'Hip' hijab takes on Dutch prejudices | csmonitor.com

'Hip' hijab takes on Dutch prejudices | csmonitor.com: 'Hip' hijab takes on Dutch prejudices
A ban on head scarfs in school gym classes spawns the 'capster' and a small business.

SON EN BREUGEL, THE NETHERLANDS

In 1999, while seeking a graduate project idea at the Design Academy of Eindhoven, Cindy van den Bremen found a problem-solving opportunity.

The Dutch Commission of Equal Treatment had recently ruled that high schools could prohibit Muslim girls from wearing head coverings in gym class. Girls were advised to wear turtlenecks teamed with swim caps. But some were ignoring the sartorial advice, preferring instead to skip gym all together.

At about that time, the Dutch were beginning to become disillusioned with multiculturalism - a trend that was to intensify in the next few years with the death of maverick anti-immigrant politician Pim Fortuyn and the murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh by a radical Dutch Islamist.

Capsters

It's interesting that both cultures (Islamic/Dutch) are accepting modern design. Makes one wonder what all the fuss is about.

If I was a modern business leader, needing to be dressed formally all the time, I'd investigate Iranian fashion for men. It looks great.