THE DANDY WEARS A HIJAB: MUSLIM WOMEN, TAILORED MODESTY, AND THE NEW GRAMMAR OF ELEGANCE

From Ottoman dandizettes to today’s modest-fashion entrepreneurs, Muslim women are retooling dandy cool with sharp silhouettes, revered elegance, and radical self-presentation.

From Dandizette to Dandy Hijabi The dandizette first appeared in 19th-century Europe, a woman claiming the pleasures of sartorial mastery once reserved for men. Today, that same impulse surfaces when a Muslim woman dons a structured abaya, a longline blazer, or a waistcoat layered over a hijab. It’s not imitation—it’s translation.

Faith Meets Fashion: Tailored Piety Scholars like Reina Lewis (Muslim Fashion), Elizabeth Bucar (Pious Fashion), and Emma Tarlo (Visibly Muslim) have shown that Muslim women treat clothing not as a compromise but as aesthetic ethics. A cut, a hem, a scarf pin—each choice can be both stylish and spiritual, creating an intersection of faith, culture, and style that is both intriguing and fascinating.

Where Dandy Meets Modesty.  In this section, we’ll explore the intersection of dandyism and modesty in Muslim fashion, providing a comprehensive overview of this unique style movement.

Androgynous Modest Tailoring Loose-cut suits and tuxedo-length blazers reinvent dandy grammar for pious wardrobes.

Entrepreneurs & Innovators From London to Jakarta, women modest-fashion founders are re-stitching dandy values: craftsmanship, taste, and radical individuality—while centering sustainability.

Everyday Elegance Jummah (Friday prayer) bests blur the line between devotion and dandy flourish: velvet jackets, silk-look scarves, perfectly tailored abayas. This concept, known as ‘Everyday Elegance’, is a key aspect of how Muslim women express their style and identity.

Exhibitions as Evidence The landmark Contemporary Muslim Fashions exhibition (de Young / Cooper Hewitt) placed Muslim women front and center of global fashion, highlighting suiting and tailored silhouettes as much as gowns and streetwear. The curators made it plain: Muslim women are arbiters of taste, not outsiders, fostering a sense of global connection and appreciation for their influence.

Why Call It Dandyism? Because the ethos aligns: ritualized dress, precision, individuality, and style as self-assertion. If Beau Brummell ironed his perfection into collars, Muslim dandizettes press theirs into hijabs and blazers. Different fabrics, same obsession with elegance, sparking intrigue and fascination in the audience.

All Images are generated with KLING AI 1.5 by Trudy Giordano