• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.51-68
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• 2020

In response to the South Korean government's trade diversification policy, the New Southern Policy, research is needed into the large population of Muslim fashion consumers who live there. Currently, veils worn by Muslim women are becoming a part of fashion collections as a style choice not just as a religious requirement. As such, the aim of this study is to investigate the fashion characteristics of the Southeast Asian Hijabistas. To do this we investigate the activities and the meanings of recent changes in the Southeast Asian fashion market, we also take a look at the Hijabistas who lead these changes. This is carried out as a theoretical study via literature review. In addition to this research, we selected 6 Hijabistas from Indonesia and Malaysia and analyzed 204 of their SNS photos. The results showed that the sportive image was popular; in terms of veils, hijabs and turbans were most popular; while pants and T-shirts dominated the clothing choices. Black and neutral colors were most popular but a variety of colors and tones were represented. In terms of fabric patterns, most of the choices were solid with no patterns. In terms of the types of veil used, in order of most to least popular were: hijabs covering down to the neck, turbans, and hijabs covering down to the chest. It was found that the Hijabista in Indonesia and Malaysia prefer an open, trendy fashion style. In conclusion, it was found that the Southeast Asia Muslim Fashion community are utilizing hijabs to express their identity not only as a Muslim and but also as a fashion item.