Recherches sociologiques et

anthropologiques
49-1 | 2018
Mises en scène musulmanes sur internet

Cultural Expressions and Criticisms in the US

Mipsterz Fashion Video
Kristin M. Peterson

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DOI: 10.4000/rsa.2421
ISSN: 2033-7485

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Date of publication: 1 September 2018
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 Recherches sociologiques et anthropologiques 2018/1
K. M. Peterson : 79-97

Cultural Expressions and Criticisms

in the US Mipsterz Fashion Video

Kristin M. Peterson *
This article discusses the 2013 fashion video, “Somewhere in America
#MIPSTERZ,” which featured the “mipsterz” or Muslim hipsters, a community
of young Muslims blurring the lines between “traditional” Islamic culture and
contemporary Western culture. The women in the video exhibit fashion styles
that incorporate Islamic elements of modesty. The ensuing controversy over
this video illustrates larger contestations within Islam about fashion. This paper
presents a critical discourse analysis of the Mipsterz video in order to explore
how the subjectivity of Muslim women is constituted through the visual images
in this video, the deployment of the term mipsterz, and the ensuing debates.
The analysis focuses on the visual style of the fashion and incorporates Mal-
colm Barnard’s theories on the connections between fashion and identity. The
paper makes the argument that through the use of the term mipsterz and the em-
bodiment of this innovative fashion style, the women resist dominant discour-
ses about what it means to be a Muslim in the Western context. The women
create a hybrid style that blends Islamic modesty and piety, hip and fashionable
styles, and the creativity and anti-commercialism of the hipster movement.

Mots-clés : Islam, fashion, hybridity, online videos, style.

I. Introduction
In Somewhere in America #MIPSTERZ, a two and a half minute long
video released on YouTube in November 2013, a series of short clips
show about 20 young Muslim American women hanging out in various
urban landscapes in the US1. The women exhibit their fashionable outfits
as they walk down the street, skateboard, dance, run through a park and
pose for photographs. The video appears to be a harmless and carefree ex-
pression of young women being creative with their fashion styles and ha-
ving fun with friends. Within days after the video was released, well over
______________________________
*
Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Boston College, USA.
1
Sheikh & Bake, 2013 : https://youtu.be/V-TWw75O1bo. Note that the original video has been pulled
because of copyright infringement over the use of a Jay-Z song. The original video had been viewed
over 600,000 times. The rerelease of the video has been viewed nearly 120,000 times on both YouTube
and Vimeo.
80 R S & A, 2018/1 – Cultural Expressions and Criticisms in the US Mipsterz…

500,000 people had watched the video and it inspired active debates
among Muslims on social media2 and within Islamic online media sites,
such as Islamic Monthly3, altmuslim4 and Al-Jazeera5. The video also rea-
ched outside of Muslim circles, as mainstream blogs and news sites dis-
cussed the debates but also praised the video for its creativity6.
Within Islamic circles, the controversy arose because the Muslim Ame-
rican women in this video exhibited Islamic fashion trends and claimed
the tongue-in-cheek identity marker of “mipsterz” or Muslim hipsters7.
Criticisms poured in that the video misrepresented Islam, that the women
objectified themselves by appearing as fashion models, that the video pro-
moted over-consumption and a focus on appearances, and that the women
were immodest and over-sexualized. In response to the online critiques,
especially the objection to the muteness of the video participants, several
of the women in the video clearly articulated their reasons for participa-
ting in the video in various written responses8. The participants and video
directors defended their rationale for the video and only made one minor
change to the video, substituting a “clean” version of the Jay-Z song that
did not include profanity, including a few instances of “fuck” and “nigga”.
Perhaps one of the most well-circulated critiques came from Sana
Saeed, a writer for The Islamic Monthly, in which she argues that the vi-
deo attempts to normalize Muslims by fitting them into mainstream cultu-
re and presents a shallow visual portrayal of the women. Saeed concedes
that the video is aesthetically attractive, but she finds little substance in
these images. She writes, «The video doesn’t really seem to have any pur-
pose aside from showing well-dressed, put together Muslim women in po-
ses perfect for a magazine spread» (Saeed, 2013 :[ol]9). Saeed seems
doubtful that visual portrayals can ever provide a deep and unproblematic
representation of Muslims. In response to these criticisms, Layla Shaikley,
a participant and the fashion director for the video, explains that she was
tired of always having to tell her story about her faith using words, so ins-
tead she wanted to participate in what she calls a “creative action”. She
views the mipsterz video as a self-portrait of her identity and an expres-
sion of the larger mipsterz identity10.
The release of the mipsterz video raised contentious debates within
American Islamic communities over how women should dress, the public
______________________________
2
See, for example, Dr. Suad, 2013.
3
SAEED S., 2013.
4
CHAUDRY R., 2013.
5
AL-JAZEERA, 2013.
6
See GHANI A., 2013 and HAFIZ Y., 2013.
7
Note that “mipsterz” is a larger social movement of both men and women who identify as Muslims
and incorporate similar values of the larger hipster movement. More information can be found at
http://www.facebook.com/Mipsterz.
8
See, for instance, SHAIKLEY L., 2014 and SHEIKH A., 2013,
9
[o.l.] : on line, no pagination.
10
SHAIKLEY L., 2014.
 K. M. Peterson 81

