Though it has a history stretching back decades in Muslim-majority countries, like Egypt, Indonesia and Turkey, modern Muslim fashion culture was not “discovered” by Western media until very recently – thanks to the efforts of Muslim women themselves.
In the summer of 2014, Layla Shaikley, a tech industry professional, brought Muslim fashion to the attention of thousands of Americans with a self-produced music video set to Jay-Z’s “Somewhere in America.” Shaikley told Muftah she produced the video because she felt depictions of Muslim women in the Western media failed to represent her experience as a cosmopolitan American Muslim. She even coined a new term for the style captured in the video, tagging it “#Mipsterz,” a combination of the word Muslims and hipster.