Covering/uncovering: current and past cultural intertwining

ABSTRACT

According to Jurij Lotman (2006), the cultural intertwining that characterise the human behaviour in various periods can be defined as mythology of everyday and social behaviour. Starting from this methodological assumption, the article investigates the dynamics of covering/uncovering in dress fashion along three paragraphs. The first is dedicated to the link between images of veiling and mourning, both in western Christian and pre-Christian cultures. Protective coverings for COVID, and other recent phenomena such as the black dress code of the #MeToo movement, have their roots in this tradition. In the second paragraph, the reflection is based on the opposition between / must be seen/ vs / must not be seen/, which generates regimes of /constraint/, /taboo/, /transgressive style/ / and /casual style/. In the western context it seems that a neutral term has now become established, that is a randomness of styles (/neither transgressive, nor casual/) while the more traditionalist Islam seems to remain within the /taboo/ by imposing on women, the use of the veil and body cover, albeit with variations. However, in the third and last paragraph I will discuss the so-called Islamic modest fashion, a relatively recent phenomenon that seems to create an unprecedented complex term, which combines the traditional restrictions for women's dressing with an increased attention to elegance and ease of movement. In conclusion, we will reflect on the wider cultural context of this change, since the hegemony of transgression or randomness of Western customs seem to be largely declining globally, with further examples in television series and films production.