For the last “Fashion-Talk” meeting in Vienna, April 16th,
I made an online-research about the topic ‘young immigrants as consumers or
designers of fashion’. I also had two days in Vienna to finish my research by talking to
relevant people and taking some pictures.
I travelled through the whole city centre and found
some interesting places and shops there. To me Vienna seems to be a very modern and
international city.
In the city centre you can find a lot of fashion shops,
boutiques, and retail chains.
You can compare these shops to the shops in
Germany, so it is also possible to combine the
research about Germany with
pictures from Vienna.
If you walk through the many small side streets you
can find some second hand shops and also international fashion.
| Introduction
People with a migration
background, especially juveniles, unfortunately are often associated with a low level of education, low-paid jobs and at least crime. But in fact they have a
great chance to benefit from their multicultural background, their language
skills and their skills in intercultural communication.
Many immigrants use these advantages to make creative
work, although in Germany it is not easy for young immigrants, even with a high
graduation, to find a traineeship.
Especially for women with a migration background it is hard to find work
in Germany.
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Young
immigrants as consumers of fashion
Because most of the juveniles with migration
background have a low level of education, you
could say their identification with their friends and
with their ethnical background were more distinctive than between German
juveniles. The Shell-Study of 1997 shows, that juveniles with a low graduation
identify themselves more often with special groups.
One important way to show the membership to a special
group is to have the same style and wear similar clothes. Their ideals are
often musicians or actors found on TV. Hip Hop musicians e.g. are often Afro Americans
with dark skin, so to some juveniles’ minds it is also cool to have a migration
background.
On the one hand many immigrant juveniles try to
accommodate to the German members of their peer-group by wearing the same
clothes, but on the other hand many German juveniles are wearing Hip Hop
clothes to show their membership to this kind of subculture dominated by
immigrants.
Fashion is not longer affected only by the upper
class, trends and styles of youth subcultures or immigrants also influence it.
In some shops you can find display-dummies with a North
African or Asian appearance. A producer of these kinds of display dummies
explains, that shops showing these dummies want to express internationality.
These dummies, either with a North African, an Asian or a Latin American
appearance, are mostly produced for young-fashion shops.
Gudrun M. König, professor for Art and Culture from
the University of Dortmund points out, that the prestige of immigrants
enhanced because of the high educated immigrants, who came to Germany with a green card. The
different nationalities of display-dummies also express the development of society.
The biggest part of immigrants in Germany is Turkish. Because of
their Islamic religion especially women have some rules about their clothes.
That’s the reason why there are more and more Islamic-clothes shops in Germany.
These shops sell e.g. head cloths, long skirts, tunics
and Abayas, a kind of long coat.
Some Muslim women want to show their religious
affiliation by wearing Islamic clothes. It doesn’t mean automatically religious
repression.
Also young Muslim women, who are emancipated and
modern, wear this kind of religious clothes to show their membership to the
Islamic religion. They are proud to be Muslim and with these clothes, which
cover the whole body, they find a way to show it.
I made these pictures in Vienna. In Austria you can find Islamic-clothes
shops as well. In these shop windows you can see the Islamic fashion in bright
colours with a modern look.
Examples for
immigrants as designers
In Bamberg
there is a project called “Mode macht
Mut” (“fashion encourages”), which helps women with a migration background
to work as sewers and designers. Most of them have already learned the most
important skills in sewing. To participate in this project let them improve their
skills and give them a chance to earn money. Some of them are single mothers
and a certain job is very important for their families.
The project also backs up sustainability, because all
used materials are either second hand clothes or sponsored fabrics, which are
going to be new designed.
If this project will be successful, there is a chance
to develop the project to a business company.
In Vienna
there is a similar possibility for migrant women to work with fashion.
The fashion label “Made
IN – Made By” has chosen female immigrants as their target group to employ
them and protect them from poverty. In 2010 the label won the Austrian Social
Impact Award.
The label was founded by four young women, some of
them also with a migration background.
The multicultural background of the whole team is
shown in the clothes’ design and the diversity of the team members is seen as
enrichment for creativity.
The label focuses on economically and ecologically
sustainability as well. There is a strong preference for local resources and a
local production of the clothes.
The picture on the right shows the shop of one of the
founders of the label, where the clothes of “made IN – made BY” are sold.
You can find this shop in Vienna in Neubaugasse 4, near Mariahilfer
Straße.
(Saskia Schmidt)
Sources:
Beicht,
Ursula / Granato, Mona: Übergänge in eine
berufliche Ausbildung - Geringere Chancen für junge Menschen mit
Migrationshintergrund.
http://www.bibb.de/de/52287.htm (12.04.2012)
Dahinden, Eveline / Appel, Ariane:
Kleider als Statussymbol bei Jugendlichen mit Migrationshintergrund.
http://www.martinapeitz.ch/pdf/Forschungsdesign/Forschungsdesign_Gruppe_16_Ariane_Appel,_Eveline_Dahinden.pdf
(12.04.2012)
Homepage ebenBerg: http://ebenberg.at/ (12.04.2012)
Homepage
„Made IN – Made BY“ http://mimb.at/about-us/principles/
(11.04.2012)
Mack,
Cornelia: KanakCultures- Kultur und Kreativität junger Migrantinnen.
(Zusammenfassung)
http://idw-online.de/pages/de/news350248
(12.04.2012)
Mayer, Petra:
Mode macht Mut.
http://www.infranken.de/nachrichten/lokales/bamberg/design-Bamberg-Migration-Arbeit-Spass-Mode-macht-Mut;art212,77118
(11.04.2012)
Nordbruch,
Götz: Jugendkultur, Islam und Demokratie. Islamische Mode in Deutschland.
http://www.bpb.de/gesellschaft/migration/jugendkultur-islam-und-demokratie/65182/islamische-mode
(11.04.2012)
Taxacher, Gregor: Mode-Puppen als Ethno-Stars: Multikulti
im Schaufenster.
Pictures: Saskia Schmidt
T
nice collection
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