My name is Jacinthe Assaad. I helped with the research for 100 Years of Beauty Egypt.
The looks that we have chosen are very diverse in nature
each represent various political struggles in each decade. The look that was
chosen for the 1910's is the urban look that women would wear in order to
step outside the home, and she would wear the and veil to cover her mouth.
Blurs your sense of recognition slightly, so it was a way to keep the private private but in public.
The image that was chosen for the 1920's is that of Huda Sharawi.
And Hada Sharawi in 1919 actually did take off the veil as a sign of resistance.
It was a moment of liberation and she is the pioneer of Egyptian feminist movement.
These techniques of the 1930's, 40's and 50's
represent the golden age of the Egyptian cinema and the rise of Cairo and
Alexandria as cultural hubs. Where the women were beautifully adorned, they had
very regal postures, and on the other hand it also reflects the star system
that was born at the time. For the 1930's we chose the image
of Umm Kulthum and Umm Kulthum is known as the star of the Middle East.
She was the most prominent Egyptian singer, she had the capability
of gathering the public. Umm Kulthum had a couple of very interesting tricks, one of
them was that she used to hold the handkerchief and shoes to express her emotions deeply while she was singing.
For the 1940's we chose the image of Queen Fawzia. She was the daughter of King Fuad I.
She is descendant of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty. Muhammad Ali is the founder of modern Egypt.
For the 1950's we chose the image of Doria Shafik. And Doria Shafik was a
philosopher, she was a poet, and she was also an editor. But first and foremost she
was one of the leaders of the Egyptian feminist movement and because of her
activism and her efforts, women were granted the right to vote by the Egyptian Constitution.
For the 1960's we chose an image of a factory worker.
There was a boom in local economy because Nasser, who took over. After we
expelled the British from Egypt in early 1950's, he decided to focus
on local manufacturing and reviving the local economy. But at the same time it's
also a moment in history of Egypt where we were liberated from the colonial
power from being a British protectorate. Therefore, there was this idea of
adopting particular Western choices, but making them much more conservative
and adapt them to the local customs and norms.
During that era, Souad Hosni was one of the major stars.
This image represents Souad Hosni with the earrings, a particular look, her face, the way she's looking at the camera.
Souad Hosni was literally the sweetheart of the Egyptian screen.
People, men, women, children, girls, boys, loved her.
During the 1980's there was a lot of social descent against
Sadat's open-door policy for a couple of reasons. One of which was that he was very
westernized and he allowed a lot of the Western norms to infiltrate society.
Many of the religiously-minded people chose to migrate to the gulf. In fashion
and in beauty we started accepting Western norms of beauty which clashed with the rise of the veil.
During the 1990's people started coming back from
the gulf especially after the first Iraqi war and with them they brought the
customs, the much more conservative customs of the gulf. The image that we chose is
that of Sharihan, who was a famous Egyptian actress and singer.
She used to wear over the top,
glittery, sequin dresses and gowns. She was one of the people who was affected by
the religious wave of the nineties.
The beginning of the 21st century in Egypt represents the ways
in which Egyptians are trying to reconcile their
conservative aspects with the modernist aspect. The sartorial choices are really
representative of this hybrid movement, this clash of civilizations, almost.
For instance, a lot of the veiled young women wanted to wear sleeveless tops,
tops that had cleavage and in order to
be able to do so, because they are conservative, they would wear long sleeve
tops underneath them that paired with the conservatives minds, really created a
very interesting hybrid fashion and aesthetics that women adopted.
Decade of the 2010 started with a very big
and significant event in Egyptian history, the 2011 Revolution.
We've created an image that combines a couple of elements that were born out of
the revolution. One of them is the symbol of the flag that women used to wear the
headband during the protest. And the other element that we have added to the
picture was the thumbprint. During the Revolution the youth mostly fought for
their right to be heard, and this right to be heard is embodied in the right to
vote in an election that we hope is not corrupt. We have chosen purposefully to
end on a high note, even though the hopes of the revolution have dwindled since
2011. We are conscious that the veil opens up a very controversial debate and
while we're not trying to resolve the debate we want people to be quite aware that
the veil means different things to the west and the east. The west chose the
veil as a symbol of the opression of Arab and Muslim women. One of the arguments is
that the veil resents the entry of women into the public sphere. It is what
allows them to be political beings. All our standards of beauty and anything
that is remotely related to aesthetics, in terms of art and beauty,
is linked incestuously connected to politics.