When Zulfiye Tufa was a teenager, she’d often find herself in clothing
stores for ‘mature women’. As a young Muslim woman looking for
maxi skirts, the ‘mature’ section seemed like the only place she could
find what she was after. “The thought is that the younger you are, the
more beautiful you are, so you should expose and express that, not
hide it,” she says. “That’s what mainstream fashion is usually about.”
While ever-changing sartorial trends saw sleeves and hemlines
yo-yoing over the years, Zulfiye’s struggle to find youthful, stylish
clothing that also ticked the modesty box endured. She began
blogging and sharing her outfit customisation ideas online as
The Hijab Stylist, and in the process, discovered a community
of Australian women who shared her fashion frustrations.
So, in 2016, Zulfiye launched Mod Markit – an annual Melbourne
pop-up market bringing together modest fashion businesses from
outer suburbs and interstate, all in one central location. There are
clothing swaps and secondhand stalls, plus some fun new add-ons
introduced this year: a grand runway show, hijab tutorials, live art
and spoken word performances.
“My goal has always been to make modest fashion more accessible- to work with women and make them feel like the best version of
themselves,” Zulfiye says. “Mod Markit is for everyone, but I especially
want Muslim women of colour to have a space where they can feel
free and comfortable.” Practically speaking, that means having prayer
rooms available, plus a place for mothers to breastfeed that isn’t the
toilet – details that are often lacking in the mainstream shopping
experience. On a deeper level, it meant thinking about how to build
a space that connected the community.Zulfiye originally pitched Mod Markit to an investor as an app, but was
turned away with the critique that she lacked evidence of grassroots
support. So, she set out to show there was real demand in the
modest fashion space. And she succeeded. This year, there were
90 stallholders at Mod Markit, with nearly 2000 people in attendance.Unlike in countries with a majority Muslim population, modest
fashion makes up only a tiny portion of the Australian clothing
market. But, thanks to small businesses across the country, things
are slowly changing. “It’s actually insane how much the market here
has grown,” Zulfiye says. “At one stage, you’d only be able to find one
or two stores, mostly importing stock from overseas. Now, there are
a lot more people starting clothing lines here to cater to our niche.”At its core, Mod Markit is about giving women options. But for Zulfiye,
it’s also a way to challenge the dominant narrative surrounding
Muslims in Australia, and to show the diversity of dressing modestly.
“In our community, there are people who cover more and some who
cover less. You don’t have to wear a headscarf to dress modestly.”
So, what exactly does it mean then? The answer, she says, is
deeply personal. “I don’t like to define it for everyone because it’s a
spectrum,” Zulfiye says. “For me, it’s about dressing in accordance
with my faith, then beautifying and adding my own touch to that.”Despite using it as her rallying cry, Zulfiye ultimately has mixed
feelings about the term ‘modest fashion’. “You can open up any
magazine and nearly always see someone dressed modestly,”
she explains. “If a woman wears a suit, that’s quite modest. The
reason I use the term is because I want to give us a platform that
people can connect with, but the goal would be to have modest
fashion considered as part of mainstream fashion. Because modest
fashion is just fashion.”mod markit
ZULFIYE TUFA IS WORKING
TO BRING MODEST FASHION
INTO THE MAINSTREAM.
Wor d s Emma DoPhotoBri Hammondmy project