Is Modest Fashion Misrepresenting African Culture?
They Lied About AfricaPlay episode
Show notes
In this episode, I sit down with Senegalese stylist and textile exploration artist Marième Mboup to unpack a question that feels simple, but isn’t: is modesty really a choice? Raised in Dakar, where modest dressing is lived, embodied, and culturally rooted, Marième brings a perspective that challenges how global fashion has reframed modesty as a trend, an aesthetic, and a market category. Together, we explore what gets lost when identity becomes content, who benefits from the commercialization of modest fashion, and how African Muslim women are reclaiming authorship in an industry that has long borrowed from them without credit. This is not just a conversation about fashion — it’s about power, narrative control, and redefining what freedom and creativity actually look like.
