Malaysia Becoming A Trendsetter Of Modest Fashion In The Region

NormanJB

Modest wear in Malaysia is often related to the booming fashion market for Muslimahs – depicting an Islamic concept, adhering to the faith – for the stylish, yet pious women.

Although catering to the majority 60 per cent Muslims, mostly ethnic Malays, in our population, the market has seen an expansion lately, finding its foothold in our multicultural society.

In celebration of the rising trend and its ever-growing popularity, we picked the thoughts of Malaysia’s very own fashion experts on its staying power and challenges in seeing through this revolution.

Styling In Modest Wear

No stranger to the fashion scene, Kuala Lumpur-based celebrity fashion stylist Min Luna whose personality breaks all stereotypes of the industry shared with us her outtake on the becoming of the modest fashion market in Malaysia.

Originally coming from an editorial background, Min was inspired to better the image and branding of our local celebrities, which is how she wound up in the industry she never imagined herself to be in – and much has changed since then.

Min Luna on set with modest client Neelofa

The lass with 10 years of experience under her belt believes our modest wear market has relatively evolved compared to neighbouring countries like Brunei and Singapore – making us an equal trendsetter to Indonesia.

“We are more trendy but still friendly for modest wear. Our growing ready-to-wear labels have multiplied over the last two years and it seems like people who wear hijab are getting more excited to dress these days.

“The purchasing power for modest wear is also on the rise and so many brands have started to incorporate modest styles into their collections,” Min relayed, adding stores like ShoesShoesShoes, Mimpikita and Blancheur have never failed to provide her with fashionable hijab-friendly pieces.

While Min often has the task of cracking her head to figure out how to make current fashion pieces modest for hijab wearers, her basic rule of styling modest wear is for each combination piece to look light and effortless “so the whole ensemble will look easy on the eyes.

Min Luna, Celebrity Fashion Stylist

The humble stylist also shared aside proportion being the key to enhance a modest look, personality plays an important role in her styling, especially for her modest celebrity clients, like Neelofa and Nadiya Nisaa.

“Based on my experience, it is less complicated to style modest wear to glamour than effortless chic because in the market, most of the fashion items gravitate towards glamour pieces.

“But the challenge is when there are limited fancy pieces in the market, and despite my new styling ideas, I end up settling for less or just make do with what we have in the stores,” she opened up on the limitations to modest wear styling.

Speaking of her favourite modest wear style icons, Min shared how she personally feels Neelofa embodies exactly the perfect persona – because of her aura.

“I witnessed her fashion evolution for the past four years. Many Malaysian women want to dress like her and follow her style rigorously,” she professed.

“On the other hand, Hana Tajima’s approach on modest wear is more fun and organic. While Yuna also has an eclectic taste in fashion, I like to observe her casual street style which is always done effortlessly with trendy pieces,” she adds.

Venturing into her first modest wear collection this year for the recent Hari Raya, Min teamed up with designer Khoon Hooi to produce luxe made-to-order pieces which pays homage to all women, where each design can be customised to fit the modest style of her customers.

“As a fashion stylist, it was never my style to categorise anyone as too big or too small, too tall or too short, or too conservative or too liberal; we are all made differently and we should all be styled as such.

“My first foray into designing a Raya collection was an extension of that process. I wanted to create a truly inclusive collection to pay tribute to every single woman out there who thought she could never carry off that look,” she detailed.

Khoon Hooi x Min Luna Eid 2017 collection

But aside it's obvious so-called glamour, the fashion industry, even in modest wear unseemingly has its impurities.

“The ‘dirty’ part of this industry is some of the labels tend to take the easy way up by copying other local designers’ pieces, which draws consumers to purchase the more affordable versions of it.

“This is how we slowly kill the industry. At the end of the day, we have hundreds of brands but not one with individuality in them,” Min laments adding that this fact frustrates her.

“I hope fashion entrepreneurs have more integrity and find their DNA before venturing into the business,” she stressed, saying that prioritising brand longevity triumphs profit at the end of the day.

- mD

Artemesiaa

Betul tu bila banyak yang meniru tentu dah tak exclusive lagi nampak sama je semuanya dah tak da individuality nya lagi cam boria je semua akhirnya.  Benda ni nampak ketara bila ada gathering  majlis kawin atau hari raya