The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Thursday, September 29, 2011 - 3B

A head for fashion Manufacturing nostalgia

'U' students are
making an age-old
tradition their own
By ERIN STEELE
Daily Arts Writer
In a fashion industry where
avant-garde is the name of the
game and style icons like Lady
Gaga parade around in scandal-
ous outfits made out of every-
thing from stuffed animals to raw
meat, dressing according to a rel-
atively conservative set of rules
may be thought to stifle one's cre-
ativity. But Muslim students at
the University are demonstrating
the exact opposite.
Verse 33:59 in the Shakir trans-
lation of the Qur'an - "O Proph-
et! Say to your wives and your
daughters and the women of the
believers that they let down upon
them their over-garments; this
will be more proper, that they
may be known, and thus they will
not be given trouble" - explains
the idea behind hijab, an Islamic
style of dress that promotes mod-
esty among both women and
men. Those who choose to wear
hijab are to cover their heads
and wear loose, non-transparent
clothing with long sleeves and
pant legs or skirts.
While followers of Islam have
different beliefs about the tech-
nicalities - whether feet are
allowed to be shown or whether
women have to cover their entire
face - the underlying principle is
the same for all.
"It's about the modesty and
how you carry yourself," said
political science doctorate stu-
dent and former hijab fashion
blogger Imaan Ali. "Men, for
example, they're not supposed to
wear something shorter than to
their knee."
The hijab, according to Asso-
ciate Professor of Near Eastern
Studies Mohommad Alhawary, is
described in the Qur'an as a way
of allowing people, especially
women, to actively participate in
society and maintain separation
of the public and private spheres.

Is there anything more hap-
pening than documenting
what you did this weekend
and sharing it with your
friends and friends of friends?
Anything
hipper than
documenting
your self-doc-
umentation
on the Inter-
net, showing M
your people
in what tone, JULIA
saturation, SMITH-
crop, con- EPPSTEINER
trast, vignette
you see the
world? Nope. And to elevate the
sharing process, why not make
it retro?
What's most interesting
about the very recently thriving
trend of faux-vintage (artifi-
cially aged) photography is how
white culture has commod-
itized the art of photography. To
produce a picture that the gen-
eral public would call "artsy"
a few years ago, one would
have had to tow around a nice,
chunky camera with 35mm film
or a plastic-but-unique Holga
on adventures. Fast-forward to
present day- now all you need
is an iPhone and a pair of hands,
and faux-vintage self-docu-
mentation is at your fingertips.
Ready, set, touch!
Hipstamatic was the win-
ner of Apple's 2010 App of the
year. Pay $1.99 and get yourself
over to the nearest coffeehouse
where beanies and Moleskine
notebooks exist in bulk, and
bingo!, you are trendy gs shit.
And now the free application
Instagram, both simpler to
navigate and easier to network
through, has gained more than
10 million users in 12 months.
Looking epidemic, eh?
Sepia tone isn't enough any-
more - in fact, it's borderline
tacky. Technology now allows
numerous capabilities of edit-
ing the image your cellular
device snapped: relaxing in
the pool on an animal-shaped
floater or holding out the red
velvet cupcakes you just baked
- you appear more vintage.

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urns out these photos cards and wakeboards to play
:ck-ups - far, far away with. Ideal: You immerse your-
he authentic photographs self into the happiness of the
in a dusty box of your par- present, deepening your human
sing, grinning in '70s air. relationships. Year 2011 Reality:
n shop at Hipstamatic's You expend your energy decid-
a Mart" and change your ing how to digitize your friends
options with absurdly shotgunning beers on the back
t names: Roboto Glitter, of the boat, in order to achieve
Viking, Lucifer VI. The a maximum hipster product.
ve club-sounding titles Your weekend in nature is spent
ue with the extensive thinking about something that
s of flashes, films and isn't now. The pictures that
Hipstamatic is essentially are "coolest" look furthest
a camera on your smart- from reality: They're trippier,
with the aim of adding color-enhanced and more like
ntrigue to people's quickly postcards that you'd find in the
ed images. But as it goes Dawn Treader Book Shop -
verythitig in life, when those of a rustic, hip life that
ne is partaking, the activ- isn't really your own.
,trend - loses its intrigue What's key is that these
s just a matter of time for "vintage," smartphone-edited
ticipants to realize it's photographs would not be a
nd "on to the next!" trend on their lonesomes. An
audience is necessary. If just
snapped, edited and enjoyed for
-en ur hgh- private reminiscing or printed
'en our high- out to put in a frame on the
lch apps are wall, they would not be of value.
The faux-vintage photography
earning for peoeo a become worth
ea nn o r looking into as representativetof
the past. contemporary social behavior
because of the degree to which
we share this visual informa-
tion. The images seem to only
as much as our technol- gain importance until they are
always sprinting for- uploaded onto a social network,
tn cheetah-turbo power, whether it's Facebook, Tumblr,
forever looking back. WordPress or Twitter.
s overly admired his- Instagram and Hipstamatic
he "ooh-aah" of poodle have allowed many millions
the original Woodstock of people to take retro photo-
e nostalgia that Woody graphs from their pocket-sized
pointed out in "Midnight cellular devices and potentially
is" ... we just can't get think of themselves as skillful,
h. creative creatures. It's possible
generation has taken it that this heightened trending
r than just nostalgia, as of photography in today's youth
ve begun to live present might be us discovering a new
nts as past memories. kind of beauty. I won't let this
so excited about the amiable viewpoint disappear
tial to double-document completely, but it's also very
e sometimes lose the possible that our generation's
nt itself, fingers deciding current obsession with faux-
er Nashville or Lomo-Fi vintage photography will burn
right filter to capture this out quickly. I may just welcome
ence. the incineration.

"You see now in social net-
works, Facebook and other
places - people have no separa-
tion," Alhawary said. "They get
in trouble whether with them-
selves, with their peers (or) with
their employers because there's
no observance of separation in
private life and public life."
Over thousands of years,
observers of hijab have used their
creativity to dress themselves
according to worldly trends with-
out violatingthe rules set forth by
the Qur'an.
Ali began wearing hijab at 20
years old, a fashion-conscious
age for many. A fan of H&M and
Forever 21 scarves, she follows
the latest runway collections for
inspiration.
"You can kind of modify and
make the trends (to) what you
want to wear," she said. "You
have to use your imagination.
It was really a challenge at the
start."
Ali also said hijab styles vary
widely across all Muslim coun-
tries. Generally, women in the

Gulf States (Saudi Arabia, United
Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain,
Qatar and Kuwait) tend to wear
long black dresses and cover
everything but their eyes, while
women in Egypt and the Levant
(a region including most of Leba-
non, Syria, Jordan, Israel and
the Palestinian Territories) wear
more colorful scarves and expose
their faces.
"You can tell where people are
from based on how they tie their
scarves," Ali said. "Lately, the
borders are a little bit smudged.
I wear this one day, I wear the
Spanish (scarf) another day. It's
totally up to you. You use your
imagination. It takes some prac-
tice to know what looks good and
what doesn't make you look really
weird."
Alhawary cites Turkey as one
of the largest current influences
in hijab fashion, saying this is
likely due to the country's recent
secularization and people's
attempts to maintain the hijab in
a less jarring way.
See HIJAB, Page 4B

nario: It's summer and
at a cabin on the lake
bunch of friends. You've
ch other, a boat, beer,

Smith-Eppsteiner has already
moved on to other apps. To call her
"hipster," e-mail julialix@umich.edu.

D ''BOY MEETS WORLD' (1993-2000), ABC
Good friends, young love, wise mentors in 'Boy Meets World'

By PROMA KHOSL A
Daily TV/New Media Editor
You call yourself a '90s kid?
Let's put that to the test: "When
this boy meets wooorld ..." Did
you start singing in your head (or
out loud)? Did you feel that inter-
nal leap of joy associated with the
start of an episode of "Boy Meets
World?" Congratulations. You
have enough taste to recognize
one of the greatest sitcoms ever.
Of course, even those of us now
in college - in our humble opin-
ion, the last of the true '90s kids
- were probably still too young to
catch "Boy Meets World" when
it first aired during the T.G.I.F.
block of Friday night program-
ming on ABC. Chances are, you
fell in love with Cory, Shawn,
Topanga and Eric once the show
went into syndication on the Dis-
ney Channel around 1999. Since
its conclusion a year later, "Boy
Meets World" has become the
cult favorite of a generation.
"Boy Meets World" began in
1993, during the golden age of
situation comedies. It was born

