Modest fashion’s global turn

Between 2014 and 2018, labels including DKNY, Tommy Hilfiger, Michael Kors, Mango and H&M launched Ramadan capsule collections aimed at shoppers in the Gulf. Initially, many of these collections remained geographically limited, stocked primarily in Middle Eastern stores or marketed specifically around the holy month.

At the same time, conservative silhouettes steadily migrated into the mainstream. Long hemlines, high necklines, draped tailoring and looser cuts appeared on runways that once relied heavily on skin-revealing and form-fitting fashion. Italian designer Alessandro Michele’s tenure at Gucci accelerated this shift, with Victorian-inspired blouses, floor-length skirts and layered styling turning so-called “granny chic” into one of fashion’s defining aesthetics of the late 2010s.

Modest fashion’s mainstream makeover must also credit Muslim influencers and designers on social media, who built highly engaged global audiences long before luxury fashion fully understood their commercial value. By the late 2010s, brands were flying hijabi influencers like British-Egyptian Dina Torkia, Kuwaiti Ascia al-Faraj and Palestinian-Puerto Rican Maria Alia, to fashion weeks in New York, London and Milan, dressing them in curated looks and positioning them within the front rows of luxury culture.

Yemeni-Kenyan sisters and modest fashion content creators Junaynah and Zeyaanah El Guthmy [Courtesy: Junaynah El Guthmy]

Even as wider fashion trends have swung back towards overt sensuality in recent years, Modest Fashion Week by Think Fashion continues to provide a platform for smaller, homegrown and start-up labels to showcase their designs. “These events create a sense of safety, belonging and shared identity,” says Yemeni-Kenyan creative strategist and content creator Junaynah El Guthmy. “That kind of grounding is essential if the goal is to eventually move beyond tokenism and into true, natural integration within the mainstream.”

Yet visibility has not erased tensions around ownership and authenticity. For El Guthmy, one of the biggest concerns is how modest fashion is often aestheticised within Western fashion spaces while becoming detached from the Muslim communities that built the industry. “It has deep roots in the GCC,” she says. “It came from us. If anything, it’s our perspective that has shaped how the rest of the world engages with it, not the other way around.”

That tension is especially visible in Europe, where modest fashion occupies an uneasy cultural position. Its move into luxury spaces can feel simultaneously progressive and exclusionary. As hijabi writer Hoda Katebi once wrote: “When you wear a turtleneck, you’re elegant; when I wear one, I’m oppressed.” Others have questioned why billboard campaigns depicting Muslim women often show modern turban styles rather than traditionally draped headscarves.

Working with designers and content creators from the community is crucial to avoid a Western co-opting of this market, believes El Guthmy. Some brands have taken this feedback on board. When MCM launched its first Ramadan collection in 2024, French-Moroccan hijabi influencer Hanan Houachmi was invited to co-design it with the German luxury label.

Another issue, believes El Guthmy, is the conflation of modest fashion into a single, universal aesthetic. “There is no one-size-fits-all when the realities on the ground are fundamentally different. What works in Europe will not automatically translate to the Middle East and North Africa,” she believes.

The sector’s expansion has brought to light a genuinely global ecosystem, each religion with its own aesthetics, strengths and priorities. UAE-based designer Rabia Zargarpur, who was also an adviser for previous Global Islamic Economy reports, points out that Turkiye has emerged as the logistical backbone of modest fashion e-commerce through platforms like Modanisa. Countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, meanwhile, have become the industry’s most innovative creative hubs.

Designers like Indonesian visionary Dian Pelangi helped establish Southeast Asia as one of the industry’s most influential creative forces, combining traditional silhouettes with contemporary streetwear and social media-driven styling that has helped shape modest fashion globally.

“Unlike other markets, Southeast Asia has successfully integrated fashion into a holistic lifestyle ecosystem that includes beauty, fintech, and travel,” explains Zargarpur, adding that they have made strides forward with innovative, breathable and high-performance textiles that allow for full coverage in tropical humidity.

Modest dressing increasingly blends heritage silhouettes with high-fashion styling, like designs by Turkish label Tug Fashion at Paris Modest Fashion Week [Rooful Ali/Think Fashion]

In the Gulf, the abaya has evolved from what Zargarpur describes as a “functional uniform” into “a high-fashion heritage statement”, increasingly positioned alongside high-fashion occasionwear. Here, consumers often gravitate towards embellishment, statement silhouettes and couture-level craftsmanship, while European modest dress tends to emphasise minimalism, layering and daywear versatility.

As modesty increasingly expands from a retail niche to a much larger sector with international demand, new opportunities have emerged — from hijabi models and content creators to behind-the-scenes jobs in marketing, design and development. A decade ago, the industry barely existed in institutional terms, reflects Zargarpur, who has evolved from a clothing designer to a consultant, mentoring entrepreneurs and helping build fashion ecosystems.

Today, she spends as much time advising governments and mentoring entrepreneurs as she does designing clothes — a reflection of how rapidly the sector has matured into a global commercial and cultural industry with its own infrastructure, talent pipelines and business networks.

“These roles simply didn’t exist in this space when I started,” she says. “The professionalisation of this sector created a massive demand for high-level advisory that bridges the gap between creative vision and wide-scale growth operations.”

And yet, for many women working in modest fashion, there is still more work to be done, beyond its mainstream acceptance. Mariah Idrissi, who became the first hijabi model to front a global H&M campaign in 2015, has increasingly focused on sustainability and ethical production within modest fashion — concerns that mirror broader anxieties across the luxury industry itself.

Avoiding fast fashion, promoting supply chain transparency and ensuring ethical labour practices are also Islamic values, believes Idrissi, and should be upheld by designers in this space. Following fast-paced trend cycles risks overconsumption, which is inherently at odds with the faith-based foundations of modest fashion.

As modesty gains traction, its compatibility with broader style movements has also emerged. “Quiet luxury”, for instance, has become a significant sartorial movement, championing minimalism, quality, neutral tones and a rejection of overt and flashy logos — values that closely mirror the ethos of modest fashion.

“Definitions of modesty have undoubtedly diversified,” says Deborah Latouche, founder of luxury label Sabirah [Asia Werbel]

Deborah Latouche, founder of London-based luxury label Sabirah, has tapped into this demand for longevity, creating investment pieces that transcend seasons and trends. She launched Sabirah in 2020 to challenge the narrative that elegance and coverage couldn’t co-exist in fashion-forward garments, and the brand has been showcased during London Fashion Week.

“In Europe, we have seen a clear shift from modest fashion being perceived primarily through a religious lens to being understood as a broader lifestyle choice,” says Latouche. “Definitions of modesty have undoubtedly diversified. It is no longer a fixed or singular idea; it is fluid, culturally nuanced and deeply individual.”

Whether modesty is being embraced because of ideology, ethics, a sense of autonomy or a rejection of hypersexualisation, it’s clear that what was once treated by much of the Western fashion establishment as outdated and commercially marginal is now being actively courted by the industry’s major players. As modesty moves into its next phase, the voices that will matter most belong to the women shaping it and wearing it.

“Today’s consumer is highly aware,” says Latouche. “She understands craftsmanship, she understands value, and she expects to be seen as part of the fashion conversation rather than an afterthought.”