Ask a fashionable Muslim woman about what it means to wear a headscarf and a flowy, modest dress in public in Australia and there's one word that comes up over and over again - "oppression".
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"They've got this idea of how a Muslim lady should look and they've got this oppressed look in their minds," Fatima Tabaja says with a laugh. "We're not just people who sit in a corner. We're not oppressed," is how Delina Darusman-Gala puts it.
Tabaja is a Canberra girl who owns a fashion house, Modesta, which was at the Westfield Belconnen shopping mall for a while. She sells headscarves, long dresses, and other hijab fashions, often doing pop-up shops around the capital. Darusman-Gala is a Muslim street fashion blogger in Sydney who's got her own clothing line.
You'll be able to see some of their stories - and browse Tabaja's selection of headscarves - at Faith, Fashion and Fusion, an exhibition that explores the style of Australia's Muslim women at the National Archives of Australia. The show isn't new - it debuted in 2013 at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. But curator Glynis Jones says it's had staying power for so many years because it's a glimpse into a world not often understood, Muslim women who choose to express both their faith and their personal style.
Wonderfully oddly for a show about modest fashion - this exhibition came about because of that most abbreviated of garments, the Speedo. Jones, who works at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, was drawn to the topic after seeing a striking photograph of a Mecca Laalaa, the first Muslim woman to qualify as a surf lifesaver, wearing a burqini. The burqini - a modest swimsuit that consists of a long sleeved tunic, leggings and a cap - started Jones thinking.
"Because the museum holds a Speedo archive, we have swimsuits from the Olympic Games and Commonwealth games ranging from the 60s right up to the latest fastskins," she says. "I was really interested in [the] burqini as an example of the new swimwear that was coming into Australia."
It turned out to be much, much more than just a swimsuit. Globally, the modest fashion market is worth billions - a report from Thomson Reuters predicts that Muslims around the world will spend more than $484 billion on clothing by 2019. And Australia's Muslim fashion designers increasingly want a piece of that pie.
Labels like Hijab House, run by the dynamic Tarik Houchar, are modern, social media savvy, and fashion forward. They even hit the runway at Canberra's own FashFest. On Instagram, Houchar posts beautifully lit, styled photos of models in delicate floral hijabs and boho dresses that Taylor Swift would probably wear. The company has more than 181,000 followers. "I really wanted to explore that part of the Australian fashion industry and also to express that the Australian fashion industry is very diverse," Jones says.
Faith, Fashion and Fusions includes photos of Muslim women showing off their fashion, items of interest, and personal stories from women in the community such as Dr Susan Carland, the respected academic who also happens to be married to The Project's Waleed Aly.
It's intriguing just as much for its feminist-inflected exploration of a political issue as it is for a good old fashioned stickybeak at different clothes. It's part fashion show, part current affairs. "One of the things I noticed when I did the exhibition was that a lot of women really went in and said, 'Well I just really love that, I'd like to wear that, I'd like something that's longer and looser and has more coverage,'" Glynis Jones says.
"I think the politics are interesting because one of the things that people think when they think of Muslims is they think they're from an Arabic background. When we started doing the exhibition we went out to a lot of Muslim communities and organisations. One of the first things they said was Muslims in Australia are a very, very diverse community and we need to be able to represent that diversity."
If you head to Darusman-Gala's blog, Muslim Street Fashion, you'll see stylish OOTD (outfit of the day) posts in which she showcases things she wears out and about or on the school run - for instance hipster dungarees under a thick knit cardigan paired with Chanel shoes and a silk scarf. She started the blog because her friends kept asking where she got her clothes from. "I basically got sick of repeating myself. So I'd just post about it and say go read it [on the blog]," she says.
Fatima Tabaja says her faith encourages women and men to cover up most things, apart from the face, hands and feet. "But there's nothing to say that we still love fashion, we still have personality, we still care about our appearance," she says with a laugh. "Sometimes if you make the commitment to put the hijab on, and be covered from top to bottom, it can be a big deal. A lot of the time, I get people come up to me and say you look lovely. I never thought someone wearing the hijab could actually look so nice and so stylish, it's a really good eye opener for people."
And they don't always need to go to specialist shops to find "Muslim only" fashion. Tabaja likes to mix basics from Modesta with high street retailers. "We're very lucky right now, because what is very much in at the moment is the length," she says. "We've got the heavy, boyfriend type jeans, the long cardigans. It's enough for a girl to go into the mall and pick out an outfit. It's not hard."
How to do modest fashion
Scroll through social media
Delina Darusman-Gala trawls social media to find inspiration as well as new brands and online shops. "When I look for stuff, now, I go on Instagram and I'll type in a hashtag, for example #modestclothing, and then I'll go from there," she says. When she sees a photo of an outfit she likes, she takes a closer look for details on the designer or the store it came from.
Adapt the high street
Both Darusman-Gala and Tabaja say to work with what you can find in your local shopping mall. "I would shop in Sportsgirl and Witchery, Kmart," Darusman-Gala says. Look for flowy dresses, long skirts, batwing sleeve tops. It doesn't have to be fully covered up - once you've found a piece you like, you just add other items of clothing to cover up what's left. "Get a maxi dress and put a cardigan over it. Palazzo pants are now in, get them with a long sleeve top and a scarf around your neck."
Get some modest basics
"Sometimes it's the little basic needs that we have here in Canberra which is what I'm able to provide to ladies," Fatima Tabaja says. "Sometimes it's a tight body top to put on under a dress cos it's a bit see through or I need the extra coverage here and there." Get some body tops and leggings to form a base for an outfit. If you want to go all the way, pick up a body dress, which has a high neckline, long sleeves and floor length skirt. Fashion savvy women build their outfits over the top. "Ninja caps" cover the hair and flow down over the neck.
Accessorise
Layering is big - leggings might provide coverage under a dress with a high-low hemline, with perhaps a lace vest over the top and a print scarf tied around the neck. There's also jewellery - chunky necklaces and bracelets add sparkle or an arty twist.
Five modest fashion inspirations
Dina Torkia
A British based mum, blogger and designer who's goes by Dina Tokio on Instagram. She mixes style photos and videos with candid shots of life with kids. Her Youtube videos cover everything from "burqini problems" to her skincare routine to weaning her daughter.
Summer Albarcha
At the age of 16, Summer Albarcha started a blog, Hipster Hijabis, to share her style inspiration and outfits. Now she posts pictures of her designer handbags, and breakdowns of outfits featuring jeans and colourful trench coats to more than 260,000 followers.
Ascia Al-Faraj
Kuwaiti-American woman Ascia Al-Faraj is the queen of the turban, with more than 1.2 million fans tracking her outfits and style on instagram. She and her husband Ahmad Al Boloushi run the super popular fashion blog The Hybrids, showcasing their outfits and style finds (Ahmad's currently in love with burger-print Vans).
Melanie Elturk
Melanie Elturk grew up in the American Midwest and founded Haute Hijab after she grew frustrated with not being able to find stylish, covered up clothing. She designs and sells hijabs, dresses and more, and can be found offering style advice in Elle magazine and speaking out about Muslim women's issues.
Hana Tajima
A British Japanese artist and blogger who gained such a following for her ethereal style that she's now collaborated with clothing giant Uniqlo on a special line of modest fashion. Her look is dreamy and a little hipster.
