Halal Fashion Revolution: un business nel segno della modestia

Muslim consumer’s need to access shari‘a compliant goods and services also concerns the fashion industry. According to Islam, fashion must also be halal. However, halal fashion is a broad and heterogeneous category whose content is different both in Islamic countries, which may adopt completely different approaches to this topic, and in Western countries. The commodification of shari‘a-based rules in matters of fashion is based on the concept of haya’, which is generally translated as ‘modesty’. Since 2000, this ‘virtue’ has given rise to what is called ‘modest fashion’, a commercial term synonymous with ‘Islamic fashion’ and ‘halal fashion’. The most evident symbol of this ever-growing market is the Islamic veil, whose role in modest fashion in terms of either accessory or necessary garment depends on the individual Islamic country and on Muslim communities’ decisions in Western countries. In current times, Muslim women wear the Islamic veil as their free choice, bringing halal fashion into courtrooms as a religious symbol and becoming a soft power tool that gives rise to geopolitical dynamics. It follows that modest fashion seems to be a great revolution in the world fashion scene, which has led us to question its future.