Hanna-Mariam Chowdhury shares the joy at seeing the first hijabi in a fashion-related corporate video campaign.
East London is home to thousands of young Muslim women who regularly mix modesty with fashion. But it’s a rare thing to see ourselves represented in mainstream advertising; hence the enthusiastic welcome for the first video campaign by a high street retail chain to include a hijab-wearing model.
Featuring 23-year-old London-based henna artist Mariah Idrissi, H&M’s ‘environmental initiative’ Close The Loop was launched in September. The video campaign is a celebration of diversity which ends by declaring that ‘recycle your clothes’ is now the only rule in fashion.
Reacting to Idrissi’s screen presence, 16-year-old Miriam was overjoyed: ‘She’s a wicked role model. It is a pivotal moment in the history of fashion and she is an inspiration for fashion-loving Muslim girls everywhere!’
Alongside Idrissi, who donned a patterned headscarf with sunglasses, the video stars a group of Sikh men in bright and snazzy suits, a transgender woman in stunning earrings, and American plus-sized model, Tess Holliday.
Although Muslim fashion blogging has bloomed in recent years, some were taken aback by Idrissi’s debut in a corporate campaign. In an interview with the London Evening Standard, she was obliged to refute the accusation that posing for the camera is somehow immodest. Wearing a headscarf is no restriction on personality, Idrissi insisted.
In a telephone interview with Fusion magazine’s Farah Halime, Idrissi went on to say she had ‘no idea’ why on social media there has been a brief backlash against her appearance in the film. She was adamant that ‘finally to see a hijabi in mainstream fashion is a big achievement.’
Statistics issued recently by Thomson Reuters suggest that by 2019 British Muslims will spend an annual total of £319 billion on clothing and footwear. Fashion firms including the Body Shop and DKNY have already started to create special lines for events in the Islamic calendar such as the month of Ramadan and the festival of Eid Al-Fitr. Collaborating with Amena, the popular British Muslim YouTuber, the Body Shop’s first Ramadan and Eid gift boxes were promoted in a show-and-tell video.
It all goes to show that corporate retailers are now making serious efforts to attract ‘the Muslim pound’.