From haute couture to streetwear to sportswear: the market for Muslim fashion is growing by leaps and bounds worldwide. Contemporary Muslim Fashions is the first major exhibition ever to explore the phenomenon of contemporary Muslim fashion.

After the show caused a furore at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Frankfurt will be its first venue in Europe. It offers a virtual snapshot of the latest in Muslim clothing styles from all over the world with a particular focus on the Middle East and Southeast Asia as well as Europe and the U.S. In the process, it reflects on clothing’s role in the expression of individual, religious and cultural identity in all its many facets – and in shaping identity.

Some 80 ensembles by established and emerging brands, enhanced by fashion photography and catwalk videos, show the ingenuity that goes into interweaving regional aesthetics with global fashion trends. Original material from the social networks, which play a central role in the spread of the new trend, will moreover offer insights into the diversity of fashion design in the Muslim world and give various protagonists a voice.

Contemporary Muslim Fashions is being organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in cooperation with the Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt am Main. The curators are Jill D’Alessandro, curator of costumes and textile art, and Laura L. Camerlengo, deputy curator of costumes and textile art at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Reina Lewis, professor of cultural studies at the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, serves as consulting curator.

Dr. Mahret Ifeoma Kupka and Prof. Matthias Wagner K are coordinating the exhibition in Frankfurt. Funded by the Ernst Max von Grunelius-Stiftung, the Bankhaus Metzler and supported by BONAVERI.