representation of Islam, and the role of consumption and fashion within

religion. Ultimately, these debates illustrated the pressures that Muslim
women face to always be positive and perfect visual representatives of
Islam, especially in light of overwhelmingly negative stereotypes in
mainstream American media. While the debates over the mipsterz video
are fascinating to examine for what they say about the American Islamic
community (notably, non-Muslim sources celebrated the originality of this
video), many of the vocal critics, such as Sana Saeed, fail to account for
the complex ways that visual style and fashion can represent the identities
of these women.
This paper will examine how fashion offers these women a chance to
communicate something about their identities and their membership wi-
thin a cultural group, to critique dominant discourses that Muslim women
are oppressed, to push past dominant understandings of modesty and Isla-
mic fashion, and finally to work against the pressures of neoliberalism and
postfeminism to consume products and display the perfect body. These
young women create an innovative, hybrid style that blends Islamic mo-
desty and piety, hip and fashionable styles, and the creativity and anti-
commercialism of the hipster movement. Through the visual display of fa-
shion, the mipsterz video provides the opportunity for young Muslims to
subtly critique other Islamic fashion movements – such as social media fa-
shion gurus11 and online Islamic fashion magazines12 that focus mainly on
consumption – and to more forcefully overthrow mainstream stereotypes
of Muslim women as submissive and oppressed.
II. Critical Discourse Analysis of the Video
This paper will engage with a critical discourse analysis approach and
incorporate different theories on fashion to understand how the fashion
styles in this video constitutes the subjectivities of these women and create
larger cultural meaning. Gillian Rose defines discourse as a «particular
knowledge about the world which shapes how the world is understood and
how things are done in it» (Rose, 2012 :190). Images as well as written or
spoken words are all forms of discourse, in that the presence or absence of
certain visual images does the work of supporting a particular knowledge
regime. Discourse, as it is distributed through images and language, is
productively powerful. Discourse produces claims to truth about what it
means to be a Muslim and what it means to be fashionable, and these
claims discipline the behavior and thoughts of individuals. Rose explains,
«In particular, discourse analysis explores how those specific views or ac-
counts are constructed as real or truthful or natural through particular re-
gimes of truth» (Rose, 2012 :196). The analysis of this video examines the

______________________________
11
See the YouTube channels of Amena Khan at https://www.youtube.com/user/Amenakin and Dina
Torkia at https://www.youtube.com/user/dinatokio.
12
See Aquila Style, http://www.aquila-style.com/ and Cover Magazine, https://www.ifdcouncil.org/.
82 R S & A, 2018/1 – Cultural Expressions and Criticisms in the US Mipsterz…

power struggles, as the women use visual styles to reinforce certain dis-
courses about Islam and to counter other hegemonic discourses.
The following analysis of the mipsterz video focuses on how discourses
about Islam are presented through the women’s actions in the video, their
appearances, and the fashion styles. The women use the visual form of the
video to make claims to truth about their identities as Muslim women, but
at the same time, the discourses around Islam, both dominant and counter-
hegemonic discourses, constitute the subjectivities of these women. The
analysis will be organized into three sections of the paper that explore
three different theoretical approaches to understanding the discourses
around fashion, Islam and gender within these videos. First, general fas-
hion theory will be used to explore how fashion can create meaning for
individuals and cultural groups and allow these women to subvert domi-
nant discourses. Second, theories on Islamic fashion will be used to look
at how Muslim women can use fashion to fight against stereotypes about
Islam. Finally, theories of postfeminism and neoliberalism will be incor-
porated into a discussion of how these women resist the dominant dis-
courses within creative spaces like YouTube, which pressure women to
present themselves as perfect objects of sight and successful consumers in
the capitalist system.
III. Fashion Communicates Culture and Identity
Fashion is a significant cultural phenomenon that allows these women
to communicate their individual identities and their membership within
the larger mipsterz group. Fashion theorist Malcolm Barnard uses a se-
miotic model to explore how fashion is a form of communication. He re-
jects the idea that certain clothing items have inherent meanings that are
transmitted from the wearer to the viewer13. Barnard pays special attention
to the role of power in determining what fashion items mean. When dis-
cussing the meaning of clothing, he says that it is best «to say that the
meanings of a piece of clothing are the result of a constantly shifting ne-
gotiation, and that they cannot escape the influence of differing positions
of dominance and subservience» (Barnard, 2002 :33). For example, the
meaning of the headscarf is greatly contested from being a sign of oppres-
sion to a sign of political Islam to a sign of liberation to a sign of creativity
to a sign of sexual possibility to a sign of modesty. All of those meanings
and more are present in a simple piece of fabric.
Barnard also explains that clothing plays a significant role in forming
individual subjects within larger cultural groups. He writes : «It is the so-
cial interacting, by means of the clothing, that produces the individual as a
member of the group rather than vice-versa, that one is a member of the
group and then interacts socially» (Ibid. :32). In other words, it is through
wearing the mipsterz style that a woman embodies what it means to be a
mipsterz. Furthermore, Barnard discusses how fashion makes meaning
______________________________
13
BARNARD M, 2002, pp.32-33.
 K. M. Peterson 83

