Crop-tops and sequined mini skirts may be in style, but they are not “mod.”
For observant women across religions and cultures today, dressing according to their religious statues while still maintaining a current, personal style can be challenging. To combat the once-bleak market of modest fashion, these 5 bloggers have made it their mission to make fashionable modesty accessible to all.
Beginning in 2010 as the first Muslim company to sell vintage scarves as hijabs, Haute Hijab has grown into a popular brand and blog for Muslim women who want to add personal style to their daily modest dress. Since its inception, the brand has expanded to include colorful silk hijabs and “hijab friendly” clothing: layering shirts, floor length skirts and abayas—long robes that cover the whole body. Popular blog posts offer modest fashion advice, such as “A Hijabi's Guide to Choosing the Perfect Solid Hijab for your Skin Tone”.
Adi Heyman is the expert in tznius chic. The 31-year-old blogger began as Christian-born Amber Fuller in San Antonio and converted to Judaism after moving to Miami in high school. Now living in New York, her high-fashion blog features “mod” looks from Fashion Week’s most famous designers (like Hermes and Givenchy) and also offers insights on the weekly Torah portion and relevant holidays. Heyman has been featured in Vogue, ELLE and more, and was also recently covered by New York Times Fashion. In the latter article, Elisheva Perlman, marketing and communication director of Ohr Naava said of Heyman, “Women can look to her blog posts, her Instagram and her personal style as proof that you don’t have to sacrifice religion for the sake of good fashion.”
Leanne Barlow is a self-described LDS (Latter Day Saints Mormon) who refuses to sacrifice modesty or style. Her blog and personal brand, Elle Apparel, began when she saw a skirt at Anthropologie that fell far out of her price range. Barlow began designing and reworking clothing to enjoy the modest fashion she desired at a fraction of the retail price. Her blog’s lookbook, which is a collection of shots of her daily personal style, features Barlow clad in knee-length skirts and sleeved, high-neck tops (although occasionally a pair of jeans sneaks its way into the mix).
4. Fresh Modesty
“Dress outside your box, but inside His book.” This is Olivia Howard’s mantra on her Christian, modest fashion blog. A 22-year-old Nashville native, Howard’s blogging career began in 2010 after she sewed her first denim skirt. She then published her first eBook, ‘How to Sew Denim,’ and has since published another guide on sewing swimwear. Along with her blog full of personal style posts (categorized by season, occasion and color), Howard has also recently launched her personal brand, Fresh Apparel, with the intention of selling the go-to, fuss-free denim skirt to stand out in a world of skinny jeans.
Though a less frequent publication than the aforementioned blogs, Hadar’s seasonal magazines offer a modest, fashionable guide for the Orthodox Jewish woman. Started by Bari Weizman, a graduate of Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business, Hadar’s mission is to provide women with a magazine to inspire their personal style with a magazine that stands out among the less modest trends featured in popular publications such as Vogue and Marie Claire.
