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A dress code is a set of written and unwritten rules that define one’s clothes by time and place. This project consists of a set of Matryoshka dolls, demonstrating the various dress codes of Jewish women in Israel. The dress code scale varies from a secular woman dress code to a moderate religious and up to the ultra religious one.
Every Israeli woman identifies herself according to that scale of code dress. The series of dolls demonstrate the tension existing between the two extreme edges of the scale. This tension is not unique to Jewish women dress but also common among Islamic ladies among the European community. |
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There is a dress code for every occasion, from a job interview, a business meeting, a visit to the theater strolling in the beach or the park to a code dress at home.
Since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, as the religious community became mixed with the secular and more liberal community, the ultra orthodox felt the need to distinguish themselves, thus adopted the old east European religious dress code. This dress code covers almost every part of the body. Among others, this dress is too heavy and does not fit the rather warm climate in Israel.
In recent months, ultra orthodox religious sects in Israel are trying to enforce its very strict rules of behavior and dress upon the entire female population. These sects which hold less than 10% of the entire population, are causing hard time using physical force and spitting not only to ladies whose dress are not according to their strict belief and manners, but also to ladies that are sitting close to men in public buses or ladies walking on the same sidewalk of men.
This violent behavior is not unique to Israel and takes place more severely in Iran and Afghanistan. On the other hand, in France and Belgium there is a legal effort to ban women from covering their faces entirely by a Burka.
This work is representing my fear of the escalation of enforcing strict religious dress code and manners in Israel and the rest of the world, thus abandoning the tolerance and freedom to dress casually and walk freely anywhere. |
