Archive for 2019

For iNews.co.uk

Asos joins the fashion retailers selling 'modest' clothes with the launch of its Verona collection

Modest clothing is designed for women who want less skin-revealing clothes, most commonly for spiritual reasons

When it launched in 2000, the fashion site Asos offered items that were inspired by celebrities – As Seen on Screen was its original branding. Almost 20 years on, it stocks more than 800 brands and sells accessories, activewear, co-ords, coats and jackets, dresses, hoodies and sweatshirts, jeans, shoes – and the list goes on.

It remains a major player in online fashion, despite newer rivals such as Boohoo coming for its crown by offering cut-price trends aimed at women (and men) in their teens and twenties.

If a trend in womenswear is happening, chances are it’s something Asos is already selling, or is planning to. So when it announced a new category this week – modest clothing – with both own-brand designs and those created by US label Verona Collection, it’s a sure sign that Asos knows it can turn a profit.

Showing less skin

Modest clothing is designed for women who want less skin-revealing clothes, most commonly for spiritual reasons. It’s worth noting that while one does not have to be of any religious practice to wear modest clothing, it’s generally used for a niche group of women within certain cultures and religions, predominantly women of the Islamic faith.

Verona Collection’s founders, Lisa Vogl and Alaa Ammuss, are Muslim and started their business after struggling to find modest fashion at an affordable price in America. The label launched in the US in 2015 and as of last year is stocked in Macy’s department stores. Now, with the robust distribution and customer reach of Asos, the business is expanding on a global scale.

More mainstream than you might realise

In the press release announcing the Asos launch, there was a rather bold claim: “Pioneers within the fashion industry, Verona Collection caters for a market that has previously been overlooked within mainstream society.” The idea that modest fashion is not commonly recognised within the British fashion industry isn't necessarily the case – the UK was one of the first Western markets to embrace the sector. Brands such as Aab UK, selling through Debenhams since 2017, and Maysaa have been catering to the British modest fashion market since early 2010.

Major brands have already started designing specific collections for that demographic, from Uniqlo’s collaboration with Hana Tajima to Nike’s Pro Hijab collection. And mainstream retailers have always created modest fashion pieces, albeit they haven’t been labelled as such.

Diversity, inclusion - and potential profit

The right marketing, branding and labelling is what makes certain brands stand out over others. It’s not necessarily pioneering anything new, it’s labelling it as such to encourage diversity and inclusion.

And this is what Verona Collection is doing right. As of 2018 the division “modest fashion” has been considered to be a $250bn (£19bn) global industry, and with Asos shares falling by 38 per cent in December 2018, it comes to no surprise that it needs brands such as Verona to target a “new” demographic with such spending power.

Dress for between Seasons

It’s the time of the year where we switch our wardrobe from winter clothing to spring/summer! It’s quite an exciting time to see the sun beam again, the trees blossom and the weather getting a little warmer. Though admittedly in London we are still in a transition of season & weather. We haven’t fully put away the winter coats or knitwear...yet!

Nevertheless, that doesn’t stop us from decluttering and switching our seasonal clothing’s! We are optimists and like to dress warmer before the warm weather even arrives! It’s not an easy task, as you can imagine temperature in the UK can be quite unpredictable. This week it supposedly should be 17 degrees! Wonderful! Getting carried away talking about the weather is a very British thing, so let us dial back to some tips for trans-seasonal dressing.

Let’s start with swapping seasonal clothing from our wardrobe. We haven’t fully embraced warm weather yet, so we can’t put everything away. But we can remove anything that’s too warm, bulky and very much the definition of winter clothing. That’s mainly referring to heavy winter coats. However, certain warm knitwear can be worn on their own during this time of the year, perhaps with a t-shirt underneath or a thin thermal. Footwear is fairly debatable, I personally have cold feet all the time (feet of an 80 year old man) so I can get away with wearing loafers, ballerinas and such without socks. Since my feet are already cold, the cold weather has nothing on them. At this stage, my boots are already in hiding. However, you may still need yours until the heatwave hits us again. Let’s carry on with some hopefully useful trans-seasonal dressing tips.

