Bradford). That is a cultural and political statement. Conversely, where is the Chinese Mao suit of yesteryear?
Not suggesting it should be banned, but just sayin'.
Clergymen have a dispensation in Western culture to wear funny clothes, though.
Pessimism is the soft option.