What the fashionable gals are wearing

The headscarf controversy is hot not only in Turkey, but also throughout Europe and even the United States.

Is it a purely religious decision? A political one? A mere fashion statement?

Clearly it varies. I spotted this woman on a brilliantly sunny day in Istanbul as we plyed the waters of the Marmara Sea heading out to a small, quaint island that bans motorized vehicles, so you carry your groceries home in a horse-drawn cart!

I wondered about her feelings on  the headscarf controversies around the world and whether she felt less scorched by the sun than I did on this particular day.

She definitely wasn't shying away from color! But the style of scarf, as in the way she folds it to frame her face and tuckes it into her collar denotes, in Istanbul at least, that she is a modern Muslim gal  wearing the scarf for religious and political reasons.

Sometimes I want to wear a scarf: to cover my head from the rain, or to keep my ears warm. But I don't do it in Turkey. This accessory is way too loaded with meanings, some hidden, some not.