Women in Afghanistan: the mannequins of Kabul, hooded and masked under the Taliban regime

Under the Taliban regime, mannequins in women’s clothing stores in Kabul, the Afghan capital, are a creepy sight with their heads covered by cloth bags or wrapped in black plastic bags.

Hooded mannequins are a symbol of Puritan Taliban rule over Afghanistan. But, in a sense, they are also a small demonstration of the resilience and creativity of Kabul’s garment merchants.

At first, the Taliban wanted the dummies to be directly beheaded.

Shortly after taking power in August 2021, the Taliban Ministry of Vice and Virtue decreed that all mannequins had to be removed from shop windows or beheaded, according to local media.

The order was based on a strict interpretation of Islamic law banning human-shaped statues and images as they could be worshiped as idols, although this also fits with the Taliban’s campaign to force women to out of the public eye.

Some clothing sellers have joined. But others objected.

They complained that they couldn’t show their garments properly or should have damage precious mannequins. The Taliban had to change their order and allowed the traders cover the head of the mannequins.

Back then the shop owners had to do it find a balance between obeying the Taliban and trying to attract customers. The variety of solutions they have devised is on display at Lycee Maryam Street, a bourgeois shopping street lined with clothing stores in an area of ​​northern Kabul.

The showcases and exhibition halls are full of mannequins with evening gowns and dresses rich in color and decoration, and all with different types of headgear.

In one shop, the heads of the mannequins were covered in sacks made from the same material as the traditional clothing they modeled. One, in a beaded purple cowrie dress, wore a matching purple hood. Another, in a richly gold-embroidered red dress, was almost elegant a red velvet mask and a golden crown on his head.

“I can’t cover the heads of the mannequins with plastic or nasty things because it would make my storefront and shop ugly,” says 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 retaliation.

Store owners must maintain the appeal: the economy collapsed after the Taliban took power and the consequent cut in international funding, plunging almost the entire population into misery.

A popular garment for weddings

Elaborate dresses have always been popular in Afghanistan for weddings, which even before the Taliban were often gender-segregated, giving women the chance to dress in their best attire in the country’s conservative society. Under the Taliban regime, weddings are one of the few remaining social gatherings. But with income so reduced, they have become less elaborate.

Bashir says his sales are half what they used to be.

“Buy wedding, evening and traditional dresses it is no longer a priority for people,” he says. “People think more about getting food and surviving.”

Another shop owner, Hakim, places aluminum foil over the heads of his mannequins. He decided that he added a certain sheen to his wares.

“I took advantage of the threat and the ban and made the mannequins even more attractive than before,” she explains.

Not everyone can be that elaborate. In one shop, all the mannequins in sleeveless dresses wore black plastic bags over their heads. The owner said he couldn’t afford more.

Another shop owner, Aziz, said agents from the Ministry of Vice and Virtue they regularly patrol the shops and shopping malls to make sure the mannequins are headless or covered. He did not accept the Taliban’s justification. “Everyone knows those mannequins they are not idols and that no one will love them. In all Muslim countries, mannequins are used to display clothes.”

A small number of male mannequins can be seen in the stained glass windows, even with their heads covered, suggesting that the authorities are enforcing the ban. evenly.

Initially, the Taliban said so they would not have imposed to the company the same iron rules of its first government, at the end of the 90s. But they gradually established themselves More restrictions, especially for women. They forbade women and girls go to school past the sixth grade, they were barred from most jobs and required to cover their faces when they go out.

Recently, a woman shopping on Lycee Maryam Street was looking at the hooded mannequins.

“When I see them, I feel that these mannequins too are captured and trapped, and I have a feeling of fear,” said the woman, who gave only her name, Rahima.

“I seem to see behind these stained glass windows, an Afghan woman who they have been deprived of all their rights”.

The author is a reporter for the Associated Press.

ap