These hijab-inspired clothes just reignited a major culture war in France

French citizens are still fighting over the meaning of what it means to be French and a citizen

Fashion inspired by religious garb ignites a controversy.
(Image credit: Dolce & Gabbana)

In France today, veils reveal more than they hide.

Laurence Rossignol — the Socialist government's minister for family, children, and women's rights — recently criticized the fashion designer Dolce & Gabbana, along with retailers like Marks and Spencer, for their new lines of hijab-inspired clothing. The flowing dresses, brightly printed headscarves, and even a bathing suit dubbed the "burkini" provided panache, Rossignol declared, to a religiously sanctioned form of female oppression. "It is irresponsible," she thundered.

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Robert Zaretsky

Robert Zaretsky teaches courses in modern European intellectual and cultural history at the Honors College of The University of Houston. He is the author of several books, including Albert Camus: Elements of a Life (Cornell University Press, 2010) and Camus: A Life Worth Living (Harvard University Press, 2013.) He is also a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Foreign Policy, Los Angeles Times, Jewish Daily Forward, Los Angeles Review of Books and Chronicle of Higher Education.