LONDON MODEST FASHION WEEK 2017

Last week I attended the first London Modest Fashion Week, which has been something that has received a lot of publicity recently, as it was the first of its kind in the fashion calendar. Organised by fashion house Haute Elan, it ran for a weekend in the Saatchi Gallery, London, and included a whole host of exhibitions featuring designers selling their clothes, hijabs, makeup, jewellery, henna and natural products and services. There were also a group of catwalk shows from 40 designers in the modest fashion world who showcased their latest collections. There were also workshops, talks with designers and business-women, as well as opportunities for those looking to invest.

It was a pretty exciting event, as a lot of modest fashion and even the normal fashion bloggers were attending the event - it was really great to see a unified effort to bring awareness to modesty-wear and the market which has developed. I managed to get a ticket for one of the days to attend, which was great fun as I saw such a lovely variety of bloggers and designers and managed to speak to a lot of them while we explored the event.

The first thing I did was explore the exhibitions, which was spread out over three floors of the gallery, and had plenty of things to see and buy.

There were a lot of brands from various international countries like Turkey, Malaysia and Dubai, as well as British brands who were looking to promote themselves. I loved that there were so many styles of outfits available, and had my eye on a few beautiful hijabs and dresses but didn't get them in the end as they were slightly pricey for me. Below is just a snapshot of some the brands I saw - don't they look colourful?

We also saw plenty of henna being done - I did fancy getting some jaguar henna done but unfortunately wasn't able too, but did manage to pick up some white henna cones!

There were about 4 main catwalk shows which ran throughout the weekend, although I only managed to see one. The outfits were a good variety of modest, loose abayas to dressier ensembles, casual pieces and gorgeous statement pieces.

Here's a few of my favourite pieces from the ramp below, the models were walking pretty fast so some of the photos aren't brilliant!

Leenaz Design

iiLA Collection

Ummiriaz

Feradje

Maslea by Sakura Malaysia

There were plenty of reknowned influencers, designers and bloggers present at the event, many of which have promoted modest fashion and have helped to bring it to the fore - including fashion designer and blogger Dina Tokio, makeup entrepeneur Zukreat, fashion designer Rabia Z, lifestyle and fashion blogger Mara F, fashion blogger Aana Nourin , blogger and designer NabiilaBee and many more. I managed to speak to a few of them and loved how friendly they all were, as well as exchange a few fashion tips!

And I can't post a Modest Fashion event without showing what I wore! I paired a silk jumpsuit from Zara with a printed jacket and a bright yellow bag - it felt very flattering on and I got a lot of compliments on the day.

The event being at the Saatching Gallery, I couldn't resist hgaving a walk around to lookeat the beautiful art on display (I know I wasn't the only one to have this idea because a lot of other bloggers and customers did the same thing!). There were a lot of beautiful art prints available to sell as well, which I thought were gorgeous, particularly the beautiful Islamic art for sale by Siddiqa Juma.

I was also lucky enough to get a goody bag from Haute Elan to take home with me, which I thought was so thoughtful. Inside were some jelly beans from Haute Elan (which my husband helpfully ate for me), a beautiful mug from gift company Mubarak London and a gorgeous jersey hijab from Naelofar, a lovely Malaysian brand.

My only criticism of this event was that I think that more could have been done with this event - there were only stands to buy from and catwalk shows, and I really think there should have been more workshops and opportunities for bloggers and non-bloggers to interact and learn how they could help the modest fashion cause. As much as I loved that there were so many modest fashion brands, I thought some of the things available were too pricey - I had a discussion with a friend who also went to the event a day later who said she would prefer to buy things from a normal high street store because the value for money was better.

I also noted that a few bloggers who had attended LMFW stated they felt a little snubbed or ignored by the bigger bloggers - unfortunately this does happen a lot at fashion events, and it can be a little upsetting. It can also be difficult to get to speak to everyone you want to speak to - this event had hundreds of photographers, bloggers, designers and marketing staff, which made it crazily busy. I think in this context, the organisers of the event could have made it easier for people to interact and introduce themselves to each other.

All in all, I had a really fun time at this event, and feel pretty proud that I managed to be a part of London's first modest event like this on a large scale. It's nice to think that this could be a regular part of the fashion calendar in the coming years, and it also shows the effect that wearing hijab has had on mainstream fashion.