A glamorous looking woman in a bejeweled black abaya roams across a manicured garden, drawing the attention of a glamorous crowd, and in the background a woman plays soft music on a grand piano. “The turbine”.

At the event, which was held in Istanbul, there was no champagne, and no revealing clothing. The company hosting the event, Modanisa, is a “modest fashion” brand and is part of a fast-growing segment serving Muslim women.

Once a forgotten market, modest clothing is increasing the purchasing power of conservative Muslims in countries such as Turkey, where the elite has traditionally been secular. Coinciding with the popularity of Instagram, Turkey has turned modest fashion into an industry that is expected to be worth $400 billion globally by 2024, double what it was in 2014. In addition to Turkey being at the center of this industry, there is also the United Kingdom, the headquarters of many From designers and consumers.

The modest fashion industry is expanding

Modanisa promotes modest brands from all over the world through its online platform and organizes Modest Fashion Week events in London, Istanbul and the United Arab Emirates. The platform was launched from Istanbul in 2011 with an initial capital of $ 500,000, and has been profitable since 2018. In May 2019, it attracted an investment of $ 15 million from the US Goldman Sachs Bank and the UAE company Wamda. Today, it is Turkey’s fourth largest online retailer, selling over a thousand fashion brands on its website, ranging from modest sportswear to high-end products.

In 2015 it also began expanding abroad. The UK is one of the most important markets for Modanisa, with sales during Ramadan and Eid up 70% this year over last year.

“Our first overseas target market was the Turks in Germany,” said Karim Toure, founder and CEO of Modanisa. But then we realized that there are many other women with the same needs. And we saw that there is a clear market in the UK.”

Social media is changing it

“On social networks, we started it on Facebook,” Toure added. Muslim women had their own style and their own cities and countries, but with Facebook and then Instagram, they started seeing what other people around the world were wearing. Modanisa was fortunate enough to see this. We get great views from influencers.”

A look at the Instagram pages of simple influencers, or a peek at the Modanisa event, shows just how diverse modest fashion has become. Muslim women are no longer bound by loose-fitting black clothes or the one-size-fits-all veil.

Some of them wear turbons, others loose scarves, while others prefer a more traditional look that covers the hair, neck and shoulders. In addition, there are elegant suits of trousers, tailored jackets, and gowns in luxurious fabrics.

Celebrities who become icons of modest fashion

In addition to the potential of making profits, modest fashion attracts influence from famous personalities. Halima Aden, the world’s first hijabi model to appear on catwalks for brands such as Dolce & Gabbana and Max Mara, shocked the fashion industry when she resigned in November, saying she couldn’t reconcile the fashion world with her faith.

Then this week, 23-year-old Halima announced her return to fashion as a Global Brand Ambassador for Modanisa, one of a series of collaborations Halima has with modest fashion houses.

Halima Aden, a Somali-American, became famous wearing the Modanisa burkini at the Miss Minnesota pageant. During her time in haute couture, she was criticized by conservative Muslims, who accused her of betraying her faith, as well as by non-Muslims, who believed she had no place on the catwalk.

“Maintaining a balance between them was difficult,” she said.

It was impossible years ago..do not change yourself but the rules of the game

In her question-and-answer session with the audience in Modanisa, it was clear that many of the women in the audience felt similar pressures. One said she lives in Washington and experiences anti-Islam harassment on a weekly basis. Another said Halima Aden’s decision to break with mainstream fashion gave her the courage to wear her hijab in a more traditional style.

Halima’s reactions were exciting. “Fashion needs us Muslim women, not the other way around,” she said. My message is: Do not change yourself, but change the game.”

It may be impossible, even in a Muslim-majority country like Turkey, for a brand like Modanisa to be apolitical. After the 1997 military coup that overthrew President Erdogan’s political mentor, Necmettin Erbakan, women who wear the hijab were prevented from getting jobs in the state and attending universities. The conservative Islamist Justice and Development Party, led by President Erdogan, repealed this law in the past decade, and it is now common to see veiled women working as police officers, state employees, and teachers in Turkey.

President Erdogan’s wife, Emine, 66, is the most prominent among a new class of modestly dressed Turkish veiled women from famous European fashion houses.

The phobia of the veil faded in Turkey and flared up in Europe

While life has become easier for religious women in Turkey, it is becoming more difficult in Europe.

France has banned the burkini, which Halima Aden once wore on the cover of Sports Illustrated. In July, the European Court of Justice upheld a ruling that companies have the right to prohibit women from wearing the hijab – or any other religious symbol – in the workplace, based on “the justification of the employer’s need to present himself in a neutral way to clients or to prevent social conflict”.

Modanisa, for its part, launched a campaign against the ruling, a move Karim Toure, founder and CEO of the company, insisted was “not for commercial purposes; Rather, it is about human rights and women’s rights. Leaving a Muslim woman without fashion choices was unfair, just as it is unfair to classify someone because of their dress. This is our community, and we are part of it.”

Arabic Post