Muslim Fashion at the Crossroads: Modesty and the Global Runway
Modest fashion has moved from the margins to the mainstream, and the Muslim women who shaped it are watching with mixed feelings.
Ten years ago, “modest fashion” was not a category that high-street retailers recognised. Today, it generates billions of dollars annually, major luxury brands have launched modest collections, and the turban and the abaya appear in fashion weeks from Milan to Jakarta. What happened?
Part of the answer is demographic: the global Muslim population is young, urbanising and increasingly affluent. Part of it is the work of Muslim fashion bloggers and entrepreneurs who, frustrated by the absence of stylish options, created them — and in doing so, created a market that larger brands eventually noticed. And part of it is a broader cultural shift toward diversity in beauty standards, of which modest fashion is one expression.
