Ramadan fashion hits the runways. Muslim women say it’s been a long time coming.

Competition for the rapidly growing and lucrative Arab fashion market is heating up, pushing big-name brands to develop a growing number of modest clothing lines. For many Muslim women, the new options are filling a major void — especially during the holy month of Ramadan, which began on Wednesday evening.

Until a few years ago, Muslim women who wanted a trendy Ramadan outfit were a completely ignored demographic. For those living in the West, the pickings were especially slim. Many women grew accustomed to stitching together their own styles, especially as Ramadan gatherings evolved into show-off displays on social media, rather than cozy family and friends events, thanks to the growing popularity of Instagram and social media influencers.

“Dressing modestly in the West meant that I had to get very creative. You eventually learn to layer and adjust mainstream pieces to fit your modest needs,” said 26-year-old Dubai-based fashion influencer Jasmine Fares, who grew up in Canada.

Even in parts of the Middle East, where Ramadan is widely celebrated, the fashion options in the past have been sparse, said Norhan El Shoura, an Egyptian fashion influencer and local brand owner.

“I’ve always struggled with picking out outfits for myself,” said El Shoura. “Retail fashion from international brands never spoke to me. I like modest wear, and as someone passionate about colors and styling, I felt that they didn’t consider people like me when designing their pieces. Every cut felt like it was either too short or too revealing.”

It’s even more challenging if you are shopping for an evening gown. They are mostly tight, mini or strappy dresses, Yousra Elsadig, a U.K.-based Sudanese multi-award-winning fashion designer, told Grid.

“They don’t take us into account. You cannot really layer these dresses. It’s never an easy experience, where you can go to one shop and find the dress that you want. One has to go to several to find something long that covers your whole body, assuming you can ever find such an evening dress,” she said.

The special apparel typically involves loosefitting caftans and elegantly flowing abayas. They’re often stylized with ornate patterns associated with the holy month. Shopping for them ahead of Ramadan has itself become a tradition — one that international fashion brands are looking to capitalize on.

Shopping season

It’s difficult to say exactly when international fashion first piled into the Ramadan market. But industry experts point to 2014: That’s when American fashion brand DKNY made a splash with its Ramadan capsule collection, made up of a combination of long, flowy, silk dresses and more edgy styles of cardigans and joggers. Almost immediately after, international brands like Zara, H&M and Dolce & Gabbana followed suit with their own.

Industry experts say the top brands were responding to two things: a business opportunity and shifting consumer behavior.

Now, Ramadan is one of the two top seasons for fashion sales in the Middle East, the second being Black Friday, said Mahmoud Gadalla, the regional digital marketing specialist at Azadea Group, a leading lifestyle regional retail company that owns and operates more than 50 international brand names and franchise concepts across the Middle East, including Adidas, Boggi Milano, Zara, Mango, and Massimo Dutti.

“It’s all about relevance,” said Gadalla. “The reason why many of our international fashion brands are getting into modest, conservative wear stems from a need to remain relevant in the region.”

Keeping up

Ramadan fashion has also had to keep up with the holy month’s increasingly high-end celebrations. What was once a month marked by modest family gatherings has been overtaken by glitzy galas and conspicuous consumption. The rise of the so-called Ramadan tent is a case in point.

Ramadan tents, often corporate sponsored and lavishly stocked, are large venues for Iftar, a feast to mark the end of the day’s fast, and Suhoor, the last meal before sunrise. They often include extravagant minimum charges and long waiting lists. Breaking fast at a nicely appointed Ramadan tent can be a marker of social status. They are, in other words, the perfect venue to show off a trendy Ramadan outfit.

Choosing exactly what to wear can be tricky. That’s where the growing influence of Middle Eastern fashion bloggers has come in, which, according to Ghadir Alagabany — an Egyptian fashion business consultant, is one of the reasons leading to the rise of Ramadan collections by international fashion brands.

In recent years, Arab fashion bloggers have become a vital resource for millions of women in the Middle East keen on staying up to date on the latest trends. Many of the bloggers are women who felt they were being underrepresented by major brands, so they decided to take things into their own hands.

