Culture

Women’s Islamic Modest Wear Fashion Brands in the U.S.: Empowerment, Modernity, Self-Expression, and a Rising Market Demand

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Abstract

Following 9/11 young Muslim women experienced increased discrimination, prompting them to assert their Muslim identities through hijabs. Niche modest wear brands, such as Artizara, Haute Hijab, and Urban Modesty then emerged. The purpose of our research was to critically examine how Islamic modest fashion brands in the U.S positioned themselves online. We drew upon netnography of the brands’ online content, and then followed the two-step “close reading” method using CDA to analyze the data. We identified four themes: (1) empowering women; (2) reclaiming modesty as modern, beautiful, and sexy; (3) rejecting and perpetuating oppression of intersectional identities; and (4) fashionable modest wear demand. Despite empowering Muslim American women to embrace their identities, the brands’ activist-centric positionings cannot be interpreted outside of their profit-driven, self-interests. The brands also engaged with colorism and fatphobia; highlighting tensions of their free-market capitalist positions providing appearance-modifying commodities to negotiate personal ambiguity and ambivalence.

Keywords: hijab, dress, industry, digital, Muslim, American

How to Cite:

Amalanathan, S. & Reddy Best, K. L., (2022) “Women’s Islamic Modest Wear Fashion Brands in the U.S.: Empowerment, Modernity, Self-Expression, and a Rising Market Demand”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 78(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.13806