Conservative Fashion Trending Globally - Here's Why

"Conservative religionists are a growing fashion demographic. So more fashion designers are beginning to cater to conservative religious fashion trends."

"There's no getting around it: The world's population is going to be far more religious and far more religiously conservative. The culture wars are going to break decisively in the direction of conservative values. That means we're going to be far more pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, pro-traditional gender distinctions, and the like. And what the modesty movement seems to be suggesting is that we are already beginning to see the fruits of this demographic revolution."

Editor's Note: You may have recently read our article about how modest clothing is popular in Russia. In this video, Dr. Steve Turley tells us about similar trends, now happening around the world.

Dr. Steve Turley is a swiftly rising YouTube sensation, author of multiple books, blog writer and education specialist. He makes a compelling argument about the imminent worldwide return to traditional values in terms of culture, politics and religion. Check out his fascinating blog and YT channel


TRANSCRIPT:

There have been a number of articles written of late about a fascinating trend going on in the world of fashion. Now, what's so interesting here is that the fashion industry, like any industry, is driven by trends that are either from the top down or from the bottom up, or what we might call, in economic terms, a supplier-driven trend versus a consumer-driven trend. So, in the case of a top-down or supply-side trend, professional designers come up with new and innovative fashion ideas, and consumers respond in kind. But with a bottom-up trend, it's the demands of the consumer that moves the market, and fashion can be particularly influenced by consumer based trends. 

Now, what's so interesting here is that, within the current state of fashion, there's emerged, over the last few years, a very noticeable bottom-up consumer-based trend. In fact, the appeal of such a trend appears to be so widespread that they're actually calling it a movement. And that trend that is so significantly moving the fashion markets as we speak is what analysts are calling the conservative fashion movement. It's also known as the modesty movement. It's a fashion trend where sex appeal is, in many respects, taking a back seat to a sense of refinement and elegance.

Women particularly appear to be increasingly attracted to dressing in a manner that evokes a sense of sophistication, and poise, and charm, and gracefulness. In fact, within the last five years alone, we're seeing a noticeable increase on search terms related to fashion and modesty on Google searches, and retailers are taking notice, so much so, that there's arisen now a very vibrant business market that features clothing specifically tailored for modesty appeal.

As one journalist put it, it turns out that the modesty aesthetic is proving to be one of the most popular trends in fashion, and its prevalence has, in many respects, gone mainstream with fashion designers such as Celine and others, who are creating a conservative modesty line as part of their dress offerings. In fact, analysts are noting that Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, is fast becoming a modesty style icon, with her long-sleeved wedding dress, her regular knee-length hemlines, which are becoming what some have called the gold standard of modesty. Our first lady, Melania Trump, has become an icon of modest dress as well. Many of you may have been noticing that, on breitbart.com, they've been featuring the fashion trends of Melania as a model of class, poise, of conservative charm and dignity. 

From a practical vantage point, the modesty movement really means little more than simply longer hemlines or long sleeves, looser shapes, higher necklines. It's also an extremely diverse aesthetic with all kinds of applications, in many respects. It's endless. And, again, this is being reflected with the bigger fashion industry. From Celine's and Gucci's makers, we're seeing dress over pants layering. We're seeing Victorian style blouses. We're seeing long cardigans, roomy pants, high-necked tops, and the like. 

Now, the modesty movement does appear to be driven by a rising religiously conservative demographic made up primarily of Christian, Mormon, and Muslim women. We have talked about this before, and it's certainly a very, very important trend that we focus on. It's indispensable to ushering in a new conservative age. But demographers have observed that conservative religionists are growing way, way, way faster than their secular counterparts. And this is a significant demographic discrepancy between conservative religionists, who are having, on average, around three children per couple and liberal secularists, who are not even averaging one child per couple. And demographers have noticed that this fertility discrepancy is going to have significant consequences for the future makeup of the world's population. 

There's no getting around it: The world's population is going to be far more religious and far more religiously conservative. The culture wars are going to break decisively in the direction of conservative values. That means we're going to be far more pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, pro-traditional gender distinctions, and the like. And what the modesty movement seems to be suggesting is that we are already beginning to see the fruits of this demographic revolution. 

As all analysts agree, these fashion designers recognize that conservative religionists are, in fact, a growing fashion demographic. So more and more of these fashion designers are beginning to cater to conservative religious fashion trends. One statistic that's interesting in all this is that Muslim women spent over $260 Billion in clothing and footwear just back in 2013. That's expected to double in 2019! But it's by no means just Muslims. Conservative Christians are growing by leaps and bounds as well, along with conservative Mormons, and both, primarily through demography, of course, and as such, they're creating a demand for conservative fashionwear. In fact, the demand is so high that, last year, London hosted the first ever international modest fashion festival where over 40 brands gathered from around the world exhibiting their collections. You're seeing, too, the rise of YouTube fashion channels like Haute Hijab that focus on the latest dress styles but with a conservative religious twist - in this case, particularly fashionable Islamic dress. 

Now, all of this is important because, as I'm sure all of you can intuit as a matter of common sense, but scholars recognize the importance of clothing as a cultural and social signifier. The scholar Grant David McCracken has done a lot of work in this area. He's concluded that clothing is a powerful means by which cultural categories and principles are encoded on our bodies. Clothing is an extraordinary signifier of identity, and not just our personal identities. Our clothing inevitably reflects collective identities, cultural identities. When we dress a certain way, we are identifying with the culture of which that dress is a substantiation and an embodiment. This is why wedding dresses, graduation gowns, and the like are so powerful. Clothing signifies identities that transcend our own and are, therefore, a powerful means by which our own identities can, in fact, be transformed. 

The body, in many respects, is the primary agency for cultural production since we all relate to ourselves and to others in and through bodies. And these bodies are, of course, clothed, and thus, the clothing becomes a powerful signifier of not only our own identity, but our identity within a particular culture. So the modesty movement suggests to me that more and more women do, in fact, identify with a conservative culture, a culture that sees the body of a transmitter of messages of dignity, and sanctity, formality, and refinement. This certainly is very good news for those of us who are so excited to see conservative trends rising all around us in this increasingly nationalist, populist, and traditionalist age. 


Transcription provided by Dormition Professional Services

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