Fashion is often used as a form of self-expression, but what happens when the industry doesn’t cater to fashion that strays from the mainstream?
An entrepreneur is born, or at least, that’s how this entrepreneur was born.
Lina Dweik, a Germantown resident, struggled for a significant period of her life to find clothes that matched her fashion and beliefs. As someone who dresses modestly, she never found clothes that fit her vibrant sense of style. What little was there, Dweik said it lacked quality and style.
“I felt like I couldn't get the best of both worlds,” she said. “I wanted to remain modest, and I really valued high-quality fabrics, innovative designs, contemporary silhouettes.”
Boxed in between shades of neutral and varieties of basic, stereotypes have preceded modest wear. The fashion industry kept hitting snooze on the market.
As reported by Vogue, it wasn’t until 2018 that modest wear first made its way to the mainstream runway. Today, it is one of the fastest-growing markets — projected to be worth $361 billion by 2023, according to MLC Media, a Chicago-based think tank. Yet the void continues, especially in luxury modest wear, of clothes that are fun and morally align with those who want them.
That’s the gap Dweik is attempting to fill with her new luxury modest wear brand. Her passion for design and fashion goes back to her childhood and was defined by icons like Celine Dion. Born in Jordan, Dweik grew up in different parts of the world before settling down in Memphis almost 22 years ago.
“Being a foreigner myself, I have always felt that it was hard to find style that was still aligned with my morals,” she said. “I wanted to find modest clothing that was still very elevated.”
Her journey began as a consumer who ultimately realized that finding modest clothing shouldn’t be a task for women.
“So I said to myself, 'Why not just take it upon myself to change this?'" Dweik said. "And it started from there.”
Memphis Fashion Week
Her relatively new entrepreneurial spirit was fanned at Memphis Fashion Week (MFW) in 2020. Dweik found out about the opportunity at MFW and decided to take the leap and test drive her idea.
The Lina Dweik brand made its debut with five pieces in her collection. When Dweik’s clothes were displayed, it took people by surprise. An entire brand focused on only modest wear. She said it was unheard of, at least in Memphis. But for her, it was about seeing a void and filling it.
Memphis fashion week not only gave Dweik a platform but also exposed her to a market she didn’t even know existed.
“It's a very diverse melting pot here,” she said. “I was surprised to learn that just because we don't look a certain way [or] have different religions, a lot of women seem to still gravitate around the fact that they liked modest wear, they wanted it.”
Dweik found she had tapped into a market that was severely lacking. Her clothes and designs were well-received; women, irrespective of their race or religion, had been wanting this, she said.
The brand provides a modest look without skimping on quality or design, Dweik said. Her biggest investment is in high-quality fabric. Before her clothes hit the market, all pieces go through a quality check. The primary thing on her modest wear checklist is opacity.
She makes sure her items are not transparent; if there is any sheer material, she will make sure it is properly lined. She also ensures the clothes are the right length to be considered modest. “After that's been checked off, I don't have any boundaries for colors, for fabrics, for style,” she said.
Shelby County’s Mayor Lee Harris recognized her work in a proclamation in October, and as Dweik read out the text of the proclamation, she said it was a great honor to be recognized by the city she calls home.
“It shows how Memphis is very inclusive and how we're opening up the doors to be more inclusive,” she said.
Her brand was set for a formal launch after Memphis Fashion Week, but the pandemic slowed things down. Dweik decided to push the launch to June 2021.
In the meantime, she began work at the University of Memphis on a master's in public health degree with a concentration in social and behavioral science. Around the same time, she began preparing for her brand's global debut.
Torino Fashion Week
Dweik’s unique style and niche market took her brand all the way from Memphis to Turin, Italy.
The pandemic put a damper on her plans to go to Italy in November, but her fall-winter 2022 collection made its way to the Torino Fashion Week runway as part of the Al Nisa Designs collective.
“It was exhilarating to see the pieces go down the runway and finally see it happen,” she said, on attending the show virtually.
Her work was showcased alongside designers from across the world, of whom many, like her, designed modest wear brands catering to underserved markets. Dweik said it was refreshing to find a community of like-minded designers with a similar approach.
“I had people around me that have the same desire, the same values, the same mission,” she said. “It felt really refreshing. I don’t feel alone anymore.”
As a consumer and now designer, she has struggled with stereotypes about her clothing choices. Modest wear is often associated with “a particular race or a particular religion or particular region in the world. And it's not true,” she said.
With the Lina Dweik brand, she hopes to change the narrative and “redefine modesty.”
“I want to show people that through fabrics, through different designs, through different cuts, your personality can still shine through," she said.
