Do Black women even exist in the Modest fashion community?

Black Muslim women? Is that some type of sauce? Because I really want to know.

Black Muslim women have continuously been erased from the mainstream media, either from TV or any other part of the public eye. This isn’t surprising considering that both identities; Black and Muslim, hardly get much representation anyway, apart from the harmful stereotypes, you see time and time again on TV. You’d think your respective community would be an ally and rush to promote and place you on the forefront on anything that would give you some type of recognition, for your efforts. But that’s far from the truth.

On the 8th and 9th of this month, Dubai Modest Fashion week held their first international modest fashion week, showcasing modest fashion designers and models. Talks from influencers and enthusiasts also blessed the night as well as modest pop up stores from all over the world. But if you look at the line up to the event, there was something very crucial missing.

Black Muslim women.

Literally, the only black Muslim woman who wasn’t ‘Asian or Arab passing’ was Halima Aden, the first hijabi model that has been signed by IMG models. And we all know why she was included.

And what’s interesting is that, Black Muslim women have been setting trends right from the beginning. They have been wearing turbans way before it became a trend, yet no black women has yet had any recognition for that. In fact, if anything, this has been erased from public knowledge, the same way black Muslim women are constantly erased from the modest fashion community.

It’s also very surprising, why Basma K, one of the very first (if not the first) Modest fashion blogger and innovator, hasn’t even come to mind when the organisers were forming some type of list as to who should be invited and who shouldn’t.

However, the whitewashing of the modest fashion community is not something new and like almost every outlet out there, you’re always going to find a person with the most euro-centric features in the limelight. If you take a look at these modern fashion Instagram pages, It’s very hard to find a black woman, apart from a few ‘tokens’,

But then again, The modern fashion community is far from progressive and it does not look like the situation is going to change any time soon. Black Muslim women should start their own events catering to their own and showcase their creativity and originality amongst themselves. Maybe when they notice all of that beauty that they have seemed to miss (but ironically, adorned) they’ll get a seat at the table.