LONDON – The first-ever modest fashion week kicked off in London this weekend, bringing Muslim women’s hijab to a catwalk complying with the Muslim values.
“The fastest growing global consumer is at the moment the Muslim market,” event organizer Romanna Bint-Abubaker, told Sky News, HuffPost reported on Monday, February 20.
“One in three people by 2030 will be a Muslin in the world –that’s a huge population.”
The capital’s first ever Modest Fashion Week (MFW) at the Saatchi Gallery, created by brand Haute Elan, ran for the first time this year in order to showcase clothes from forty different designers that “comply with Muslim values”.
According to the UK e-commerce retailer, the event, described as a ‘new and exciting addition to London’s fashion calendar’, is the first of its kind and aims to give a platform to brands that cater for religious women and those who prefer to dress modestly.
The event was also sponsored by a British makeup brand who recently announced they will no longer “knowingly” be selling their products to Trump supporters.
More than 40 designers from around the world showcased scarves, hijabs and loose-fitting maxi dresses at the two-day event.
“We’re realistic. We know we can’t stop anyone buying our products. But we also know that no matter how hard some people work to make themselves beautiful on the outside, makeup can never hide the ugliness inside. So please, if you don’t agree with the above. Don’t buy us,” Julian Kynaston, founder of British-brand Illamasqua, said.
Members of the Muslim community along with fashion fans praised the show for ‘sending a positive message’.
Twitter user @siagalal wrote: ‘It’s great and inspires so many muslimahs & shows them that they can be both fashionable and modest.’
MFW comes after Kanye West made headlines by sending a hijabi-wearing model down the runway at his Yeezy Season 5 show in New York last week.
Halima Aden, a 19-year-old Somali-American from Minnesota, signed with IMG Models before strutting down the runway at Kanye’s latest presentation.