For years, Tayyaba Beg would dash from store to store in search of a wardrobe that conformed to the modesty requirements of her Muslim faith. As she sifted through the racks, she found thigh-high hemlines and revealing cleavage, rather than the demure yet stylish fashions she craved.
And so Beg, a fashion designer from Teaneck, started sewing her own clothes -- loose-fitting shirts that covered her chest and arms and colorful skirts that fell to the ankles -- and found she wasn't alone.
"People would say, 'Why don't you make that for me?'" Beg recalled. And thus her business, ModestyStyles, was born.
The online shop sells shimmering teal headscarves, maxi dresses with elegant geometric patterns and paisley prints and long, striped tunics to customers around the country, bringing in 400 new customers each month, according to Beg. In September, more than 150 people attended a backyard fashion show in Teaneck featuring her wares.
A few blocks away, others are catering to the same desire: Carly'z Craze and the newly opened Yakira Bella offer trendy but modest skirts, tops and swimwear to Orthodox Jewish women who want to cover skin without skimping on style.
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From the catwalks of Milan to store aisles in New Jersey, clothes that conceal are back in vogue. Fueled by a growing Muslim population and a desire for less revealing clothing amid the #MeToo era, "modest fashion" has evolved into a big business, with major department stores, clothing lines and social media influencers all vying for a piece of the market.
"They are not just making money for their own business, they are affecting society," said Essma Bengabsia, a friend of Beg's who emceed the fashion show. "They are making hijab a symbol of beauty and strength... It's all about self-expression. It's like, why can't I look pretty as a hijabi?"
Muslim consumers alone spent an estimated $270 billion on modest clothes in 2017, according to a report last year by Thomson Reuters in collaboration with DinarStandard, a research firm. The market is expected to grow to $361 billion by 2023.
Macy's last year launched a collaboration with Muslim designer Lisa Vogl of the Verona Collection, which offers a line of long skirts, cardigans and hijabs. Nike launched a line of athletic hijabs in 2017 and Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY, Banana Republic and other big-name designers have jumped into the market as well.
Women from a variety of backgrounds have been covering up for years for a variety of reasons. Some faiths - including Muslims, Orthodox Jews, Christians, Mormons and the Amish - advocate modest attire. Other women aim to reject the fashion industry's mantra of "sex sells" by adopting what they see as a more empowering choice, particularly on the heels of the #MeToo movement.
While "Muslim women were absolutely the impetus," there's increasing demand from others as well, said Sabiha Ansari, co-founder of the American Muslim Consumer Consortium, a North Brunswick based nonprofit group. "This is a trend that's here to stay."
Another driving force is the growing number of women showcasing their modest fashions online, said Steven Frumkin, the dean of the Jay and Patty Baker School of Business and Technology at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.
Mayim Bialik, a star of TV's "The Big Bang Theory" and an Orthodox Jew, gave her blessing to the trend recently, posting a video of herself on Instagram garbed in a long skirt. She praised the Israeli-based modest-fashion label Kosher Casual as one of her favorites.
The modesty movement's most triumphant moment may have come this spring when Sports Illustrated featured Muslim model Halima Aden in a hijab and bright pink burkini in its swimsuit issue. Aden had previously made headlines when she became the first woman to wear a hijab onstage at the Miss Minnesota USA pageant.
The number of Muslims in the U.S. as of 2017 was 2.45 million, and that number continues to grow, according to the Pew Research Center. Muslims worldwide will increase more than twice as fast as the overall population between 2015 and 2060, likely surpassing Christians as the world's largest religious group, Pew researchers predict.
Kulsoom Gul, owner of Somerset-based online store, B. Zarina, said the modest clothing market has grown dramatically since she started working in the clothing industry in 2004. "It used to be that modest was a stigma, now it's not," she said. Her fashion house has participated in shows in London and Dubai, she added.
In ethnically diverse Teaneck, Carly'z Craze has seen demand boom for its "fun, fashionable and modest fashion" for girls and women. Since opening seven years ago in a tiny storefront, increasing demand has forced the store into much larger quarters in a more central location in town.
"We cater to the religious Jewish community but we also have many other customers who come to Carly'z Craze for the fashion," said owner Alene Brodsky Bloom. Among the store's offerings are slim black skirts, animal-print dresses, and colorful swimwear that cover the arms and legs.
Not everyone approves of the trend.
Scott Varda, an associate Professor of Communication at Baylor University, who has written about women's dress codes, said efforts to tell women how to dress are problematic whether it's coming from MTV, an influencer, or a religious figure.
"The troublesome part is being told how to dress and in the implicit sexualization of women's bodies as opposed to allowing autonomy and self-expression," he said. "These are impulses we should resist. People should try to figure out how to best express themselves."
But women who opt to dress less provocatively say that they feel empowered by their sartorial choices.
When a woman walks down the street, "there's a message sent by the way she's dressed," said Tressa Lemky, a Canadian model-turned-author who spoke at the Teaneck show. "I don't ever want someone to refer to me as hot -- I'd prefer elegant."
Nava Brief Fried, the creator of ModLi, an online marketplace that brings many modest vendors together on one platform, said that the way people perceive demure fashion has changed over the years.
Fried, a California native who lives in Israel, said her site gets about 300,000 unique visitors every month and racks up orders from Europe, Dubai and Saudi Arabia, as well as the U.S.
"Years ago, people thought of modest clothing as ugly," she said.
"Now it's stylish."
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https://www.northjersey.com/story/life/2019/10/14/modest-clothing-movement-mixes-faith-fashion-amid-metoo-movement/2349928001/
2019-10-14 10:15:00Z
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