of the wholesome family humor
and hilarious teen shenanigans
that infuse other beloved sit-
coms of the decade, like "Fresh
Prince of Bel-Air" and "Sabrina
the Teenage Witch." Young Cory
Matthews (Ben Savage) deals
with the daily ups and downs of
high school, family and romance.
Nothing earth-shattering. Then
why is it so damn good?
Watching a show more than 10
years since it ended is an excel-
lent way to test its merit. (Warn-
ing: "Captain Planet" doesn't hold
up.) "Boy Meets World" was to its
television contemporaries what
"30 Rock" is today: individualis-
tic and downright weird.
There's a scene that exempli-
fies this, during season three's "I
Was a Teenage Spy," the episode
in which Cory dreams he's in
1957. During the scene in ques-
tion, he goes home only to find
Tom Bosley and Anson Williams
of "Happy Days" eating brownies
in the kitchen. It's utterly bizarre
- then and now - but that doesn't
stop it from being hilarious.
That endearing weirdness

emerg
seven
Cory s
Fishel)
think i
Strong
visible
ex-girl
isn't C

Ff

es in dialogue across the but "Boy Meets World" almost
seasons. In one episode, tests the audience's capacity for
says to Topanga (Danielle being toyed with. If the show
, "I don't think it's funny. I were made today, Eric would
t's ... wood." Shawn (Rider never become as painfully stupid
attempts to hide a very as he did in the last two seasons.
Cory from a possessive Topanga's parents wouldn't be
friend by claiming "This played by half a dozen actors. Stu-
ory! This is cake!" Eric art Minkus 'wouldn't disappear
for the high school years. And
remember Mr. Williams and Mr.
Turner? What even happened to
"e "'+' them?
Fe n That being said, the things
Feen " that mattered were consistent
ee-hee-hee- without fail. The fact that people
still want to find love like Cory
heeny and Topanga (despite their few
sporadic, contrived break-ups)
is a testament to natural writ-
ing and magnetic chemistry. The
Friedle) refers to himself Matthews parents (Betsy Randle
third person - as "Kyle." It and William Russ) were always
its asking what the writers positive role models, an idealis-
moking, but also endless tic example to juxtapose Shawn's
de for whatever it was. father - who harbors ambitions
only thing keeping this as a pearl diver - and Topanga's
rom timeless perfection is estranged parents. Mr. Feeny
atant inconsistency. To be (William Daniels) was and is the
itcoms were almost never perfect mentor, from the pilot to
ent up until the 2000s, the last emotional moments the

main cast shares in his classroom.
Alongside the usual sitcom
fare, "Boy Meets World" tackled
its fair share of topical subjects.
Among the episodes that never
aired on the Disney channel is
one in which Cory and Shawn go
on a drinking binge as Cory copes
with his break-up. Yet another
sees Cory and Topanga planning
to sleep together after senior
prom. Though there is little talk
of race or religion, there is a con-
stant theme of social class strug-
gles that comes to the forefront at
least once a season. All these epi-
sodes choose the altruistic route
- no more drinking, wait until
marriage, don't judge people -
without the preachy voice of, say,
"Full House."
The show's greatest strength is
the sheer perfection of Cory and
Shawn's friendship. Best of bud-
dies before Harry and Ron; a bro-
mance to rival Turk and JD; the
boys meeting the world. They are
unfailingly loyal to one another
throughout the most turbulent
years of their young lives when
siblings, parents and girlfriends

prove unpredictable. They dress
in drag, pee on a cop car, spend
a night.sleeping in Splash Moun-
tain and always come to school to
sit in the same desks, one in front
of the other.
It's best summed up by the
boys themselves in the season
four episode "Easy Street": "Why
are we on the ground?" Cory asks,
after the duo mistakes a backfir-
ing car for a gunshot. "Because
it's fun," replies Shawn. "And we
do everything together."
A decade later, with the final
season comingto DVD next week,
"Boy Meets World" illustrates the
importance of relationships in
ourlives. If nothingelse, itinstills
a fervent desire to spend the rest
of your life with your best friends
at your side, helping you make
sense of a random and chaotic
universe. The fact remains that
"Boy Meets World" is more intel-
ligent, funny and relevant than
most shows marketed toward
today's teens.
As Shawn puts it, "TV is the
true mirror of our lives." Amen,
buddy.

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