within cultural groups. He writes : «Fashion, clothing and dress are si-
gnifying practices, they are ways of generating meanings, which produce
and reproduce those cultural groups along with their positions of relative
power» (Barnard, 2002 :38). Besides just constituting individual subjecti-
vities, fashion also works to create meanings and values for the cultural
group and then to communicate these meanings and values outside of the
group.
The main purpose of the mipsterz video is to visually present the fas-
hion styles, but these styles also illustrate the meanings and values of the
mipsterz movement. Overall, the fashion in this video indicates that the
mipsterz value creativity, hybridity, individuality and diversity. When loo-
king at the mipsterz video, the styles of this movement appear to be united
by a sense of variety and individual creative expression. In my analysis, I
identify three distinct fashion styles in the video. First, there is a chic fas-
hion style that tries to fit into mainstream fashion trends. In one of the
opening scenes, starting at 00:09 (image 1), three of the women are wal-
king down an urban sidewalk, and one woman is riding a skateboard along
with them. The women are wearing similar things : flat shoes, leggings,
long tunics or sweaters and silk scarves on their heads. The woman on the
skateboard exhibits the more unique style since she is wearing black stilet-
to heels, black and white striped leggings and a bright yellow cardigan.
Some of the women in this scene clutch designer purses.

Image 1 : “Chic fashion style”, example 1.

This style is focused on wearing tighter pants but loose and long tunic
shirts to cover one’s backside. This style is accentuated with high heels,
silk scarves, designer handbags and “bling”, as is exhibited in three quick
shots of the women’s jewelry, starting at 1:15. Around 00:49 (image 2),
the video shows a young woman leaning against a wall and talking to so-
meone off camera. She is wearing a retro style scarf on her head that is
blue with pink flowers. She is also wearing a black sweater over a crisp
white collared shirt. Her appearance reflects a style that could be worn in
an office.
84 R S & A, 2018/1 – Cultural Expressions and Criticisms in the US Mipsterz…

Image 2 : “Chic fashion style”, example 2.

This chic style emphasizes more current designer-style clothes, and the
women aspire to fit into mainstream high fashion trends instead of crea-
ting their own styles. Most of these women also wear clothes that would
be acceptable in a professional environment because the women would be
stylish while still maintaining modesty.
Another fashion style that is shown throughout the mipsterz video can
be loosely defined as a layering style in which the women piece together
various elements from current and retro fashion to create a more complex
appearance. This style is distinct from the chic style because the women
tend to incorporate more flowing and loose fabrics, and they integrate re-
tro styles and ethnic styles. This style is best illustrated by two of the wo-
men in what will be called the “container” scene (00:12, image 3). In this
scene, three women appear in front of a large, green shipping container
that is inexplicably located within a wooded park. The woman on the left
is standing on top of two old oil drums ; the woman in the middle stands
in front of the oil drums ; and the woman on the right is squatting on top
of two oil drums.

Image 3 : “Layering style”, example 1.

The women’s fashion styles really stand out in comparison to the old,
rusty and industrial drums. In this scene, the two women on the left exhi-
bit this layering style. The woman on the far left is wearing a light purple
 K. M. Peterson 85

top that has various layers of fabric that trickle down the shirt. This shirt is
topped by a pink cardigan and a teal scarf, wrapped around her neck. She
is also wearing tight jeans, grey boots and a blue scarf, tied around her
head like a turban with a spiral of fabric on top of her head. The woman in
the middle is wearing a long and wide cotton maxi-skirt that is half red
and half black. She is also wearing a suede, green blazer with a brown
belt. Her headscarf is mauve, yellow and orange and is tied in a unique
way, with the fabric tight around her head but then lots of fabric loosely
draped over her neck and chest.
In the next scene (00:15, image 4), the video shows three more women
who are wearing this layering style. The woman in the center of this scene
is particularly notable. She is wearing a long royal blue maxi-skirt, along
with a pink and white-trimmed top that appears to be a retro style. The cut
of the top is loose and not form fitting. The top also has a white collar and
a white strip of fabric down the front, underneath a series of pink buttons.
This woman is wearing a black and white striped headscarf, tied in a knot
behind her head.

Image 4 : “Layering style”, example 2.

