Modest Fashion can be considered a clothing category or a trend that has become popular very recently. Dressing with modesty first responded to the religious needs of Muslim women around the world, and since 2019 attracted a lot of attention from consumer brands and influencers. But the aim to avoid showing too much skin not only responds to religious reasons but also to personal choices like comfort, wearability, accessibility, or the desire to create a clean aesthetic.
How can Modest Fashion be identified? Loose shapes, longer hemlines, and higher necklines are features that modest fashionistas look for in clothing since the primary intention is to conceal the body's contour instead of marking silhouettes. Fashionistas in social media teach how to creatively customize clothing items to fit with this concept, for instance, applying patches to ripped jeans, wearing leggings under mid-length skirts, lining sheer fabrics, or closing dress slits that are too high.
Many misconceptions and controversies surround Modest Fashion: while, for some, it is a feminist strategy to reclaim the female body, for others it is a repression tool linked to religion. From this duality of meanings has emerged a multi-billion clothing industry that grew from a niche market to mainstream in just a few years.
Besides including clothing samples with a typical museum display aesthetic, this exhibition addressed issues of symbolism, functionality, cultural exchange, history of the movement, the social boundaries of women's bodies, or the involvement of high fashion brands. From my perspective, there was a right balance between "show" and content, the texts were short and clear, and the overall space felt inviting.
In addition to the fabulous suits and dresses, I found some of the mannequins' postures extremely interesting. They looked relaxed but confident, and I could see real women in their place, wearing those clothes. Look at the one seating, with a yellow dress by Frenken or the ones with the rich pattern dresses by Lisa Folawiyo. I also found it very cool how the curators mixed fashion from well-known brands like The Row with lesser-known but incredible designers like Folawiyo (my favorite from the exhibition).
Other cool details: how they added an illustrated portrait of some of the designers, next to the labels of their work, and the 60’s Vogue magazines with Dutch model Wilhelmina Cooper on the cover. She would later found Wilhelmina model agency, one of the firsts to promote the representation of diversity (content from the label).
I strongly suggest visiting the Virtual Exhibition, following this link.