Photo: Sebastian Kim/Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum/Sebastian Kim
When it involves issues of style, Muslim ladies are sometimes disregarded of the dialog. “Contemporary Muslim Fashions” at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum goals to flip that conference on its head. The exhibit acknowledges Muslim ladies as main influences in international style.
“When we initiated the exhibition in 2016, we were coming right off the burkini ban,” explains Jill D’Alessandro, curator accountable for costume and textile arts on the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the place a model of the exhibit first debuted. “There seemed to be a lot of misunderstanding or just lack of information about this fashion sector. And it’s a vital sector. It’s a growing sector.”
D’Alessandro and co-curator Laura Camerlengo needed to contextualize how international a phenomenon the modest style business has turn into by highlighting a various group of designers from everywhere in the world.
“About half the designers are women under the age of 40,” says D’Alessandro. “They’re urban, they’re sophisticated, they’re international. They saw a lack in modest Muslim fashion, and they’re creating a wardrobe to suit themselves. They were saying that there [are] clothes out there for them to wear, but they were sort of old fashioned, and they wanted to both be stylish and be covered.”
This growth in younger designers might be credited partly to social media, D’Alessandro says. After all, style is a type of inventive expression, and social media offers a platform to share concepts and drive change.
From streetwear to swimwear, this whole spectrum of modest style is on view. Keep scrolling to see a number of designs from the exhibition.
Photo: Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Photo: Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Photo: Sebastian Kim/Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum/Sebastian Kim
Photo: Owen Jones/Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Photo: Darian Green/Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Photo: Sebastian Kim/Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum/Sebastian Kim
Photo: Sarah Elenany/Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Photo: Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum/© Bouguessa
Photo: Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Photo: Shereen Sabet/Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
“Contemporary Muslim Fashions” is on view February 28–August 23 at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
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