On June 8th, the 2014 Headwrap Expowas held in Dearborn, Michigan, billed as an event on “the art of headwrapping and scarf styling,” bringing together fashion, culture and interfaith dialogue. The event was presented by Beautifully Wrapped, an organization celebrating the art of headwrapping. According to Zarinah El-Amin Naeem, founder of Beautifully Wrapped, The Headwrap […]

This post was written by Laila Alawa (@lulainlife). There is a serious paradox within the fashion industry. More specifically, within the subset of fashion ruled by Muslim women, a niche that has shifted greater fashion perspectives on hijab and modest-leaning clothing, and one that taps into the wide-open Muslim consumer market valued at $170 billion […]

This post was written by guest contributor Kristin Peterson (@KrissyPetey), who also blogs at Third Spaces, a group blog for researchers at CU-Boulder’s Centre for Media, Religion and Culture. YouTube is frequently the go-to place to check out the latest hilarious video, view a clip from a movie, or watch a music video. Over the […]

Recently, a series of online shopping sites were brought to my attention: at first glance, they seemed to be the garden-variety online hijab shops. Some even had blanked-out faces – again, nothing that I hadn’t seen before. However upon a closer inspection, I noticed that the hijabi models on the website were smaller than usual […]

Beauty pageants have gotten a bad rap over the years for objectifying women by putting them on parade and privileging their looks over their personality or brains. Some pageants have actively tried to change this idea, by including a talent segment, and making charity work an increasingly bigger part of the winners’ duties. One such […]

There are a number of reasons why I decided to contribute to this blog. One of them was because sometimes I find myself in a no-(wo)man’s land when it comes to media portrayals of Indonesian Muslim women in general. Years ago, I came across this meme about hijabs. The image on the bottom left struck […]

It gets me every time… it makes me upset and irrationally angry. The stereotyping, the orientalist exoticism and the appropriation are only some of the things that go on when niqab, hijabs and “Muslim clothing” in general is used for profit by non-Muslim Western stars. Today M.I.A., who was once described by Time Magazine as […]

The Darfur Sartorialist is an exhibition launched by Portuguese urban engineer, humanitarian and photographer Pedro Matos to showcase the colourful clothing and trendy fashion sense of women in Darfur, Sudan. Matos was in Darfur for three and a half years with the World Food Programme when he started taking these photographs in a country where […]

Through the years MMW has had the opportunity to analyze Muslim women’s role in fashion in a variety of contexts. Some of our articles have discussed fashion in the context of in Mali, Russia and Chechnya, and a piece by Sharrae featured what is thought to be the only Muslim Model agency: Underwraps. Underwraps is famous not […]

After graduating and finding myself sub-employed in the world of retail, I have had the opportunity to closely explore the cosmetics industry. While in university I acquired my Makeup Artistry certification from a recognized school in Canada because I enjoyed colour and makeup so much. Since I was a child I enjoyed playing with my […]