Actress Nora Danish has had to apologise to her fans and Malaysian netizens who were outraged that she appeared in public wearing a tudung, or Islamic headscarf, that to them, made her resemble a Christian nun.
The wimple-like headscarf was worn by the actress, ironically enough, during last week’s launch of her Owl imprint of tudungs in KL. An image of Nora on the runway at the event was posted to her personal Instagram account:
The image, while garnering more than 11,000 Likes, also drew the ire of many of Nora’s Muslim followers, who chided her on the “poor” sense of fashion.
Instagrammer nazmispies asked, “Dalam bnyak2 jenis tudung, how come design yg nak seakan2 rahib Kristian jugak menjadi pilihan sbg end product untuk dia jual?” (“Out of all the different kinds of headscarves, why did she choose the design that made he look like a Christian nun to sell?”)
“She is doing this all for money, nothing more.”
Other netizens pointed to the fact that while she might own and markets a tudung brand, Nora herself does not usually wear the Islamic head covering, which is called on by the religion as a gesture of humility and modesty.
Still others even questioned the fact that Nora was holding an owl on her arm during the catwalk, which they claim was a symbol of “the Illuminati”, a popular bogeyman among the Malay-Muslim community in Malaysia.
Nora doesn’t seem to want to defend herself too heartily, and has offered an apology to her fans following the outcry.
“Honestly, I was keeping positive about the whole thing and I never thought my outfit that night would resemble a nun’s habit, as was pointed out online,” she told mStar‘s Kemalia Othman yesterday.
“I admit it was my fault for not being observant enough. I asked for that outfit, and for a tudung that referenced a hoodie, but when I showcased it on the runway, the covering slipped back over my head and resembled a wimple.”
She added that the live owl on her arm was nothing more than the personification of her brand Owl.
“I’m heartbroken that the tudung line has barely been launched, and already it’s become the target of so much public outrage,” Nora said.