These examples of the layering style illustrate a few elements that also
relate to features of the mainstream hipster culture. For example, this style
appears to reject the idea that elements of an outfit need to coordinate in
terms of color, pattern, fabric or shape. The woman in the container scene
is comfortable wearing a cotton, black and red maxi-skirt with a form-fit-
ting, dark green, suede blazer and a mauve and yellow headscarf. None of
these three items actually go with each other in this ensemble. In addition,
an old style of a shirt like the pink shirt at 00:15 or the ugly, grey sweater
at 00:51 are seen as stylish, once again, when they are worn in a new en-
semble. This layering style is also practically useful for Muslim women
because they can wear layers or more flowing outfits, if they are concer-
ned about revealing too much of their body shapes. Finally, this layering
style gives young women the chance to be more creative with their fas-
hion. They can go to thrift stores, department stores and their own closets
to put together unique outfits.
86 R S & A, 2018/1 – Cultural Expressions and Criticisms in the US Mipsterz…

The last main fashion style that is present in the mipsterz video is a
more urban, street style of fashion that incorporates darker colors and hea-
vier materials. The woman featured at 00:38 (image 5) illustrates this style
with her black leggings, black boots, a black and white Marilyn Monroe t-
shirt, a black leather jacket, a black and brown scarf around her neck and a
black turban-style headscarf. She is also wearing about a dozen black-bea-
ded necklaces, several silver, thick chain necklaces, large black stone ear-
rings, and two large silver rings. She has on dark eye makeup and has a
silver hoop through the left part of her lower lip.

Image 5 : “Urban style”.

Another woman exhibits this street style in a brief scene at 00:18 and as
she is walking down a street at night in 2:05. She is wearing an all-black
outfit ; her shirt seamlessly moves into her black headscarf that fits tight to
her head. In the night scene, she has a large black hood that she wears
over the tight headscarf. In both scenes, she is wearing a dark brown, fake
fur jacket over her outfit. She is also wearing dark eye makeup, several
silver bangle bracelets, a large black stone ring, and a silver necklace with
a pendant. This street style presents the women as tough, confident and
strong. The women reject the colorful, lightweight and flowing clothing of
the other styles and are instead wearing darker colors and heavier mate-
rials. They also have sturdier clothing like boots, leather jackets and fur
coats that offer more protection.
By going through some of the fashion styles present in the mipsterz vi-
deo, it is clear that there is not a single mipsterz fashion style and that
what connects these women is an emphasis on eclectic styles and creative-
ly blending various types of fashion. The women mix mainstream fashion
trends, retro clothing, urban fashion, ethnic culture and modesty. The di-
versity in mipsterz fashion is illustrated just in the variety of headscarf
colors, patterns and styles within this video. The headscarf has a practical
purpose of maintaining modesty and marking the wearer as Muslim, but
these women also use the headscarf as a fashion accessory that comple-
ments their outfit.
 K. M. Peterson 87

The mipsterz fashion style illustrates some of the values and meanings
behind the mipsterz cultural identity. Being a mipsterz is about hybridity,
living within multiple social locations as Muslim women, as fashionable
and hip American women and often as ethnic minorities within the US.
Being a mipsterz is about experimenting with styles and incorporating dif-
ferent aspects of one’s background to create a new blended style. Being a
mipsterz is about using colors, patterns and styles to express pride in one’s
culture and identity. Being a mipsterz is about wearing flowing clothing
that allows one to be active and stylish. Being a mipsterz is about rejecting
corporate labels in favor of creating an expression of one’s unique perso-
nality.
Dick Hebdige’s seminal work on subcultures is useful here to unders-
tand the ways that the mipsterz movement subverts dominant discourses
and hegemonic structures. Hebdige writes, «However, the challenge to
hegemony which subcultures represent is not issued directly by them. Ra-
ther it is expressed obliquely, in style» (1979 :17). He explains that it is
through the use of fashion, style, symbols, and objects that subcultural
groups are able to contest, resist and struggle over social meaning. Heb-
dige argues that subcultural groups mark themselves as distinct from the
mainstream by their conscious decisions on how they will craft their fas-
hion and display certain codes. While the mainstream style is about blen-
ding in and appearing to wear what is natural and normal, the subcultural
groups subvert standard codes of beauty and use commodities out of con-
text in an effort to call attention to the unnaturalness of hegemonic structu-
res (Hebdige, 1979 :101-102).
Subcultures use techniques like bricolage to appropriate various styles
and symbols from the hegemonic systems of representation (Ibid. :103-
105). The mipsterz movement engages with certain elements of Western
fashion styles but gives these styles new meaning by incorporating the
mipsterz values of modesty, creativity and hybridity. The blending of mo-
desty with fashion will be discussed more in the next section, but these
women are showing through their fashion that they can be modern and
stylish while not exhibiting their bodies. Just like the punk movement
pointed out the unnaturalness of beauty in mainstream culture, so these
women are also calling into question standards of beauty, such as the as-
sumption that beauty must correspond to wearing revealing and sexy clo-
thing. In addition, the mipsterz borrow symbols from American patriotism
to claim their position as American Muslims. Somewhere in America is
both the title of this video and the Jay-Z song that plays throughout the vi-
deo, pointing to the location of the video and that these women are part of
America. The video is filmed in the noticeably American sites of cities
and public parks, and an American flag displays behind one woman in a
scene at 1:36. Additionally, Ibtihaj Muhammad, a member of the US
Olympic fencing team, appears in several scenes wearing a stars and stri-
pes headscarf. The various references to US culture in this video highlight
how the women employ symbols of America to claim that they are just as
88 R S & A, 2018/1 – Cultural Expressions and Criticisms in the US Mipsterz…