After 15 years in London, you’d think one would be an expert in dressing for the English weather, but the unfortunate truth is that we just wing it and play it by ear. The trick is to wear enough layers in order to peel them away when it gets warmer or keep them on when it gets colder. Of course, you don’t want to waddle around wearing several layers. What usually works is wearing a thin knitwear over a blouse or t-shirt and paired with a light winter coat for those days when you leave the house at the crack of dawn and arrive home when the sun has long set. This kind of outfit works perfectly if you’re on the move and not stationed in one place.

If you’re work requires you to be in an office all day, you’d want to wear an outfit that’s warm outdoors and cool indoors. No magic trick required, only two simple layers of a top + coat and voila (yes of course you’d wear bottoms too, we’d like to think that’s a given!). Or a dress and a coat, but you get the idea that its two layers only. The coat only serves the purpose of keeping you warm for the walking distance you need to take to your workplace.

One thing that works really well is wearing a heavy knitted scarf (whether that may be cashemere, wool or synthetic is down to you) and wrap that around yourself for warmth. We usually use this trick on flights from London to any place in the world that is warmer than London (we are thinking south). That way, you don’t have the burden of carrying around a coat when it gets warm, you simply let the scarf hang around your handbag or inside your handbag.

Of course, there are various creative ways to dress for unpredictable weather, you can even put on a fashion show, be our guest. We are merely thinking of practicality combined with style and personality.

(Photography by Rongji Sun, Edited by Zinah Nur Sharif)

Work & Life balance

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle with a busy schedule can be quite demanding. Depending on the work we do, style & fashion might be not be the first thing in our minds.

Admittedly, some of my previous work required me to wear uniform; designer uniform mind you. Which meant, I never had to spend time thinking about what to wear, how to wear it and when to wear it. Even my make-up was a uniform requirement. It was an oxymoron of liberation and restriction. On the one hand, I enjoyed the extra sleep, the carefree of showing up to work and changing there, the routine “outfit” and make up. My sole focus was that my make-up was nicely done. However, on the other hand, I missed the ability to freely choose what to wear, utilising my wardrobe and even dressing comfortably.

Now that my work changed all together, where I’m required to actually think about what to wear, I see the flip side of it all. I tend to focus more on what I wear over whether I’ll do my make up or not. In fact, so far, I have not bothered with make-up. That’s when it crossed my mind, style is more of an essence and when the clothes fit you perfectly, compliment your body and feel comfortable on, then make-up becomes an added bonus rather than necessary.

Realistically speaking, most of us work than the usual 37,5 hours a week, the last thing we want to do is grabble through our wardrobes and waste time deciding what to wear. Dressing up and style should be a skill that comes to one effortlessly. Of course, FashionMoodz is the perfect brand to help you master these skills. Learn about your figure, what fits and what you should stay away from, colours that work in harmony with your complexion and a lot more.

I promise to explore more of these aspects very soon. As you may have figured, this article is more of a personal confession of how I am trying to master my style and time. Also explains my absence as I am building more quality content for you all. We don’t want this online magazine to be an ordinary fashion platform. After all, the people dedicated to running it are extraordinary, and that certainly isn’t me blowing any of my own trumpets.

So how about I leave it at that and allow you to interact with us about your personal interests? Speak soon!

Modesty & Elegance

You may have come across the terminology ‘modesty’ or ‘modest fashion’. You probably have seen glimpses of articles mentioning the new boom of modest fashion. However, you may not have paid too much attention to it, as it’s generally used for a niche group of women within certain cultures and religions. This is where the origins and importance of modesty gets diluted; tying it to a specific group of people only. Though the word modesty can be used in different context, let’s look at it from a fashion’s perspective.

