Wrapped in black bags or handkerchiefs. In the streets of Kabul, the windows of clothing shops make a dramatic and disturbing spectacle and are the symbol of the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan. The Taliban regime’s demand was even more radical: to behead them. Shortly after taking power in August 2021, the Taliban Ministry of Vice and Virtue decreed that all mannequins must be removed from shop windows or beheaded. The order is based on a strict interpretation of Islamic law, which prohibits statues and images of the human form as “they may be worshiped as idols”.
Some shopkeepers immediately adapted to the requests, while others tried to resist, complaining that they had to destroy precious mannequins and “make clothes ugly”. While the middle ground, with pieces of cloth to cover faces, doesn’t appear to be particularly glamorous, shopkeepers have attempted to make it as graceful as possible.
In one shop, says AP, the heads of the mannequins were hidden by tailored handkerchiefs, made with the same material as traditional clothes. One, in a purple dress beaded with cowrie shells, had a matching purple hood. Another, in a richly gold-embroidered red dress, was “almost elegant” with a red velvet mask and a gold crown on his head.
“I can’t cover the heads of the mannequins with plastic or ugly things because it would make my window and my shop look ugly. And I have to keep trying to sell,” said Bashir, a shop owner on central Lycee Maryam Street. Like his colleagues, he spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of being identified only by his first name, for fear of government reprisals.