Their content largely revolves around modest fashion. On Instagram, Muslim women share how to layer and mix different pieces to create long-sleeved, nonrevealing outfits that are in line with their styles and beliefs. The popularity of their posts has even brought the concept of modest fashion to the West.

“Modest blogging made modest fashion available to the world. The bloggers were like ambassadors in this field,” Elsadig told Grid.

The popular content has put modest fashion in the limelight. International brands have taken notice. That’s why many are starting to offer Ramadan collections of their own.

Growing market

It’s also a fast-growing market. The Muslim population is expected to grow twice as fast as the overall world population from 2015 to 2060. In the second half of this century, Muslims will likely surpass Christians as the world’s largest religious group, according to Pew Research Center.

That makes a strong business case for large brands to tailor to the needs of Muslim consumers and win over new clients from the growing demographic.

Every year, more brands join the Ramadan fashion trail. Last year, Prada introduced a special Ramadan and Eid offering for the first time and, this year, Versace joined the club with an exclusive Ramadan capsule collection.

International brands are also being enticed by more spending during Ramadan.

According to Statista, projections for online consumer spending in the Middle East and North Africa in Ramadan in 2022 was valued at $6.2 billion, a 39 percent increase from the previous year.

A huge chunk of online content consumed pre-Ramadan is related to fashion, according to Google insights. The Google data shows that in 2020, there was a 72 percent increase in fashion-related content on YouTube in the two weeks ahead of Ramadan.

Ramadan marketing also creates a stronger bond between the consumer and the brand, according to a Meta survey that revealed that 58 percent of 13,586 users across nine countries said they feel more connected to a brand after seeing Ramadan content on Facebook or Instagram.

Is it working?

For those who care about following trends, the Ramadan fashion collections seem to have hit the mark, attracting the attention of new customers.

“Wherever I’m shopping, I would see Ramadan collections, which was a new concept I haven’t seen before,” said Jawaher Alghamdi, a Saudi assistant professor in theater and performance.

“If I’m spending Ramadan in the country, I have to get some proper dress wear for the family gatherings. … As someone who is into the field of performance, I feel like clothing is part of my identity and I would care what to wear on these occasions. So I think I was influenced by the fashion industry, to be honest. It’s something that I liked and started doing recently,” she added.

Some women still prefer to shop for Ramadan outfits from local brands.

“I appreciate how international brands are being respectful of Ramadan and its culture and traditions. However, I sometimes feel that almost all the designs look the same. Even if they are from two different brands. There isn’t anything that makes a specific outfit unique,” said Yasmin Yousri, an Egyptian fashion influencer.

El Shoura agrees: “Something is always missing, and I believe that only someone who has lived here and is familiar with the culture and the people can design pieces that truly bring the spirit of Ramadan and the region, and this is why I always opt for local.”

“I honestly do not keep up with what these international brands release for Ramadan, as there are so many other local brands that do it so well. I would rather shop local!” said Fares, the fashion influencer.

In Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, local brands are gaining traction. That’s likely because Egypt is grappling with an economic crisis that has decimated the value of its local currency, making imports from international brands too expensive for most consumers.

But in wealthy Gulf Arab countries that have benefited from high oil prices in recent years, it’s a great time for shopping.

Gadalla noted that Azadea’s international brands haven’t seen much competition from local brands, especially in Gulf countries.

A recent survey in the Gulf region revealed that Nike, Adidas, Zara, Gucci and H&M were the most mentioned when shoppers were asked about their favorite brand.

“Everybody likes to dress in Dolce & Gabbana or whatever. So when they make collections for Ramadan, they make Islam known to the white world. These multimillion-dollar companies are sitting down and saying, ‘Oh, it’s Ramadan for Muslims. Let’s get the Muslim coins.’ So we have become important to them, and it’s pleasing to me as a Muslim, but I wish that they would make more relevant designs for us,” Elsadig said.

This article has been published in collaboration with Egab.

Thanks to Lillian Barkley for copy editing this article.