{"id":61359,"date":"2019-06-24T00:59:14","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T00:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=61359"},"modified":"2019-06-24T01:01:17","modified_gmt":"2019-06-24T01:01:17","slug":"modest-muslim-model-shaking-fashion-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=61359","title":{"rendered":"This modest Muslim model Maria Al-Sadek is shaking up the fashion industry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s the American Dream for the digital age.<\/p>\n<p>Three years ago, Maria Al-Sadek was a college student living in Alabama. Now she\u2019s a rising model, writer, stylist and influencer \u2014 working with brands such as Marc Jacobs and \u00adArmani Beauty \u2014 who lives in Brooklyn. She also boasts more than 400,000 followers on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m just exploring all the things I like to do,\u201d the 27-year-old, who posts under the handle @MariaAlia, told The Post.<\/p>\n<p>The daughter of a Puerto Rican mother and Palestinan-immigrant father, Al-Sadek wasn\u2019t used to seeing many people like herself growing up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Mobile, Ala.,] is not a very diverse place, so it was always a little challenging,\u201d she said of her hometown.<\/p>\n<p>Her interest in fashion started at a young age, though she was always looking to the outside world for inspiration.<\/p>\n<div class=\"e3lan e3lan-in-post1\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"e3lan e3lan-in-post2\"><p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><em>Adv<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bagfactory.com.hk\/216\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Sun Winning Ind Co<\/strong><\/span><\/a>: Manufacture of Canvas Bag, Recycle Bad in China<\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theunitravel.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TheUniTravel.com<\/a><\/strong><\/span> : Find the latest\u00a0<em>travel<\/em>\u00a0and tourism\u00a0<em>news<\/em>\u00a0from around the world. Stay informed with\u00a0<em>travel news<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>updates<\/em><\/li>\r\n \t\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t see many Muslims in my community that were into it,\u201d said Al-Sadek, recalling how she would study the pages of Elle and Teen Vogue.<\/p>\n<p>One of her first important style choices, at age 14, was to wear a hijab, the head covering Muslim women don to show their modesty and their allegiance to the Koran and the religion\u2019s culture. In her case, she wears a chic headscarf and clothing that conceals her arms, legs and chest area.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-61360\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/23.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"360\" height=\"540\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/23.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/23-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cGrowing up, I always knew we wear hijab at a certain age, when you become a woman,\u201d Al-Sadek said. She admitted, however, that it wasn\u2019t until around 18 that she really started appreciating what the hijab says about who she is.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I didn\u2019t wear the headscarf, people wouldn\u2019t instantly see my culture and my religion,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m really proud of where I\u2019m from. I like having that symbol and people knowing what I\u2019m about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>And thanks to social media, she finally found people who looked like her and had the same interests.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was so inspired by so many people that I was meeting and finding on Instagram \u2014 a lot of other Muslim girls,\u201d Al-Sadek said. \u201cIt was like this new world where I\u2019m connecting with people who are so like-minded and so creative.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Still, she wasn\u2019t seeing herself, and her new friends, represented in fashion magazines and advertising.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just didn\u2019t feel like I fully fit in, even though I\u2019m so into [fashion],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>After graduating from the University of South Alabama with a degree in marketing management, she moved to Park Slope in 2016. While she was working in digital strategy and social media at a p.r. firm, her own brand began taking off.<\/p>\n<p>Although Al-Sadek started her Instagram account just for fun in 2012, by 2014 she was getting sponsorship deals. In 2015 she did her first work with brand not affiliated with the Middle East, David Wellington watches.<\/p>\n<p>And big brands began to take notice of her influence. In 2016, Al-Sadek landed her first modeling gig, for Uniqlo. Soon after, she signed with Muse Model Management.<\/p>\n<p>Now, after years of not seeing herself or women like her reflected in fashion, companies \u2014 including H&amp;M and L\u2019Or\u00e9al \u2014 are coming to her specially because of who she is.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the time, brands she works with welcome her modest style.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have been on a few shoots where my modest dressing wasn\u2019t fully understood or embraced and I had to put my foot down on what I felt comfortable wearing,\u201d Al-Sadek said.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s also careful to work only with companies she believes in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a lot more selective \u2014 understanding the brands\u2019 ethics, what they stand for, what they believe in,\u201d said Al-Sadek, who left her office job to pursue modeling and other creative endeavors full-time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think about my young self as a 13-year-old in Alabama,\u201d she added. \u201cIt would have changed my life if I had women to look up to the way that there are now.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love the community that I\u2019ve been a part of and built on Instagram. It\u2019s so inspiring to be part of that space and root for other girls and have other girls root for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-61361\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/24.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/24.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/24-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/24-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/24-310x205.jpg 310w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-61362\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/25.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"915\" height=\"610\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/25.jpg 915w, https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/25-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/25-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 915px) 100vw, 915px\" \/><\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s the American Dream for the digital age. Three years ago, Maria Al-Sadek was a college student living in Alabama. Now she\u2019s a rising model, writer, stylist and influencer \u2014 working with brands such as Marc Jacobs and \u00adArmani Beauty \u2014 who lives in Brooklyn. She also boasts more than 400,000 followers on Instagram. \u201cI\u2019m &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[173,613],"tags":[3837],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.7.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>This modest Muslim model Maria Al-Sadek is shaking up the fashion industry - TheFastFashion.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=61359\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This modest Muslim model Maria Al-Sadek is shaking up the fashion industry - TheFastFashion.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s the American Dream for the digital age. Three years ago, Maria Al-Sadek was a college student living in Alabama. Now she\u2019s a rising model, writer, stylist and influencer \u2014 working with brands such as Marc Jacobs and \u00adArmani Beauty \u2014 who lives in Brooklyn. 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