American as anyone else and to critique the dominant assumptions of who

can be an American.
IV. Islamic Fashion as a Tool for Challenging Stereotypes
In addition to seeing fashion as a way of communicating values and
meanings within a cultural group, fashion can provide an outlet for Mu-
slim women to express themselves against dominant discourses that they
are oppressed or lack individuality. Emma Tarlo and Annelies Moors ar-
gue that Islamic fashion, which blends modern fashion trends with Islamic
rules of modesty, works to give Muslim women a “voice” in public dis-
cussions about Islam. They write,
Through their visual material and bodily presence young women
who wear Islamic fashion disrupt and challenge public stereotypes
about Islam, women, social integration and the veil even if their voi-
ces are often drowned out in political and legal debates on these is-
sues (Moors/Tarlo, 2013 :3).
Emma Tarlo also discusses the “representational challenge” that Mu-
slim women face, as they are increasingly visible in public and are forced
to represent themselves. Tarlo explains,
One means of dealing with this challenge is to develop an alternative
range of images and sartorial possibilities which contradict old ste-
reotypes whilst at the same time conforming to perceived Islamic
principles and requirements (Tarlo, 2010 :11).
The mipsterz video illustrates how Muslim women are contradicting
stereotypes while still incorporating fashion with their faith. The women
engage with fashion to present themselves as complex individuals who are
not controlled by Islam, and they fight against dominant discourses and
stereotypes through their styles, actions and poses.
First, the style of the women’s clothing in the mipsterz video highlights
the fact that these women are creative individuals, who are far from op-
pressed. As was already discussed, the video features several distinct fas-
hion styles, illustrating the talent of these women to put together various
outfits. In an image like the one of the three women dancing in a park
along a river at 00:15, we can see the originality of the mipsterz fashion.
All three of the outfits are colorful and exhibit the individual personalities
of the women. The women are not wearing the black headscarves, face
veils and long black robes that often get associated with Muslim women.
Instead, the women wear trendy clothes that fit their bodies in a way that
shows some of their body shapes but is still loose and comfortable. Just in
the accessories, the women show their different styles from the more so-
phisticated, retro-inspired look of the woman in the middle to the more ca-
sual, natural look of the woman on the right. The presence of at least three
distinct fashion styles in the video demonstrate how the mipsterz style al-
lows for individual creativity against the assumption that Muslim women
lack individuality.
 K. M. Peterson 89

The women also incorporate elements from popular culture to show that
they are not backwards but are aware of contemporary trends. For
example, a woman in a scene at 00:40 is wearing a Marilyn Monroe t-
shirt, around 00:46 a woman is holding a mustache-shaped medal up to
her lips, and later an another woman is seen wearing a shirt with the
phrase “You’re killin’ me smalls!”, which is from a popular U.S. chil-
dren’s film in the 1990s, The Sandlot. The video also shows the women
using smart phones to take selfies or to video record each other, as well as
one scene at 1:31 in which a woman uses an old Polaroid camera to take a
photo of her friends. All of these instances illustrate that the women are
just normal young people who are interested in pop culture trends and
want to express these interests through their appearances.
The women in the mipsterz video also work against dominant discour-
ses about the oppression of Islam through their actions. For Muslim wo-
men who are frequently portrayed as unable to have any fun – picture the
frumpy, veiled Muslim woman who is forced to obey her husband and/or
father – this video is an excellent opportunity to buck these stereotypes not
by lecturing on why Islam is not oppressive towards women but by sho-
wing these women as carefree and happy. Throughout the video, the wo-
men do fun things that exhibit their personalities and their positivity. They
dance, do cartwheels, run through the park, skateboard in a parking lot, do
handstands, twirl a stick, jump up and click their heels, run up and down a
skateboard ramp, climb on things, laugh with each other, and eat ice
cream. Granted, these actions seem rather empty or silly, but when, if
ever, are Muslim women represented in mainstream media as normal
young women who are having fun? The women use their bodies and ac-
tions to contradict dominant discourses about Islam.
Finally, the women’s poses in this video also work against stereotypes
of Islam because the women present themselves as proud, strong and in
control. For example, the women in the shipping container scene at 00:12
are shown in several locations throughout the video, but in most of these
scenes the women are standing on top of things and the camera films them
from below. The women exhibit their fashion styles in stances of pride, as
they are standing straight and tall on top of various platforms. In the con-
tainer scene at 00:12, the women are holding onto large sticks in a pose
that grounds them and shows their strength. Mainstream fashion photogra-
phy frequently shows women as weak and unstable, but these women ap-
pear as strong in images like the one at 00:35 (image 6) in which the wo-
men are standing on the fire escape of an urban apartment building. The
women clasp the metal railings of the escape exit, illustrating their
strength.
In another image at 2:03, the video shows a woman walking down an
urban street at night. The woman walks with confidence and not a hint of
fear about walking by herself at nighttime. Her face is serious and focu-
sed, as she looks off camera and walks quickly. While most of the video
highlights that these young women are positive and have fun, these exam-
90 R S & A, 2018/1 – Cultural Expressions and Criticisms in the US Mipsterz…

