Have you heard of the Indonesian Muslim designer, Anniesa Hasibuan, who features hijabs at New York Fashion Week? What she did made history. According to The Independent, Hasibuan was the first Indonesian Muslim designer who decided to cast her show entirely with immigrants and second-generation children of immigrants. I am genuinely in awe, looking at how fashion can be an outlet to communicate ideas and movements, transforming and demystifying misconceptions about Muslim women. It is something that I have been looking forward to hearing.
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Living in several different places (Jakarta, New York, and Seattle) throughout my youth gave me a perspective on how fashion speaks of who you are and can express what you’re passionate about. But I’d never thought about how Muslim fashion plays a role in those different places. What I have learned is that there is some distinction between how the community views hijab in Indonesia and here in the US. In Indonesia, which is a Muslim country, wearing a hijab is perceived as the way someone practices modesty and a personal reflection devotion of God. On the other side, in the US, women wearing hijab is seen as more of how Islam oppresses Muslim women to wear the headscarf or associated them with the stereotypes of being voiceless, unstylish and religiously conservative.
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I think our choice of clothing is a bridge to create an art and a way to express our individuality. And the freedom of wearing veil does not stop one from exercising their individual rights. As an Indonesian and a Muslim, I feel proud. The growing representation of Islamic clothing in the fashion industry gives me hope for the way society and western culture views Islam. When wearing hijab is more welcomed than ever, we know that our society is stepping into the right direction in aiming to create an inclusive community.
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