Mariah Idrissi, who is a British-Moroccan model, along with Haute Hijab founder Melanie Elturk, took to Instagram late last night to share how Banana Republic had wrongly portrayed Muslim women in the fashion industry.
As reported by Arab News, Elturk first came across the image of a model with a hijab wearing a half-sleeves t-shirt on Banana Republic’s website.
Elturk, sharing the image, wrote that while she “loves that they’re representing our community,” she is “personally going to let them know that there are guidelines to hijab outside of just covering hair.”
“Brands will continue to invest in this space, but without proper checks in place, you have images like this. All it would have taken was a consultation with a Muslim brand or group to advise in order to do it right and respect our values,” she said.
Idrissi too, reiterated the need for brands to be more conscious of their choices while targeting their shoppers.
“I’m out here on… all these platforms to explain the importance of getting the right people to consult for brands that want to tap into the ‘Muslim dollar’ and then this happens. Why are these errors happening still?” she asked all her followers.
Idrissi, who was born and raised in London first made headlines in 2015 becoming the first model to wear a hijab for H&M, the international fashion brand. She has also worked with top-notch retailers such as beauty brand MAC and online clothing store, ASOS.