Making a statement with fashion

The context: More and more young women in minority Muslim countries are choosing to wear the ‘hijab’, the colloquial term for the cloth that covers the hair, but is used loosely to mean veiling for religious reasons.  They also have a love of fashion, exactly like their wider peer group. They see no contradiction between the love of their faith and their love of fashion. In fact, they seem them as complementary. It is worth noting that these women no longer believe that women’s images must be hidden. They are proud and comfortable being out in the public domain. In fact, they see fashion as a tool to make a statement about their faith.

 

The concept: The Khushbu advert taps in very overtly to this desire for fashion amongst the young faithful women. The advert is bold and bright and offers words that its target audience can identify with.

 

What we liked: The advert takes pride in its display of fashion and faith as something that comes together. The colouring bold, the imagery is clear and the woman is not hiding nor is she hidden. This appeals to the young female Muslim fashionista who wants to make a statement about herself and her faith.  The words chosen are likely to be those that the target audience would choose for themselves.  They will like the fact that these words are totally different to the ones that they would normally see associated with wearing hijab, which are often negative. The advert offers a sense of collectivity and affiliation, a sense that it is right, proper and enjoyable to be faithful and fashionable, offering a sense of belonging and acceptance to a wider community.