The unveiling of modest fashion
When you hear the word modest what do you think of? I think of everything that the fashion industry currently isn’t and the way most Muslim women dress. Modesty to me is about feeling confident, secure and comfortable while expressing yourself through fashion. You don’t need to show your skin to be sexy or fashionable but why isn’t modest fashion a thing in western countries? There are over 44 million Muslims in Europe, of which 3 million call the United Kingdom their home. It’s 2018 and we still live in a world where we celebrate “the first” things, especially with race. Halima Aden was the first hijab-wearing model to be on the cover of Vogue Arabia and Allure magazine. Mariah Idrissi became the first hijab-wearing model to be featured in H&M’s campaign. Barbie released their first hijabi doll which was modelled after the Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad. These are things that have only happened in the past few years. All of this gets momentary, positive, attention from the media because it’s about “breaking the stereotype” but what we really should be doing is to try to move on from this and make it normal. The modest fashion market is predicted to reach £367 billion in value globally by 2019. That’s a huge market which is made up of a diverse range of women, especially Muslims. You would probably expect the fashion industry to target these women but have you noticed any Muslim women in fashion magazines? I looked through all the recent big fashion publications in the UK, from Vogue to ELLE, and did not manage to find even one cover, advert or an article that featured a Muslim woman. This really doesn’t make any sense from a business perspective. Why wouldn’t fashion retailers cater towards a particular market which could generate a lot of profit? In 2015, Muslim women spent globally an estimated $44 billion on modest fashion alone. Just like any other woman, Muslim women enjoy expressing themselves through fashion and for them modesty is not only a fashion choice but a lifestyle. But if we look at how the media portrays the Muslim world, it is mostly shown in a negative light with the word Muslim and Islam being highlighted when something terrible happens. Occasionally you hear the same old story of how Muslim women are oppressed without freedom to choose what they wear and do. This “story” couldn’t be any more wrong. An 18-year-old student Reem Siraj agrees by saying: “I chose to wear my hijab, so to tell me that I am being oppressed by choosing to wear something that represents my religion. That is an oppression, by telling me I can’t wear that.” She then goes onto describing Muslim women as “Independent, empowered and strong.”