In times of crop tops, the return of low-rise jeans and revealing fashion trends, where else can you find stylish, covering clothing that reveals little skin and figure? Les the Brand has been on the market for almost a year now and has already managed to build a large community of women who are looking for exactly that. However, founders Leyla Mazouz and Esma Hmadouch have bigger dreams. “The next goal is to be in De Bijenkorf stores,” say the entrepreneurs behind the modest fashion brand.
Modest fashion is the term for a style of clothing that is about covering yourself. This style is worn for religious or cultural reasons, but also for the feeling that it is more comfortable to cover the body. For Mazouz and Hmadouch, it’s also about looks. A woman with a lot of make-up but covering clothes and possibly a headscarf is not necessarily ‘modest’ for them. “There’s a blond woman with no headscarf and no makeup wearing a turtleneck sweater that’s a lot more ‘modest’.”
Fashion stylists Mazouz and Hmadouch have recognized the frustration of women who would like to dress covert but don’t know which brands to stick to and how to style the garments. “From our own experience, we saw a gap in the market,” the two told FashionUnited. “Of course you can find pieces that are ‘modest’ from other brands, but it’s not that easy yet. We know a lot of women who who would like to dress more covertly, but because there’s nothing available that suits their needs or style, they don’t. And it hurts confidence when you can’t dress the way you want to.”
Les the brand is therefore fashionable in every respect. The pieces flatter the figure, the color palette is serene and the models have varying degrees of coverage. “Some women want a skirt that hits the floor, while others find that above the knee is enough.” The brand’s overall style is elegant and sophisticated. For example, they work with more sustainable fabrics such as vegan silk, which is made with cellulose fibers treated with cuprammonium salt.
The two women also visited the factories they work with. “So that the collection is made by adults and not by children, who also have normal working hours with breaks.”
Fashion for the modern woman
What makes Les the Brand special is the fact that the brand offers clothes for the modern western woman. “For example, we don’t offer headscarves or abayas, which many other successful Modest fashion brands do. We offer something for today’s woman. When big brands launch a fashion collection, they often take inspiration from what Middle Eastern women wear. But we’re here in the Netherlands, where it’s raining and I have to cycle to work. Then I don’t wear a kaftan,” explains Mazouz. Hmadouch steps in: “People often think that modest fashion is a cultural thing, but we just dress accordingly. We take our kid to school like everyone else does, but you just see less skin.”
With their clothes, Mazouz and Hmadouch want to give women the opportunity to dress modestly and yet fashionably. “A bit like a Koopmans cake mix [Anm.: niederländische Marke für Backmischungen]’ Mazouz clarifies with a wink. ‘You get all the ingredients, but you still end up feeling like you baked your own cupcakes.’ Above all, they want the women who wear Les the Brand to look stylish. “Our items always make you look slimmer and taller because they are so well cut. With other brands, the styling can sometimes look careless because they wear a lot of layers on top of each other. Pants, with a skirt, with socks, a turtleneck and a cardigan. That’s where the brands leave something to be desired, that’s not what we women want to look like, that’s not what we wear.”
Modest Fashion: Les the Brand goes for a stylish and sophisticated look
In order to reach even more women, the brand is already active in wholesale. The brand’s collections are based on the usual spring-summer and autumn-winter fashion seasons. “Of course it’s crazy that we, as a young brand, are already thinking about this step,” says Hmadouch. “But we have a lot of women who like to come by and try things on.” For this reason, Les the Brand was also at the fashion fair Modefabriek in January. There they were invited by the organizers to exhibit as part of the platform for young entrepreneurs. “If we hadn’t been invited, we probably would have signed up ourselves next year.”
“We are one experience richer. We met a lot of people, including many other entrepreneurs, with whom we could exchange ideas.” But Modefabriek was also a confrontation for the two founders. “People sometimes have the idea that modest fashion is something cultural and only for Muslims :inside. Then when they look at the brand and at us, you can see how they think: We actually wear longer garments. That’s not necessarily a negative thing, but there’s an inhibition level. People think about whether they want to be associated with us and our brand,” say Mazouz and Hmadouch, both Muslims.
“I can understand that,” Hmadouch adds. “Suppose you have a gothic brand that has a very nice coat. You might think, ‘Nice coat, but that’s not a brand that we’re associated with ‘” As another example, Mazouz cites the company Marks & Spencer, which launched a modest fashion section on its website a few years ago. “The company has had to listen to criticism that offering modest fashion is oppressing women It’s a very different ideology behind these reactions. There’s still a lot of ignorance.”
“That’s why we also want to be represented at De Bijenkorf,” explains Hmadouch. “That can lure people over their inhibition threshold.” At Modefabriek there were also reactions from retailers who were surprised by the fashion brand’s collection. “Oh, but we could wear that too!” the surprised reactions could sometimes be heard. “We don’t deny that the Muslim woman is a large part of our target group, but anyone can wear our fashion,” explained Hmadouch. So hopefully the next milestone for the brand will be De Bijenkorf. “Through De Bijenkorf we could then also meet the right boutiques.” In markets outside the Netherlands, such as in Belgium and Germany, the two entrepreneurs also want to be known through a large department store and in this way from other retailers :to be discovered inside.
Ultimately, Les the Brand aims to help women feel confident and dress stylishly. They don’t see other brands as competition. “No one wants to wear just one brand. People like variety and there is enough space for everyone. Besides, how nice would it be if we women who want to wear modest fashion were represented in the right way.”
This translated post previously appeared on FashionUnited.nl.