More Designers, Influencers Needed to Promote Haute Couture Islamic Fashion

Jakarta, Aug. 3. A ‘Muslim fashion’ panel discussion held on Wednesday at the 12th WIEF in Jakarta saw designers pinpointing challenges in mainstreaming Islamic fashion and even ‘high fashion’ realms.
Faduma Aden, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Jemmila, a new Scandinavian fashion brand, urged more designers and influencers or models to promote Islamic fashion. She also suggested when designers create specific fashion designs, they should think of not just targeting Muslims.
Barbara Nicolini, Creative Director of Infinita Group and IFDC from Italy, said she believed that modest design that doesn’t exploit women’s bodies can compete with the Western, or conventional fashion styles.
She points out the fact that Muslim fashion aims not to make women subjects of sexual desire.
Didiet Maulana, Creative Director at local fashion brand IKAT, suggested Islamic fashion designers should target the younger generation. He also suggested designers collaborate with big brands like Uniqlo etc.
Despite all these challenges, significant markets for such a sector are looming. In 2013, Muslims around the world spent $266 billion on fashion alone, more than Japan and Italy combined. This figure is expected to increase to $484 billion by 2019.