Last May, Istanbul Modest Fashion Week featured was the city’s first such event where designers from around the Islamic world showcased their collections.
Loubna Sadoq was one of the designers featured in the show who says the rules of Islamic dress are simple. “There is no difference between modest fashion and mainstream fashion,” says Ms. Sadoq. “You just have to adjust some things, like the length and width. You shouldn’t see skin, and it shouldn’t be tight. That’s it.”
According to the New York Times, “under Turkey’s old hard-line secular system, the head scarf, or hijab, was seen as a symbol of backwardness and banned in government offices and schools. In recent weeks, as France debated the burkini, Turkey again chipped away at old taboos, allowing female police officers, for the first time, to wear head scarves on the job. [This] has spurred an Islamic fashion revolution, complete with fashion houses, magazines, bloggers and Instagram stars.”
“Everyone was like, ‘Muslim market?’” says Kerim Ture who runs Modanisa, a fashion house in Istanbul. “Our main purpose is to make women feel better. To feel the glamour and the shine inside.”
