In Taliban’s Afghanistan, shop mannequins are all decked up but they remain faceless – Times of India

In Afghanistan‘s capital, shop windows display dazzling ball gowns and three-piece wedding suits – with the face of each mannequin covered. The morality police have asked stores to hide the mannequins’ faces and photographs of models, according to a clothes seller in Kabul. “It makes the display ugly,” said the 22-year-old, but “doesn’t affect sales”.When Taliban swept back to power in Aug 2021, it imposed its austere interpretation of Islamic law, including an edict against depicting human faces. “The environment must be Islamic,” said the Kabul salesman. Women’s dresses come in bright colours, some styles leaving shoulders exposed or with plunging necklines – almost all sparkling with sequins. The dresses are bought to be worn only in private, at gender-segregated weddings or engagement parties. The heads of the mannequins are wrapped in plastic, foil or black bags. The rule is enforced nationwide by teams from ministry for the propagation of virtue and prevention of vice. Dressed in long white jackets, they visit Kabul’s stores multiple times each week. Customers and sellers seemed unfazed by the eerie, headless figures.