Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie: Intimacy and Design

I have to admit, it was the title that won my heart. Almost anything that would pay off a title this mysterious would be fine, I thought when I purchased this book. I wasn't prepared for a well-documented, pretty serious look at the bizarre (to my American, secular eyes) world of female-underwear marketing in the Middle East. Imagine women, cloaked as conservative Muslim societies demand, out shopping for the most outrageous lingerie, locally dreamt up and stitched, adorned with feathers and who knows what (the cover photo is a pretty normal example), all intended as happy marriage aides, to bring entertainment for husband's eyes only into the privacy of the bedroom.

A fascinating look at an primarily Islam country affection for (trashy) lingerie. Book is filled with interviews and essays by Syrian men & women about the role lingerie has in a marriage. The women do not buy this lingerie before marriage. A common theme thru the book is that the lingerie is very important to most in a marriage, otherwise & I quote "the men would otherwise stray.".My conclusion is a Syrian woman must be a nun in public & temptress in private. Most of the lingerie in the book is childishly funny. Some of the thongs & bras have cell phone, feathers , flowers, stuffed animals, sequins, tweety bird, some play songs like Old Mac Donald had a farm. A good read and it gives you something to think about.

Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie is a book about a middle-eastern country, Syria, that is mostly Muslim and under Sharia Law, made and distribute very alluring lingerie. This book also shows Arab female models posing in sexy and revealing bras and panties. This book is perfect for those who are fans of the history of lingerie.

A lifelong lingerie fan, this book didn't hold my interest longer than 5 minutes. 1. Most of the book isn't written by the author, but excerpts, articles and editorials from other sources (and not particularly interesting to a non Muslim). 2. There are a number of photographs, which mostly appear dated. Copyright is 2008 but the pictures appear noticeably older than that time frame. 3. Notice the background color on the cover? many of the pages are the same color...the printed pages have mid pink printing. In other words, low contrast and can be difficult to read. Some of the lingerie is photographed against the same color background, which may have increased the drab and uninteresting factor. 4. The pictures with actual models also appear quite dated....and the majority of the models could easily pass for European/Caucasian. I was hoping for some inspiration...and although creative (even enthusiastic) the lingerie depicted is neither artistic, interesting, noteworthy or inspiring.

what I asked for - great

A very interesting book about an odd topic !! Well researched and presented. If anyone of you out there were ever a fan of sexy racy zany lingerie, you must get this . An interesting backdrop of Syria before this stupid war began and IS crap !! The Syrians are pretty cool folks !! The binding sucks , oh well the pages are sewn together great but the gluing of the cover was pits ! Still , a great book !

Malu Halasa and Rana Salam have taken a look at a strange phenomena - incredible creativity in designing underwear that seems in total contradiction with the growing conservatism in outer wear of women in the Arab World in general and in Syria in particular. The text is not always easy to read (colour and background of text), but is worth the effort as they uncover and explore an unexpected way of thinking. The photos of most unexpected designs are guaranteed to surprise those who've not seen such garments in the souks of Damascus ... and some are almost unbelievable even to those who've seen such garments!

It was an interesting book but it could have done with a lot more detail and better photography. But enlightening.