Modesty: A Fashion Paradox: Uncovering the causes, controversies and key players behind the global trend to conceal, rather than reveal.

By Hafsa Lodi

A fashion journalist unzips the revolution, influence, and controversy of the modest fashion movement - as seen in Vogue Arabia, Harper's Bazaar, Stylist, Glamour, Publishers Weekly, Foreword Reviews, Booklist, and more.
Muslim-American fashion journalist Hafsa Lodi has witnessed first-hand how the modest fashion industry has evolved from a niche segment to a powerful force that boasts a multibillion-dollar market value on the world stage. Whether they're influenced by the feminist nuances of modesty, abide by religious dress norms, or keep up with the latest social media trends, modest fashion is profoundly popular.
Lodi unpacks how designer brands like Gucci have popularized conservative attire and layering as the pinnacle of chic, and high-street brands like H&M and Mango have followed. She strips back the modest fashion movement to expose its true disruptors: the faith-centric fashion labels. Bolstered by a burgeoning community of Muslim, Jewish and Christian fashion influencers, they're at the forefront of this global surge.
Speaking to both the fashion industry and its consumers, Lodi explores the nuances and narratives of this fascinating movement and asks the burning question: In a world where fashion becomes a spectacle and seeks constant attention, can it ever be truly modest?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Neem Tree Press
• Release date: Mar 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781911107279

Hafsa Lodi

Hafsa Lodi is an American journalist who has been covering fashion in the Middle East for the past decade. She moved to the UAE at 14. She has a BA in journalism from the Ryerson School of Journalism in Toronto and an MA in Islamic Law from SOAS in London. The relationships between religion, culture and modernity have always fascinated Hafsa, who covered topics like honour killings in Canada's South Asian communities, the use of DNA evidence in rape cases in Pakistan and the industrialization of the Holy City of Makkah, before turning to the fashion journalism beat. She writes for The National newspaper and fashion magazines, Mojeh and Vogue India.

Reviews for Modesty

[puddintame-358807 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There's Fashion (i.e.,couture, cat walks), and fashion (what a particular group considers "in"), and day-today-clothing. I'm not always sure what Lodi is talking about. My experience has been that a lot of woman, certainly not all, by the time they are in their thirties and forties, have decided what they like to wear, Fashionable or not, unless they need to dress for a particular time and place, like an office. By the way, if the phrase "high street fashion" is as new to the reader as it was to me, it simply, means buying clothing in regular stores, as opposed to designer clothing. The book is very detailed in describing designers and influencers, which some people will probably see as fascinating, and others as more detail than they want.To a great extent, it seems largely a result of the author's angst in choosing clothing as a teenager. It seems to me that a lot of the clothing that she celebrates as indicating a general trend towards modesty: over-the-knee skirts, kimonos, caftans, etc., are, and have been, pretty easily available in the US, especially in the last forty years, although she talks as if they are new. Wearing a scarf that covers most of one's hair, as shown in the picture of blogger Sarah Dimani, isn't remarkable in the US, depending on subculture, even among women for whom scarves are just another frequently-used accessory, most women just don't cover their hair all the time. There were certainly more feminine one-piece bathing suits available -- a black Speedo wasn't the only choice. I agree with Canadian fashion-blogger Saira Arshad, whom she talks to on pages 86-8, the clothing is and has been available, you just have to pick and choose for the look you want. The problem was, her other schoolmates wouldn't have been making the same choices? When she said that she wanted "fashionable" modest clothing, what did that mean? I have the same question about what her influencers wear: by whose standards is it Fashionable or fashionable? Is she saying that what they are wearing is stylish, beautiful, shows a flair for combining pieces? Or is it online community for people whose clothing is different from most of the people around them?I think I'm about twice as old as Hafsa Lodi, I was born in 1953. I have a friend who for the forty years that I have known her, has dressed a lot like Lodi is dressed in her author picture -- long-sleeved shirt, a button or two undone at the throat, and pants of some sort. As a matter of fact, my friend is even more modest, since she always wears a T-shirt, which covers up a bit of the skin that Lodi is showing. If that costume is considered properly modest, obviously the clothing has been available for all of Lodi's life. I think her problem was less what was available, then that the clothing her schoolmates were wearing was not modest, and she didn't feel that she fit in. Is the issue that Lodi wanted to dress like her schoolmates, or did she want them to dress like her? The latter, I think from this book. Lodi argues that modesty is becoming a world-wide phenomenon, but I don't know that that is true for most westerners. (It is of course, literally true, since conservative Islam, Judaism, Christianity, etc, are world-wide.) Famous fashion designers are now creating collections for the Islamic market, but Lodi and some of the people she talks to seem to resent that it is because of a potentially lucrative market, not out of admiration for Islam. Fashion, is, among other things, a business. While I'm sure that western women will pick up items that they find attractive or useful, I don't think that they will always dress to conservative religious tastes. Modesty in western Fashion comes and goes, and one person is not necessarily consistent. I can remember going from knee-length or calf-length skirts, to mini-skirts or long "granny dresses" for the more hippie-ish, to maxi- and midi-skirts, back to mini-skirts. I do wish her luck in making more choices available generally -- for the last couple of decades I seem to be able to find dresses and skirts in all sort of lengths, and I think that's a wonderful thing. Actually, I hope that one day, one can do things like pick a skirt, and specify what length it is to be,Lodi and some of the people that she talks to resent the assumption that particularly covering clothing is repressive, but I think that historical Islamic customs regarding women, the Taliban, the Iranian and Saudi clothing police and their earlier counterparts have a lot to do with that notion. Lodi touches on these points, but still prefers to blame irrational and unfounded ideas about Islam. She does have my sympathy with unsolicited opinions on what her clothing means to her. A co-worker used to spend a lot of time wondering why people would do, wear, eat, drink, all sorts of things that seemed innocuous to me. My guess was because they felt like it.Lodi's other issue seems to be the emergence of Generation M among young Islamic women who are career- and fashion-oriented. She desperately wants to reshape the culture of Islam, and increase respect for it in the west, including by clothing that still offers modest coverage, while still remaining faithful to her culture and religion. She also apparently wants the west to move toward Islamic fashion. I wish her good luck with her new world, I hope it's fun, exciting, and fulfilling, but it won't really be western culture that she'll be contending with. A lot of conservative Muslims are aghast at women having careers, which are likely to involve mingling with men, let alone breaking with traditional clothing in public.. (In private can be a different matter entirely.)Lodi also brings up the issue of clothing and the environment and wasting resources. The Fashion and fashion industries are probably aghast at the very idea -- how can they make money if they can't convince people that the clothing that they were lauding three years isn't positively dowdy today? This is only now becoming a concern: apparently the market for used clothing, whether to be worn or recycled into something else isn't what it used to be. Lodi includes a list of bloggers, but I think it would have been a good idea to have a list of commercial websites, in case people want to either buy, or simply look at the sort of things that she is talking about. There is also a glossary.