Summary

Black and white hijab with Collingwood Football Club logo, made by Shanaaz Copeland of Yaz's Design in 2010. She has patented her design as it allows for a great range of flexibility in style in the one hijab, reflecting the variety of ways of wearing a hijab and the styles and tastes of Muslim women. Her company is based in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick. Shanaaz has created hijabs in St Kilda, Essedon, Collingwood, Hawthorn and Port Adelaide colours.

The hijab is a head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women. There are differing opinions in Islam as to whether the hijab is a requirement or not and there are different styles depending on a person's belief, cultural background, fashion sense and personality.

Physical Description

Black hijab made from lycra material with a black and white striped band around the head, neckline and at the bottom edge of the hijab. It represents the colours of the Collingwood AFL team. On the chestpiece is an iron-on Collingwood Football Club Logo of a black and white magpie, the Australian and black and white flags.

Significance

This hijab is culturally significant because it represents a form of cultural hybridity, blending the cultural and religious beliefs of a South African Muslim with a method of adopting aspects of mainstream Australian culture. In this case, some Muslim women have chosen to retain their hijab while supporting AFL in Melbourne. Its maker, Shanaaz Copeland, came up with the idea after seeing her daughter's school friends wear a plain hijab with their football jumpers. She felt that having a matching hijab would alleviate some of the overarching criticisms received by girls wearing hijabs. This hijab enables its wearer to retain Islamic cultural customs, in their own individual way while concurrently subscribing to a particular mainstream Australian cultural custom. The footy hijab has also become popular with cancer patients who find it an alternative to wearing a scarf.

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