Modesty: A Fashion Paradox by Hafsa Lodi

I tell everyone now that for a real insight into modest fashion and the history of hijab-wearing this is my resource. I recently mentioned it as THE book to read, in an article I wrote about the cyber bullying of women who both do and don’t wear the hijab from within the Muslim community.

Lodi is a fashion journalist in the UAE, the birthplace of many of the first modest fashion labels and modest fashion blogs, and through her work there and travels around the world, Lodi gives a real inside look into the modest fashion industry. Lodi charts the history of the modest fashion industry and how it has evolved - it’s a relatively new industry. She also looks at the origins of the hijab and modest fashion - Islam isn’t the first religion to promote modest dress, other Abrahamic faiths before Islam did so, and Lodi examines each faith and the place of modest dress in that particular faith.

Lodi looks at the capitalisation of modest dress by Western labels and couture houses and whether their interpretations of modest dress are compatible with Islamic ideas of modest dress. What I particularly enjoy about the book is the huge number of Muslim women Lodi quotes from bloggers to writers and designers to even female Muslim scholars!

Random fact - I had my own modest fashion blog back in 2010 when I lived in Qatar called Under Your Abaya, (www.underyourabaya.blogspot.com) and was one of the first 4 bloggers in the country, so that’s where my Twitter handle comes from!

The added plus are the beautiful pictures in the book.

This is an easily readable book and a beautiful addition to my ever-growing collection of books on women and Islam.