Cross Dressing, East Ham-Style

Habiba Tasmin met a young woman who likes dressing across cultures; and a Labour MP who did not approve of her going out dressed like that. 

I was strolling through East Ham when I caught sight of a girl wearing a cotton print dress and tailored jacket beneath a headscarf draped over her head in a loose – very loose – approximation of the Muslim veil. I approached the young lady, whose name is Sarah. She gave me permission to photograph her (see above), and when I asked her why she had chosen to dress this way she explained that ‘I like mixing both cultures and getting in touch with different cultures and not just mine. This is me being adventurous in the way I look, and I don’t see anything wrong with that.’

My local MP did not see it quite the same way. While attending a community event, I approached Labour’s Jim Fitzpatrick and asked him to comment on the picture of Sarah. ‘It is the most controversial thing I have seen’, he said. He was both curious about Sarah and concerned that my picture of her shows ‘religion taken on as fashion, instead of a form of belief.’

I would have expected cultural conservatism from mullahs at the mosque. But I did not expect to hear it from a Labour MP.

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