Religion and Clothing
Religion. How do religious rules and traditions influence what people wear? How are these modified once immigrants become more assimilated into NYC culture?
Researching this would be a very interesting because immigrant groups that come to New York either embrace their religion even further than they would back home, or they Americanize some things and blend religion with style. To begin researching how religion rules and traditions influence what people wear, I first need to divide the immigrant groups I will be examining, by religion. After doing this I will need to understand basic articles of clothing and information that fit with each immigrant group and religion. I believe it’s important to understand the daily wear of clothing that certain religious groups wear, and then compare them with what they wear for the holidays. For many religions and ethnicities, what one wears on a regular basis and what one wears for holidays differs tremendously. Especially in Judaism, where woman and men are divided during religious ceremonies, their daily article of clothing isn’t present anymore, and they wear something more fitting for the holiday. Furthermore, it would be great to see how the culture of New York changes specific clothing’s of article that people wear. I know hijabs have been slightly transformed from regular religious items to Burberry and Louis Vuitton hijabs. It would be interesting to examine if this is present in other religions as well. I can even look as deep as to if certain high end clothing companies tailor to specific religions and see if that made any impact on immigrant groups in New York. Lastly, I believe it would be great to see how some religious immigrant groups leave their religion and become Americanized to the point where there is a clear difference. For example, in book All the Nations Under Heaven the authors account for young jewish immigrants that become less attracted to religious observance and more into socializing and enjoying life: “Young Jewish immigrants were less attracted to religious observance than their elders…Progessive reformers and German Jews believed the city’s schools provided the very best hope for Americanizing immigrant children, a process involving the elimination of perceived cultural traits…”(Binder, Reimers, p.129) Living in this generation I have seen not only myself, but many other immigrant groups stray away from religion and accept the trends that society sets. It would be interesting to see what about the NYC culture makes them abandon their religious clothing style, or at least change it slightly to fit society.