The general term modest fashion indicates to a style where women wear less skin-revealing clothes, most commonly for spiritual reasons due to aesthetic requirements from religion or even personal preferences. Arguably, one does not have to be of any religious practice to wear modest clothing. In fact, it is not a limiting factor in style. What it comes down to is the styling of individual fashion pieces that are then turned into modest fashion. More so, many brands are blending collections and designs that are considerably modest in style. What’s astounding is that brands always created modest fashion pieces, but it’s not ordinarily labelled as such. Anyone from Zara, COS to Valentino have individual pieces that are full length skirts, long sleeved maxi dresses, palazzo trousers and long-sleeved blouses. Essentially modest fashion is a style open for interpretation depending on socio-culture, individual preferences and experimentation with the newest trends. However, as of 2018 the division ‘modest fashion’ has been considered to be a $250 billion industry. Within the luxury fashion sector, it is vastly the UK and the Middle East Gulf region. A boom since the mid 2000s where brands have designed specific collections for that demographic. Modest fashion is assimilated with elegance more so than what anyone else claims. Modesty is the new elegance.

It can also be noted that there are more female designers behind practical, modest and elegant clothing. Look at Stella McCartney or the old Celine by Pheobe Philo, even Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Dior celebrates a form of elegant modest fashion pieces. Women all over the world are embracing this style as a form of defiance to patriarchy and showcase their preferred way of dressing. Revealing less is a form of grace, sexy and an attitude solely owned by individual women. Long coats, culottes trousers, mid/kitten heels, loose knitwear and simple sophistication are seen on the streets and runway. Bloggers and influencers are incorporating modest fashion seamlessly into their style, without the labelling it so. But credit needs to be given, where credit is due, Muslim bloggers and influencers have been the forefront of modest fashion and set the trend when fashion claimed that there is no space for such styles. The most notable ones are Hana Tajima, Ascia, Dalal, Dina Torkia and many many more. Numerous magazines and news outlets covered and still write about modest fashion, linking it majorly to Muslim women.

There are no easy ways to expressing the complexities of modesty, granting the enormity of the topic. It can be both unyielding and ambiguous, taking various religious, cultural and social rationalisations into considerations. Besides those aspects of modesty, there are more entities that contribute to how a group of people or even individuals perceive modesty. Sociology, philosophy, psychology and religion just being one of the many entities contributing to what modesty is. Modesty is a lifelong pursuit that requires constant revaluation and redefinition. We hope that this article contributed to adding a viewpoint to what modest fashion is and has enlightened you to explore more.

Symbolism of the Handbag

Fashion is a form of expressing ones’ individual identity through the means of aesthetics; it’s not essentially about utility. Arguably, it wasn’t about utility until recently, where pockets can not only be seen in ready-to-wear dresses but also couture gowns (thank you Raf Simmons). However, before form, function and practicality aligned with fashion, handbags served those purposes since their inception. An early modern origin of handbags came from the 17^th century as purses and coin purses, which then evolved into handbags. But we aren’t here to give you a historical lesson about fashion’s favourite accessory products, we would simply like to briefly explore the handbag as a symbolic gesture.

Let’s agree on the fact that handbags now come in endless shapes, sizes, styles and functions. Most are practical, some are pretty, and others are iconographic to a brand. There are boundless handbags. Although it’s sensible to go for handbags that compliment your style and express your individuality. Style is very personal, fashion isn’t. How you dress is a depiction of your character, your lifestyle, your aspirations and even your personality. The handbag acts as a support to one’s personal style and needs. Naturally, the functionality and size carry more priority to most people, but the style, design and even price tag define your taste and economic prosperity.

During the early feminists’ movement, handbags symbolised independence and status; women carried their own wallet with their own bank cards, car & house keys and work-related materials. The handbag embodied progression in gender equality. From independence to economic prosperity, women showcased their expensive taste and lifestyle through the investment of designer handbags. Every super brand has its own iconic handbag; Lady Dior, Chanel 2.55, Louis Vuitton Capucine and Hermes Birkin; and every woman wanting to display success would have one. The Birkin remains to be the icing on the cake when it comes to signifying career success, but more so financial success. If you’ve watched Sex and The City TV series, then you may remember Samantha Jones eagerly cutting corners to get her hands on a Birkin, during the early stages of her career in PR. In the films of Sex and The City, Miss Jones already owns numerous Birkin handbags, epitomising her career & financial successes.

