I’ve spent many years helping dozens of friends shop to achieve a new look, dress for a new job, or find an outfit for a special occasion. And though they represent all ages, tastes, and degrees of bravery, the most common request is that whatever we find is cute and trendy, but has sleeves and “isn’t too short.” Basically: Most of them want something modest.
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I’ve spent many years helping dozens of friends shop to achieve a new look, dress for a new job, or find an outfit for a special occasion. And though they represent all ages, tastes, and degrees of bravery, the most common request is that whatever we find is cute and trendy, but has sleeves and “isn’t too short.” Basically: Most of them want something modest.
The thing is: I can’t say it that way. If I tell these women that “modest fashion” is what they are actually looking for, most would recoil, as if I’m also telling them that they’re old-fashioned or uptight.
Despite the fact that the modest aesthetic is one of the most prevalent retail and runway trends today via designers like Vetements and Céline, the modest fashion movement is not mainstream. This has a lot to do with the inadequacies of the word itself, as well as the prejudices people harbor against many of the communities that drive the movement — most of them religious — especially Muslim women.
“[Some] women do not like the ‘moral’ implications [of modesty] that there is one way women should dress,” says Sonia Trehan from R&H Collective, a modest-based fashion brand that’s quickly gained a cult following online.
Although there are many reasons why a woman might choose to keep herself relatively covered up (age, professionalism, geographic location), to anybody who doesn’t prescribe to a conservative religious ideology, “modesty” evokes images of Muslim women cloaked in head-to-toe burkas, Mormon sister-wives in prairie gowns, or Orthodox Jews in long skirts and wigs. For many liberal, Western women, it’s hard to get away from an idea that they see covering up as tied to religious ideologies, and antiquated notions of women’s traditional (and oftentimes, subjugated) roles within those groups.
But perhaps they are missing the point. As a practical matter, all the term really means is longer hemlines, long sleeves, looser shapes, and higher necklines. “Modesty” is diverse. But even women who are comfortable defining themselves as modest don’t all define modesty the same way — even when they are ostensibly in the same group.
Take the modest movement’s largest demographic for example: Muslim women. “Most do not cover their hair,” says Asmah Uddin, the director of strategy for the Center of Islam and Religious Freedom. “[Modest] requirements are interpreted and expressed in widely different ways, even if the media insists on showcasing only one.”
If you take away the clues that identify them as Middle Eastern (the Arabic captions, headscarves, geotags) these women could easily pass as Western style influencers in Los Angeles or London.
The modest fashion set may be a niche fashion subculture but their silhouettes and aesthetics dovetail exactly with what’s happening within the bigger fashion industry. Many of the most relevant looks from the past few years could be considered modest: Vetements’ long-sleeved floral maxi-dresses, Céline’s oversized suiting, Miu Miu’s Victorian-style blouses and Gucci’s nerdy pussybow separates. Walk into any fast-fashion shop, and you’ll be sure to see riffs on these shapes, with long cardigans, roomy pants, high-necked tops, and maxi-dresses. And yes, while some of these clothes are “modest” in hue as well as length and cut, there may be pieces that would look at home on an exhibitionist. Covered in embellishments and constructed in bold, look-at-me colors and prints, these are clothes for women who want to dress up, not down. You could argue that, in a way, there’s nothing modest about them.
Fashion brands don’t brand any of these offerings as modest. But if so many women want modest cuts, it seems illogical then that retailers and brands should want to minimize labeling it as such, especially when there’s a huge profit potential in doing so. The fact is, modest fashion is big business.
According to a report put out by Thomson Reuters, Muslims spent $266 billion on clothing and footwear in 2013, and that number is expected to nearly double to $484 billion in 2019. And that’s just Muslims. The modest clothing industry spans more faiths and non-faiths and, it stands to reason, have an even higher market potential.
It’s no wonder why many retailers, including brands as diverse as Uniqlo, DKNY, Dolce & Gabbana, and Mango, have dipped their toes in the marketplace, creating modest-branded capsule collections. The problem is that these are often timed to Muslim holidays, like Ramadan. But modesty isn’t an occasion — it’s a 24/7 lifestyle.
“Many retailers think they can capture the modest demographic by making a dress and marketing it during Ramadan,” says Trehan. “It can create a false sense of inclusion. Creating separate mini industries is a convenient way to reap the financial benefits of a consumer group without working them into the larger fabric of fashion and society.”
What’s more likely at play here is the idea that marketing toward modest consumers, and Muslims in particular, will alienate other shoppers. “How do you talk about modest clothing without making it sound niche or get away from the connotations that perhaps it’s all about wearing long, black cloaks?” questions Shelina Janmohamed, VP of Islamic branding consultancy Ogilvy Noor and the author of the book, Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World. “That’s one of the biggest challenges. I haven’t seen anyone come up with a good answer for it yet, and that’s particularly important because it can appeal to wider audience.”
The answer might be to completely divorce the idea that modest clothing has to be tied to religious clothing. Even though many among the community are faith-based, the key to mainstreaming the movement is to remove the moral associations with the word. Maybe we need a new word.
— This article, originally on Refinery 29, has been edited for space.
