Modest Fashion: Styling Bodies, Mediating Faith

Increasing numbers of women are engaging in the development and discussion of modest dressing; a movement matched by a growing media and popular demand for intelligent commentary about the topic. Modest Fashion: Styling Bodies, Mediating Faith edited by Reina Lewis, Artscom Centenary Professor of Cultural Studies, London College of Fashion, set out to meet that need. 

As a trend, modest dressing is spreading across the world, yet it is rarely viewed as 'fashion'. Studying consumers and producers, retailers and bloggers, Modest Fashion provides an up to the minute account of the art of dressing modestly - and fashionably. Leading scholars in the area, along with journalists, fashion designers, entrepreneurs and bloggers discuss the emergence of a niche market for modest fashion among and between Jewish, Christian and Muslim faith groups as well as secular dressers. Crossing creeds and cultures, analysing commentary alongside commerce, the book probes the personal and the political as well as religious, aesthetic and economic implications of contemporary dress practices and the debates that surround them.

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Violent Femmes - I Held Her In My Arms.

Faith and fashion

With global brands finally waking up to the power of the Islamic clothing market, valued at close to $100 billion, fashion is about to join food and finance as the third ‘F’ in Islamic branding.

As part of a new series of events at London College of Fashion on the theme of Faith and Fashion, and contributing to Shubbak: A window on contemporary Arab culture, Professor Reina Lewis talks to Emirati designer Rabia Zargarpur in a timely evaluation of the importance of fashion in cultural as well as commercial exchanges (Arab design on the international modest fashion market).

Founded in the aftermath of 9/11 to provide ‘conservative chic’ for the growing numbers of young Muslim women turning to the hijab, Rabia Z was launched in 2007, a trailblazer in the growing market for modest fashion. Putting Arab Arab fashion in the frame of British Muslim style will be renowned hijab fashion blogger Jana Kossaibati of hijabstyle.co.uk. Now a senior player on the blogosphere, Jana has been advising women in Britain and around the world about new trends in Muslim and modest fashion since 2007. Film maker Soniya Kirpalani will provide the inside scoop on the Gulf fashion industry. Sharing evidence from her film DoBuy-The Fabric of Faith, Soniya will explore the opportunities and challenges for Gulf designers in local and international markets within the wider frame of Arab dress politics.

Tuesday 25 June 2013, 18:00-19:00, followed by a reception. RSVP essential: faithandfashion@fashion.arts.ac.uk. London College of Fashion, 20 John Prince's Street, London, W1G 0BJ.

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David Bowie - Fashion.

Modest Fashion (2)

The project summary for the Modest Dressing research project is now available to download. This project researched the growing internet retail market for modest clothing among women of the three Abrahamic faiths: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. The summary can be downloaded from the bottom of Modest Dressing project home page here: http://www.fashion.arts.ac.uk/research/projects-collaborations/modest-dressing/.

A project symposium was held at the London College of Fashion in June 2011, and you can read more about it and listen to podcasts of the papers and discussion by clicking here.

Reina Lewis will also be bringing out an edited book of papers based on the project research and the project symposium later next year. She writes that, "Researching modest fashion has been absolutely fascinating, and I hope you enjoy the results as much as we enjoyed producing them."

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Duke Special: Slip Of A Girl.

Modest Fashion

I recently met up with Professor Reina Lewis, Artscom Centenary Professor of Cultural Studies at the London College of Fashion, who is running a very interesting project looking at Modest Fashion.
Faith-based Fashion and Internet Retail studies the growing market for modest clothing among women of the three Abrahamic faiths: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. With increasing numbers of women who are religiously motivated to dress modestly, online retailing is making it easier for women who dress this way to combine fashion with faith.

For women seeking fashionable ways to dress modestly, like the growing numbers of Muslim women who obtain modest clothing over the web, the internet has been indispensible. Other faith groups that have dress requirements show similar developments in the commercial production and distribution of clothing: observant and orthodox Jews, and some Christian groups like the Church of the Latter-day Saints (Mormons).

Internet marketing has been invaluable for consumers who want specialist items and has reduced overheads for specialist producers and retailers. This has been especially important in clothes marketing, where consumers seeking non-standard items can now shop online to replace or augment the high street. In most cases, internet marketing allows brands to reach beyond their immediate location, serving consumers internationally. Women are now far more likely to be able to dress in line with their sense of piety but still in fashion.

The project has three main aims:

1. To discover if the expansion and diversification through e-commerce of clothes for modest dressing is creating a new retail and style category of 'modest fashion' that has the potential to transcend specific religions and reach out to consumers across faith groups.

2. To explore the extent to which 'modest fashion' is beginning to be recognisable as a form of dressing adopted by women from different faith communities.

3. To evaluate the social and personal impact of modest fashion for the future development of interfaith dialogue and religious/secular community relations.

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Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat.