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Abstract This article examines the intersections of gender, consumption, and Muslim cosmopolitanism in the emerging bridal fashions of the Hui Muslims in Xi’an, China. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Xi’an during 2015 and 2016, I analyze the visual and textual discourses surrounding urban Hui Muslims’ pursuit of a globalized Muslim lifestyle, with a particular emphasis on fashion and representations of women. I explore how the image of the modern Muslim is produced and constructed in Hui-owned bridal salons, which offer bridal makeovers and stage wedding portraiture. By focusing on the perspectives of entrepreneurs within the bridal fashion and portraiture industry, I examine the production of ideal bridal aesthetics and a cosmopolitan female piety that are intertwined with universal Muslim values. This affinity for the universal fosters a sense of superiority among the Hui in their predominantly Han context. Engaging with scholarship on Muslim fashion and vernacular cosmopolitanisms, I argue that the Hui’s adoption of cosmopolitan Muslim-ness embodies both globally circulated lifestyles and local interpretations of modesty and piety. This study of Hui Muslim fashion choices showcases a locally embedded transnational Muslim modernity and underscores the diverse ways in which individuals position themselves within their imagined Muslim ummah .
Yang Yang (Tue,) studied this question.