ples of strong poses present the women as in control of how their images
are presented. The women are not just carefree and only focused on fas-
hion ; they are also talented and confident.

Image 6 : Women standing on the fire

escape of an urban apartment building.

While the women in the mipsterz video do use Islamic fashion as a tool
for challenging stereotypes about Islam, the mipsterz women also push
against the boundaries of what some Muslims would define as modesty.
For example, the women use a variety of headscarf styles but some of the-
se styles show the women’s hair or neck, which some Muslims would see
as improper. Some of the women wear tighter clothing, like leggings, that
might be interpreted as immodest. Some conservative Muslims might ob-
ject to the colorful clothing in this video because it might attract too much
attention to the women’s bodies. Finally, some viewers criticized this vi-
deo because they thought that the video was all about looking at the wo-
men’s bodies. This video clearly uses the markers of Islamic identity
through the fashion, but also puts pressure on some of the limits of modes-
ty. This expands what Islamic fashion is and how it can be used as a mar-
ker of identity. Ultimately, this video is a way for the mipsterz women to
enlarge what it means to be a Muslim woman in the contemporary con-
text.
V. Resisting Pressures of Neoliberalism and Postfeminism
Since the mipsterz video was posted and circulated within social media,
it is important to explore more about the forces that shape these online
spaces. The women in the mipsterz video face competing and overlapping
pressures from neoliberalism, such as the pressure to self-brand, to consu-
me and to become an entrepreneur, and pressures from postfeminism to
present oneself as the perfect embodiment of femininity. The mipsterz vi-
deo appears to be a subtle critique of some of the more popular YouTube
videos created by Muslim women like Amenakin and Dina Tokio, who fo-
cus on lifestyle topics like fashion, makeup, beauty and relationships.
While the lifestyle videos tend to be focused on consumption of the latest
products in order to perfect one’s exterior image, the mipsterz video exhi-
 K. M. Peterson 91

bits an awareness of these pressures to consume. Sarah Banet-Weiser des-

cribes these tensions as the “ambivalences” of the contemporary brand
culture, in which individuals struggle to live in this culture where brands
and authenticity cannot be separated. People are seeking out authentic spa-
ces that are not branded, but at the same time they know that it is only
through consumption and branding that one can be successful (Banet-Wei-
ser, 2013 :5). Banet-Weiser explains that the neoliberal focus on entrepre-
neurship is tied to the ideal postfeminist subject, who improves herself
through consumption, self-branding and entrepreneurship (Ibid. : 61).
Young women also face pressures from postfeminism to present their
bodies as perfect objects to be seen by others. Postfeminism, as defined by
Angela McRobbie, is not a backlash against feminism, but instead,
post-feminism positively draws on and invokes feminism as that
which can be taken into account, to suggest that equality is achieved,
in order to install a whole repertoire of new meanings which empha-
size that it is no longer needed, it is a spent force (McRobbie,
2009 :12).
Postfeminism operates by appearing to give women the freedom to pre-
sent their bodies in ways that are not objectifying, but then working in the
background to reinforce gender inequalities and capitalist structures
(Ibid. :10). Women feel a sense of empowerment through the consumption
of fashion and beauty products. Furthermore, the women are expected to
consume products that will perfect their flawed appearances. As Rosalind
Gill explains,
The body is presented simultaneously as women’s source of power
and as always unruly, requiring constant monitoring, surveillance,
discipline and remodeling (and consumer spending) in order to con-
form to ever-narrower judgments of female attractiveness (Gill,
2007 :149).
This is a contemporary revamping of John Berger’s argument that «men
act and women appear» in that women are still being judged for how ef-
fective they are at appearing as perfect and beautiful (Berger, 1977 :47).
While at first glance the mipsterz video appears to just reinforce these
elements of postfeminism and neoliberalism that emphasize consumption
and appearances, on closer inspection the women in this video offer a
nuanced critique of the ways that some young Muslim women have dis-
cussed fashion in other videos. First, the mipsterz video was highly criti-
qued for over-promoting consumption in the same way as the videos of
other online Muslim “fashionistas”. For instance, an Islamic fashion video
might feature an “outfit of the day” along with links so viewers can buy
the outfit, or the video may be a makeup tutorial in which the video-maker
promotes a certain makeup line. There are clear connections between the
fashion and makeup in the video and the incentive for the viewer to buy
these products. Amena Khan is one of the most popular Muslim fashion
celebrities on YouTube, and her videos, regardless of the subject matter,
92 R S & A, 2018/1 – Cultural Expressions and Criticisms in the US Mipsterz…

