TURKEY: Reha Muhtar, a popular Turkish writer, was holidaying on Turkey's Aegean coast when he saw two young women, hair tucked under hoods, bodies cloaked in ankle-length outfits, diving off an expensive yacht.
"Not in all my years had I ever seen anything quite so bizarre," Muhtar wrote in a recent column in the daily Sabah newspaper.
The women were wearing Islamic-style swimwear that is becoming popular among religious women who want to bathe without baring their flesh. The outfit consists of a full-body suit and hood that is pulled over a tightly-fitted bonnet. A long vest completes the ensemble.
Muhtar's column has ignited furious debate on the merits of such outfits in a country where most women wear western-style swimwear and some even go topless.
Yet the flurry of opinion has remained refreshingly free of the politics engulfing the Islamic-style head scarf, which is banned in Turkey as a symbol of religious militancy in all government institutions and schools. Rather, the emphasis has been on style.
"Silly, tasteless and weird," wrote Ahmet Hakan, a commentator in the daily Hurriyet. Mr Hakan's assertion that modest women should forgo swimming rather than ridicule themselves in such gear has angered some conservatives. Mustafa Karaduman, the founder of Turkey's biggest Islamic-style fashion chain, Tekbir Giyim, or Allah Is Great Clothing, went so far as to suggest that Mr Hakan was a poor Muslim.
All of this is welcome publicity for Mehmet Sahin, who while attending law school, designed the first modesty-style bathing suit in 1993 - not for women, but for men.
"As a pious Muslim, I wanted to wear a bathing costume that did not cling to my genitals," he said in a recent interview. His baggy, mid-calf-length shorts became an instant hit with similarly religious-minded students.
Mr Sahin, who abandoned law, has branched out into women's swimwear and now commands the country's largest Islamic swimwear empire, Hasema.
His customers include the wife of the Turkish foreign minister, Hayrunnisa Gul.
Mr Sahin's latest collection features special material that lets the sun through. "Customers who want a tan can now get one without undressing," Mr Sahin boasted.
Sociologists say the success of Islamic-style fashion is closely linked to the surge in upward mobility of religious Turks.
"For this new Islamic bourgeoisie, clothes have increasingly become a vehicle for asserting status rather than piety," said Jenny B White, an anthropologist at Boston University who has written extensively on Islam in Turkey.
Designer head scarves have become ubiquitous in such circles. Favoured by the wife of Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the British designer Burberry - with its trademark plaid print - is among the most popular.
It is not just the garment industry that is cashing in. Business is booming at a string of alcohol-free hotels with segregated beaches that speckle Turkey's coast.
Away from prying male eyes, women can be seen sunning themselves in the most daring bikinis at such locations.
Hidayet Sefkatli Tuksal, an Islamic theologian and advocate of women's rights, notes that such resorts are unaffordable for most Turks.
Islamic-style bathing suits enable religiously observant Turks to enjoy the country's beaches "just like any other citizen", she said.
Ms Tuksal, who owns three Hasema models, insists they are very comfortable.
"I can move around freely. What is more, I think they are perfectly aesthetic."
They can also be downright sexy, said fashion photographer Zeynel Abidin Aggul.
The photographer told Sabah, during a recent photo shoot: "Wherever there are women, there is eroticism. A bit of ankle . . . a pair of eyes is all it takes."
(LA Times-Washington Post service)