Our usual Instagram scrolling this past Wednesday consisted of a lot more Malaysian influencers in exceptionally good outfits then usual. There were our old faves like @izreensyafyika and @asma.nasa and as we traveled through the hashtags and location tags, new finds like @khaininakhalil and @jaja_a. Where were all these Malay influencers heading?
The answer was in the hashtags: KLFW2018.
This week was the 6th annual Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week. The brainchild of Andrew Tan, KLFW was started in 2013 in order to promote and showcase Malaysian talent.
The event was held in Pavilion KL, a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur. Almost 70 designers showed their Spring/Summer 2019 collections, including modest fashion favorites Poplook, Innai Group and Mimpikita.
Before the street style goodies, an insanely small micro-summary.
As pointed out by @diet_prada, Fazbulous was inspired by, ok maybe completely imitated, a Dries Van Noten SS15 show by having its models lay in disarray on the catwalk. Noor Neelofa Mohd Noor (@neelofa) walked the runway in a rather bulky brown coat and turban that looked way too heavy.


Mimpikita celebrated their tenth anniversary with (mostly white) models in topknots, flowy pastels and floral prints. We loved loved loved Innai Group’s collection. Aptly named “Stardust,” the collection had pieces that were iridescent, covered in sequins, made of satin and silk—all topped off with pastel and jeweled-tone headwraps. Very Studio 54 in its heyday.




Not everyone was a fan of KLFW. Many took to Twitter to verbally roll their eyes at some aspects of the event. Some didn’t like the excess of focus on celebrities instead of clothes. Some said that the models, who were mostly made up of said celebrities had terrible walks. They questioned why the event was held in a shopping mall. One especially-retweeted line was a simple “KLFW is a joke.”
Ouch.
But since we came looking for hijabi style inspo—our forever mission—we were beyond pleased. KLFW street style—because Malaysia is 61.3% Muslim—provided a TON of modest fashion inspiration. The shows were nice, from what we saw on Instagram, but it’s easy to argue that there was a lot more going on off the catwalk.
Ok maybe these pics aren’t ~authentic~ street style looks, more like curated candids, but we take what we can get. Scroll through for our favorites.
Follow us @ihijabified for more!
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