Since the start of the month, the abaya — the long, loose and covering robe worn predominately by Muslim and Middle-Eastern girls and women — has been banned in French state schools. For London-based Bengali creative Saeedah Haque, the controversial ruling was the catalyst for a mission to find a sartorial loophole to exploit (while respecting the ruling) for her over 300,000 social media followers. She had already pinned a post detailing the French Football Federation’s hijab ban and how individual French teachers ban and label abayas and thobes (robes worn predominately by Arab boys and men) as ‘extremist clothing’ at the top of her Instagram feed. So, this time round, she reshared the same image of a winking model wearing one of her hoodie abayas flipping the bird, aka putting two middle fingers up, at this latest ban with the defiant caption ‘They can’t ban hoodies.’ Mission accomplished.
Cast, photographed, and creative directed by Saeedah herself, the streetwear-inspired abaya pictured has ‘Out Of Sight’ embroidered on the cuff, one of the empowering messages she adds to her designs that nod to modesty, and an Islamic understanding of it. Deciding to proactively support those affected by releasing her fourth abaya hoodie drop around the same time as a reactive France-only exclusive, the 27-year-old urges her community to send pictures of themselves wearing their purchases at school so that she can potentially refund them.
“There’s a big misconception,” Saeedah explains over Zoom. “The abaya is not a religious garment. It’s ambiguous and you can wear it regardless of your culture and faith. Banning it is harmful because you’re forcing girls to uncover their bodies and they might not want to.”
It’s a tightrope situation, with the abaya straddling both culture and religion, and with decisions regarding whether it is tolerated or policed depending on who’s wearing it, where and when. The Muslim creative speaks from personal experience; her own modesty journey started at 13 with the hijab, and she now wears a niqab (face veil) as well, for privacy. “Leaving it to the perception of people in positions of power might not always be fair,” she says. “This affects all women and their right to choose what they want to wear.”
There’s a double standard here. Voluminous silhouettes and face/head coverings aren’t always coded as ‘modest’, as evidenced by the numerous appearances of capuche hoods and even full-face coverings on recent high fashion runways, or when Billie Eilish was praised for wearing deliberately oversized streetwear. How often are the diverse cultures that originate and interpret these so-called ‘innovative’ aesthetics credited? “There needs to be more noise and solidarity from the fashion industry because this is related to garments,” says Saeedah. This stark reality and underrepresentation of Muslim women in fashion, beyond a few breakthrough hijabi models, drove her to study human geography at university instead of fashion — though she got a sewing machine to practice on and learned from YouTube.
“I’d see this negative narrative around Muslim women’s clothing on the news and feel like it was my responsibility to change that,” Saeedah says. “Fashion is storytelling. I just want to exist as a designer, and bring my own perspective on clothing without it being scrutinised because to me [the abaya has] always been unique.”
Working behind the scenes at the first London Modest Fashion Week in 2017, she developed the nuances of her compelling vision as an independent designer. “I look at Japanese and Korean brands and I love the way that Yohji Yamamoto drapes. He reminds me that modest conservative clothing can be beautiful,” she says, praising Daily Paper and Priya Ahluwalia, too, for utilising their cultural identities in interesting ways. “As a South Asian girl myself, having a dual identity can be really difficult so seeing these creators do it so seamlessly is really inspirational.”
Saeedah’s fashion trajectory was propelled in 2021, when she was chosen by VFILES, the New York-based talent incubator, to present as part of their LAB show. It was just the transformative industry platform and positive reinforcement that Saeedah needed to crystallise her intentions, resulting in an unexpected pivot towards streetwear in her well-received SS21 runway collection. Streamlined neutral abayas were paired with sneakers and elevated by innovative functional details – matching and clashing pocket flaps, wrist-to-shoulder sleeve buttons, reflective trims and adaptable straps — to reflect the taste and lifestyle of the designer and her friends. Manifesting her core mission “to represent the hijab, the modesty element, unapologetically” in fashion design goes hand in hand with the 27-year-old’s enlightening TikTok videos — BTS, creative projects, life observations, reactions — which have garnered 6.7 million likes. “If I’m visually showing myself or Muslim girls, there’s that educational element so people from outside the community can ask questions and interact,” she says. “I did a VFILES digital campaign with my friend Iqra Ismail’s team and I got comments from girls who were emotional and shocked that they could wear their abaya and play football.”
Indeed, the sport is a pillar of the designer’s practice, with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar serving as a reference for the pattern Saeedah designed for her signature 100% cotton abaya hoodie — even though she doesn’t necessarily consider herself a fan of the sport. “Messi had a bisht put on him and the silhouette gave me the idea for a staple garment with oversized sleeves and flattering space around the body,” Saeedah explains. Expanding her remit from streetwear to sportswear and breaking even more new ground, the designer teamed up with the world’s biggest sportswear brand Nike in the first partnership of its kind, widening modest, Muslim and female representation, and encouraging greater inclusion in football in one thrilling and long-overdue swoop.
Against the backdrop of a history-making FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, the Nike by You x Saeedah Haque collection, which launched in August 2023 with a special community panel event, was a dream come true for the creative. Foreshadowed by her designing and posting digital abaya collections on TikTok to highlight modest clothing’s endless potential, the partnership also caused her burgeoning brand to blow up. “The response was really positive and it was really beautiful to see my collection and my story resonate with so many different people,” Saeedah says. Turned around in a few months with a ‘fun’ brief to incorporate Lionesses jerseys, she created the visuals and five final garments that quickly sold out at her first physical showcase in Nike’s Oxford Circus flagship.
Having officially launched her eponymous label just this year, Saeedah is coy about what’s next for her but alludes to exciting developments that she’s keeping schtum about for now. “Being female-owned in a male-dominated streetwear industry with authentic roots in Islamic identity is what I call creative activism. Standing for something that’s bigger than clothing, I’d love to see Stormzy, Dave and other creatives doing meaningful work in my clothing”, she says. But is there anything that she can give away? “More innovation, more utility-wear, more impact. I want to extend my range purposefully and for [the abaya] to be a mainstream garment that’s truly celebrated and worn by everyone.”
Credits
Images courtesy of Saeedah Haque