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The mannequins in Kabul’s shop windows are hooded and masked under Taliban rule


Fundamentalists fear that images of the human form could be worshiped as idols

AP – Under the Talibanthe mannequins of women’s clothing stores in the Afghan capital Kabul it’s a scary sight, their heads wrapped in cloth bags or wrapped in black plastic bags. The hooded mannequins are a symbol of the puritanical rule of the Taliban in the Afghanistan. But, in a way, they are also a small show of resilience and creativity on the part of Kabul’s clothing merchants.

Initially, the Taliban wanted the mannequins to be decapitated.

Shortly after taking power in August 2021, the Ministry of Vice and Virtue of the Taliban has decreed that all mannequins must be removed from shop windows or their heads torn off, according to local media. They based the order on a strict interpretation of Islamic law which bans human-form statues and images as they can be worshiped as idols, although it is also part of the Taliban’s campaign to remove women from the public eye.

Some clothing sellers have joined. But others backed off.

They complained that they would not be able to display their clothes properly or that they would have to damage precious mannequins. The Taliban had to change their order and allowed the shopkeepers to do so they covered the heads of the mannequins.

Store owners therefore had to strike a balance between obedience to the Taliban and trying to attract customers. The range of solutions they have created is displayed on Lycee Maryam Street, a middle-class shopping street lined with clothing stores in northern Kabul. The shop windows and showrooms are filled with mannequins evening dresses and dresses full of color and decoration – and all in various types of headdresses.

In one shop, the mannequins’ heads were wrapped in custom-made bags made from the same material as the traditional clothing they fashioned. One, sporting a purple beaded cowrie dress, had a matching purple hood. Another, in a gold-embroidered red gown, was most elegant in a red velvet mask with a Golden crown in the head.

“I can’t cover the heads of the mannequins with plastic or ugly things because it would make my shop window and shop ugly too,” said Bashir, the owner. Like other owners, he spoke to the Associated Press on the condition that he be identified only by his first name for fear of reprisals.

The shop owners have to keep things attractive: the economy collapsed after the Taliban took power and the consequent cut of international funding, plunging almost the entire population into poverty.

Elaborate dresses have always been popular Afghanistan for weddings, which even before the Taliban were generally segregated by gender, giving women the opportunity to dress in the best of the country’s conservative society. Under the Taliban, weddings are one of the few remaining occasions for social gatherings. But with incomes this low, they’ve become less elaborate.

Bashir said his sales are down to half what they were before. “Acquire wedding dresses, at night and traditional, it’s no longer a priority for people,” he said. “People think more about getting food and surviving.”

Another shop owner, Hakim, fashioned aluminum foil over the heads of his mannequins. Adds a certain sparkle to your wares, he thought. “I created an opportunity with this threat and ban and made the mannequins even more attractive than before.”

Not everything can be that elaborate. In one shop, mannequins in sleeveless dresses had black plastic bags over their heads. The owner told him he couldn’t pay more.

Another shop owner, Aziz, said officers at the Ministry of Vice and Virtue regularly patrols shops and malls to make sure mannequins are decapitated or covered up. He ignored the Taliban’s rationale for the rules. “Everyone knows that mannequins are not idols and no one will worship them. In all Muslim countries, mannequins are used to display clothes.”

A small number of male mannequins it can be seen in shop windows, even with its head covered, suggesting that the authorities are uniformly enforcing the ban.

The Taliban initially said they would not impose the same harsh rules on society as they did during their first government in the late 1990s. But they have progressively imposed more restrictions, particularly on women, who are forbidden, as well as girls. , going to school beyond the sixth grade, also limited the supply of permitted jobs and required them to cover their faces when they went out.

On a recent day, a woman shopping on Lycee Maryam Street looked up at the hooded mannequins.

“When I see them, I feel that these mannequins have also been captured and imprisoned, and I get scared,” said the woman, who gave only her first name, Rahima. “I seem to see myself behind these windows, an Afghan woman who has been stripped of all her rights.”

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Source: Terra

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