%0 Journal Article
%@ 0038-0261
%A Appleford, Katherine
%A Rajina, Fatima
%A Sharma, Sonya
%D 2025
%F discovery:10204936
%I Wiley-Blackwell
%J The Sociological Review
%K Nadiya Hussain, Turbanisation, Fashion, Hijab, Muslim, Racialisation, Religion,  Respectability, United Kingdom
%T Young Muslim Women on Nadiya Hussain, Turbanisation and the  Politics of Respectability. Navigating Public Space and Islamophobia
%U https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10204936/
%X Using the changing image of British celebrity and Great British Bake Off Winner Nadiya  Hussain as a catalyst for exploration, we consider young British Muslim women’s attitudes and  practices towards the turbanisation of the hijab and the politics of respectability. Drawing on  focus group data with young Muslim women based in London, England, we examine this  sartorial practice, which Nadiya Hussain represents in her celebrity career, and argue two  overlapping points. First, the adoption of a turban style of hijab is considered by our  participants to be a more contemporary form of veiling, and more palatable to white and nonMuslim audiences. It is perceived to obscure their religious identity, affording them a greater  level of respectability, enabling them to traverse often burdensome representations of their  faith, racialisation, and Islamophobia encountered in the public sphere. Second, while the  turban allows for respectability in the context of white society, the women doubt if it is “proper  hijab,” and thus turbanisation presents a potential challenge to their religious respectability. As such, the paper contributes to theoretical debates concerning respectability and appearance,  showcasing the complexity of managing the expectations of religious practice and white  society for young British Muslim women. It reveals the significance of turbanisation as a tool  for acquiescing and merging into the dominant white society for these women, and it  emphasises the intersections between fashion, celebrity, religion and race.
%Z This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.