always include hyperlinks to her own online boutique where viewers can
purchase the same headscarf or jewelry from the video.
Contrary to Amena’s videos, the mipsterz video does not include links
to online stores where viewers can dress like the mipsterz or even make
references to certain labels. The women wear clothing with no labels that
appears to be creatively pieced together instead of fitting with a set seaso-
nal line. Granted, this video does show images of “bling” or jewelry, the
women have obviously spent time and money on their outfits, and the Jay-
Z song in the film emphasizes consumption. Despite these obvious ele-
ments of consumerism, the settings of this video are surprisingly the anti-
thesis of consumer spaces, such as public parks, wooded areas, alleyways,
rooftops, parking lots, and shipping containers. The women are shown as
having fun without consuming things. There is one scene of a woman in
an ice cream shop, but it is striking that the women are not shown out
shopping, trying on clothes or checking out window displays. The women
in the video emphasize creativity and innovation in fashion styles, instead
of just always buying new things. This is in contrast to the other Muslim
fashion videos that always promote the consumption of new products, in
part because this promotion provides income to the women who make the
videos.
In addition, the women in the mipsterz video resist the postfeminist
pressure to present themselves as the perfect objects of the gaze. While
some Muslim women create YouTube videos that focus on daily routines
and offer tips for how women can perfect their appearances, the mipsterz
women express pride in who they are and are not promoting that other wo-
men need to appear like this. Although the video does feature some more
stereotypical fashion poses, such as a woman who poses with her hand on
her head and her hips off-centered at 1:56, most of the poses and the ca-
mera angles emphasize the pride and strength of these women. The wo-
men are not objectified but have control over how they are being viewed.
For instance, a lot of the camera angles film the women from below, en-
hancing their power. Also, at 00:23 a woman punches the camera and at
00:56 another woman is being followed by the camera as she turns around
and grabs the camera. Both of these gestures indicate that the women are
in control of how their images will be seen ; they are aware that they are
being watched. The women also exhibit themselves as talented and ac-
tive : they ride skateboards, they practice fencing, they dance, they drive
motorcycles, they do flips and handstands, and they create innovative out-
fits. Additionally, some of the women stare straight into the camera, such
as in the container scene at 00:13, the woman in the fur coat at 00:18
(image 7), and the fencer at 00:20. These women challenge the gaze by
returning it with a powerful stare that rejects the possibility of objectifica-
tion.
 K. M. Peterson 93

Image 7 : Woman staring straight

into the camera.

VI. Conclusion
Contrary to some evaluations, the mipsterz fashion video is about so
much more than a group of young Muslim women showing off their fas-
hion styles on camera. This video and the fashion displayed within the vi-
deo allow these women the opportunities to express what it means to be
members of the mipsterz community, to subvert dominant discourses
about the oppression of Islam, to calm anxieties within Islam about fas-
hion and women’s appearances, and to push against pressures of neolibe-
ralism and postfeminism. Although the video is not without some legiti-
mate criticisms, most of the debates ignored what was actually visually
presented in the two and a half minute video. These women express the
mipsterz identity through a creative, hybrid style that brings together ele-
ments of Islam, contemporary fashion styles and the originality and anti-
commercialism of the hipster movement. Ultimately, these young Ameri-
can Muslims strive to use fashion and social media to claim a space for
mipsterz identity within the larger spaces of Islam and American culture.
When the Somewhere in America #MIPSTERZ video began circulating
throughout social media in 2013, it was one of the first visual self-repre-
sentations of the lives of Muslim American youth. In the years since, there
has been an explosion of creative projects in which Muslim Americans
use new media spaces, fashion, music and visual styles to display the com-
plexities of their lives. While the women in the mipsterz video had to deal
with the burden of representing an entire religious community in North
America, now Muslims are producing creative projects that address a va-
riety of issues that they face from the anxiety over women’s dress to ra-
cism within Muslim communities to hate crimes against Muslims. The
mipsterz video spurred debates about the positive and negative aspects of
Islamic fashion. At the same time, the women in the mipsterz video can be
seen as predecessors to an artist like Mona Haydar, who creates hip hop
videos that directly address issues like racism, sexism and classism. Bet-
ween the lines of the mipsterz video, the women demonstrate that Muslim
94 R S & A, 2018/1 – Cultural Expressions and Criticisms in the US Mipsterz…

identity is not dependent on one’s race, ethnicity or class. Furthermore, the

activism of the wider mipsterz movement in North America focuses on
how injustices that Muslims face often intersect with issues around gen-
der, race, class, sexuality and ethnicity. The mipsterz video was one of the
first creative projects to circulate widely through social media and raise
debates about the identity and place of Muslims in North American society.

