aligarh indian muslim women are increasingly looking for islamic fashion that not only gives them traditional kurtas and abayas but also widelegged jeans long skirts and classic western tops for those who thought it will be tough to get islamic clothing fused with western style there are now options such as the khalida dress marked by contrasting color and understated modesty also a wrinkleresistant line known for elasticized sleeves and a front opening or the smartlooking military jilbab and the sporty drawstring dress these vibrantlycoloured dresses are a far cry from the black saudimade abayas found in indiawomen here love this idea because it breaks stereotypes about muslim women there is a desire in muslim women to make the abaya and hijab reflect their confidence and not suppression one way of doing this is by sporting urban and funky islamic or muslim fashion said maryam khan a lucknowbased doctor who loves her maxi skirt with a head scarf and wonders at how the westerninspired muslim fashion weds fun with faiththe players here are second generation muslims who grew up in the west they are opening fashion houses for the modern yet modest muslim woman there is the islamic design house that boasts a sporty and urban take on modest clothing shukr that focuses on fusing tradition with modernity and arab which is unique in providing a minimal feminine take on modest clothingthese londonbased fashion houses have now set up online outlets in india because of demand by india customers on facebook the fashion houses were started by women educated at the london school of economics and other prestigious institutions and who have lived in new york or are familiar with avantgarde european fashionthe head designer of shukr tabassum siddiqui graduated from the prestigious parsons school of design in new york city and has worked under some of the most coveted names in the fashion world such as the spanish designer miguel adrover and new yorkbased fashion photographer roderick anglethese fashion houses reveal that the highest demand for muslim fashion comes from the middle east egypt jordan palestine the maghreb north africa and the west since indian muslims are also inspired by westernstyle muslim fashion designers have included india in their international site which is as they say also the fastest growing sector for this kind of fashion we are especially seeing increased engagement from asian countries with high muslim populations such as india womens items are the highest sellers and our popular khalida dress a combination of modern and muslim sensibilities is a top seller said suzanne hamid marketing and communication head shukr talking to toijunayd miah creative director of islamic design house said islamic fashion is that which adheres to the principle of modesty and reflects the practical and cultural needs of a people over the last ten years the demand for modest clothing has grown hugely i am assisted by business founders azad uddin and harun rashid while attending the same gatherings we learned that we