Lately, however, handbags are made smaller in size. Social allegory of the handbag size changed into smaller handbags equating to more success and wealth. Meaning, women can afford personal assistance to carry their work load, so there’s no need to carry large handbags. They only need their phone, cardholder and perhaps cosmetics for touch up. Anyone with a large handbag was briefly seen as aspiring, working their way up and still carrying their own stuff. The symbolism of the handbag is ever changing, not only with time but also with different cultures and societies. However, society dictates trends but doesn’t set them. The handbag is a utilitarian piece that still celebrates individuality, independence and personal identity. Our advice; go for the handbag you love and express your identity.

All Photography by Zinah Nur Sharif

For Amaliah.com

Conscious Consumption: I Shop, Therefore I Am

The number of people within the Muslim communities loving fashion has visibly increased over the past decade. Modesty fashion is an ongoing movement that has been picked up online in the late 2008s. More young girls and women are using fashion as a means to demonstrate their Muslim identity. It’s something celebratory, having the freedom to express oneself through the means of fashion. What is concerning, however, is the increase of compulsive consumption.

Loving fashion somehow comes with the automated denotation of shopping. More particularly, accessible fashion. This, of course, should not be the case, fashion is not synonyms of shopping. But fashion can be both style and trend; one emboldens consumption while the other acclaims to be timeless. It’s between prioritising quality or quantity and mindfulness or senselessness. What is perceptible is that more people are driven by trend and seem to reinvent their style through it, without consciously knowing the effects of consumptive buying has on our planet and fellow human beings. The unfortunate truth is that fashion is aiming to be infinite, but our planet and the people making our garments aren’t.

Let’s briefly look at the supply chain of fast fashion (or fashion in general), organisations start with sourcing the raw materials, not many are done so ethically or in a sustainable manner. The next step is usually finding the cheapest labour possible, setting aside basic regulations such as health & safety, labour hours, well-being or any form of the union protecting the rights of garment makers. Then it’s usually overproducing products (according to recent statistics, Inditex group produces 7 billion products consumed only by 1 billion of the world’s population)…we know what happens to the products that are not purchased? Landfills full of products that are toxic and harmful to its neighbouring citizens. These end up being in far Asian countries in remote villages, many of us unaware of their existences.

The gap and distance between the initial production steps and the final products are so vast, that majority of people don’t have an oversight of what is happening (that is also true to the agriculture and meat industry). However, with the digital world and more active organisations exposing and sharing every step of the industry, we really have no excuse to oblivion. But then, the question of finance comes into place, the intention of high street fashion was to make fashion accessible to everyone, regardless of social class and income. One should be able to buy a stylish pair of shoes at £20 instead of breaking the bank at an artesian shoemaker. However, how many pair of those £20 shoes does one need? Is it worth the suffering of the planet and others for one to have that pair of shoes? Has anyone watched ‘The True Cost’ and saw the scene where a garment maker is begging the audience to stop buying products made out of their blood, tears and sufferings? Garment workers in Bangladesh, Cambodia and India have no choice of quitting the job if the work hours exceed 20, or the work environment causes them potential terminal illnesses (or even death, as the events of Rana Plaza showed) or have the privilege to find another job. Working there is survival, to feed oneself and take care of a family. It’s not the kind of poverty where being on government benefit is a back-up plan.

We as a Muslim community really have to build a conscious of everything we consume, the effect it had or has on the planet and our fellow human beings (and animals!). Thanks to organisations such as Eco Age and Fashion Revolution, big corporates are being held more responsible and regulations are being put into places to protect everyone involved in the industry, especially the garment workers. We encourage you to read and expand your knowledge on them. It allows everyone to make the right decisions of where to purchase and how often. Priorities quality over quantity, identify your personal style and stick with it. Invest in pieces that are ethical (perhaps more expensive) but have longevity. It certainly isn’t an easy task, but it’s something to be conscious of. Wearing clothes for modesty is a necessity, fashion is a luxury (yes all fashion, even those ‘trendy’ high street bargains). How one shops is a reflection of their identity, lifestyle, and mindset. Perhaps, some of us can’t comprehend that modesty is not limited to appearance, but how we are, who we are and how we treat everyone and everything around us.

ZINAH

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