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Structured Summary :
Presentation : In the fall of 2013, a YouTube video entitled, “Somewhere in America
#MIPSTERZ” introduced the world to the “mipsterz,” a blend of the words Muslim
and hipster. This community of young Muslims seeks to blur the lines between “tradi-
tional” Islamic culture and contemporary Western culture. The video features about a
dozen young Muslim women hanging out in various urban settings in the US while a
rap song by Jay-Z is played. The women exhibit creative fashion styles that incorpora-
te Islamic elements of modesty, as they walk around the city, ride skateboards, dance,
laugh, drive a motorcycle, and hang out together. This paper presents a critical discour-
se analysis of the mipsterz video in order to explore how the subjectivity of Muslim
women is constituted through the visual images in this video, the deployment of the
term mipsterz, and the debates about this video. The analysis focuses on the visual sty-
le of the fashion in the videos and incorporates Malcolm Barnard’s theories on the
connections between fashion and identity. The paper makes the argument that through
the use of the term mipsterz and the embodiment of this innovative fashion style, the
women resist dominant discourses about what it means to be a Muslim in the Western
context. The women create a hybrid style that blends Islamic modesty and piety, hip
and fashionable styles, and the creativity and anti-commercialism of the hipster mo-
vement.
96 R S & A, 2018/1 – Cultural Expressions and Criticisms in the US Mipsterz…

Theory : Three different theoretical approaches are used in this paper to analyze the
discourses around fashion, Islam and gender that are present within the mipsterz video.
First, general fashion theory is used to explore how fashion can create meaning for in-
dividuals and cultural groups and allow these women to subvert dominant discourses.
Second, theories on Islamic fashion are helpful to look at how Muslim women can use
fashion to fight against stereotypes about Islam. Finally, theories of postfeminism and
neoliberalism are incorporated into a discussion of how these women resist the domi-
nant discourses within creative spaces like YouTube, which pressure women to present
themselves as perfect objects of sight and successful consumers in the capitalist sys-
tem.
Method : This paper engages with a critical discourse analysis approach and incorpo-
rates different theories on fashion to understand how the fashion styles in the mipsterz
video constitute the subjectivities of Muslim American women and create larger cultu-
ral meaning. The analysis of this video examines the power struggles, as the women
use visual styles to reinforce certain discourses about Islam and to counter other hege-
monic discourses. The analysis of the mipsterz video focuses on how discourses about
Islam are presented through the women’s actions, their appearances, and the fashion
styles.
Results : First, this paper finds that fashion is a significant cultural phenomenon,
which allows these women to communicate their identities and their membership wi-
thin the larger mipsterz group. The main purpose of the mipsterz video is to visually
present the fashion styles, but these styles also illustrate the meanings and values of the
mipsterz movement. Overall, the fashion in this video indicates that the mipsterz value
creativity, hybridity, individuality and diversity. In addition to seeing fashion as a way
of communicating values and meanings within a cultural group, fashion can provide an
outlet for Muslim women to express themselves against dominant discourses that they
are oppressed or lack individuality. This paper builds off the work that Emma Tarlo
and Annelies Moors have done about how Islamic fashion can give young Muslim wo-
men the chance to represent themselves contrary to dominant stereotypes. The mips-
terz video illustrates how Muslim women are contradicting stereotypes while still in-
corporating fashion with their faith. The women engage with fashion to present them-
selves as complex individuals who are not controlled by Islam, and they fight against
dominant discourses and stereotypes through their styles, actions and poses. In addi-
tion, this paper asserts that the mipsterz video is a way to subtly critique other Islamic
fashion movements (such as hijabi fashion gurus on YouTube), which are more focu-
sed on consumption, and to more forcefully overthrow mainstream stereotypes of Mu-
slim women as submissive and oppressed. The video provides a creative space in
which the women can present the complexities of living in this location of constant
tension – what Sarah Banet-Weiser calls the “ambivalences” of contemporary brand
culture – as the women feel burdened to always represent Islam, desire to portray
themselves as authentic and creative, but still want to resist the pressure to make eve-
rything about consumption and branding.
Discussion : This video and the fashion displayed within the mipsterz video give these
women space to express what it means to be mipsterz, to subvert dominant discourses
about the oppression of Islam, to calm anxieties within Islam about fashion and wo-
men’s appearances, and to push against pressures of neoliberalism and postfeminism.
 K. M. Peterson 97

The mipsterz identity is expressed through a creative, hybrid style that brings together
elements of Islam, contemporary fashion styles and the originality and anti-com-
mercialism of the hipster movement. Ultimately, these young American Muslims stri-
ve to use fashion and social media to claim a space for mipsterz identity within the lar-
ger spaces of Islam and American culture.