Modesty: A Fashion Paradox: Uncovering the Causes, Controversies, and Key Players Behind the Global Trend to Conceal, Rather Than Reveal

Journalist Lodi debuts with a nuanced and insightful study of the “modest fashion movement” in the Muslim world and beyond. Combining high-end fashion with Muslim religious codes, the trend, according to Lodi, has motivated even nonreligious women to dress more demurely. She talks to models, designers, and social media influencers in Indonesia, Turkey, Lebanon, and Dubai, tracing the evolution of modest dress as it varies from region to region, and notes that major labels, including Michael Kors and Dolce & Gabbana, have marketed to Muslim women during “The Ramadan Rush” and “modesty themed fashion weeks.” The owner of one independent label based in the U.A.E. says that 75% of her orders come from the U.S., where Muslim consumer spending is expected to reach $368 billion by 2021. Lodi’s litany of blogs, Instagram handles, magazines, and fashion labels can be dizzying, and more evidence is needed to support her claims that the influence of Muslim fashion can be seen in “the alternative mode of style” worn by the Olsen twins, Blake Lively, and Emma Stone. Nevertheless, this enthusiastic and wide-ranging account successfully disputes Western stereotypes of Muslim women as “repressed victims of a tyrannical religion.” (May)