The Hijabista Bandwagon: Social Media and the Hijab Culture in Singapore and Malaysia

Hijabistas on social media have significantly popularised hijab culture by amplifying its visibility and appeal among Muslim women. Williams and Kamaludeen (2017) observe that the hijabista phenomenon in Southeast Asia reflects the emergence of a distinct Muslim girl culture in which fashion, piety, and peer recognition intersect within digitally mediated spaces⁵. In Singapore and Malaysia, online celebrities often parade the hijab in various styles and promote Islamic products to their followers on Instagram. Özbölük (2022) explains that when modesty meets fashion on social media, influencers actively reshape the meaning of the hijab by integrating religious values with contemporary fashion aesthetics and consumer branding⁶. As a result, Muslim women encounter curated representations of religious identity in fashion through social media strategies such as hashtags such as #hijabista, #modernfashion, and #modestyisgorgeous on platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

This phenomenon can be understood through Featherstone’s (1991) theory about consumer culture where the body becomes a site of identity, self-expression, and aesthetic display shaped by media images and market practices⁷. He emphasises how circulating images and consumer systems frame how bodies and styles are interpreted and valued. The hijab’s prominence in fashion media and e-commerce platforms can thus be understood as part of this broader consumer-culture trend, where bodily presentation is increasingly mediated, stylised, and commodified within digital marketplaces. In this sense, the growing circulation of hijab images online contributes to the expansion of hijab culture, including both the wearing and purchasing of the hijab. 

In addition, the increased consumption of hijab can also be attributed to online shopping since digital platforms enable Muslim women to conveniently access and order a wide range of Islamic products⁸. Fischer (2011) shows how Malay/Muslim consumers in suburban Malaysia negotiate consumption through sensory, moral, and religious values, illustrating how Islamic lifestyle choices, such as wearing the hijab or opting for modest fashion, are articulated within everyday market practices⁹. This highlights the overlap between online shopping infrastructures and the consumption of Islamic products within broader market logics. The rise in modest fashion labels in Singapore, such as Saira by Aisa and Hyejab.co,¹⁰ further encourages the consumption of Islamic fashion among hijabis, making such modest styles more accessible and visible. This has resulted in an increased negotiation between young Muslim women’s consumption of fashion and the maintenance of modesty as an element of faith, as explained in the next section.

Negotiating religious identity with contemporary modest fashion

The prevalence of the hijab in social media has also transformed the hijab culture into one that embraces modern fashion without compromising Muslim women’s expression of piety¹¹. Social media is a space for Muslim women to explore and contest meanings associated with the hijab, as the platform allows them to express their desire to be viewed as both modern and modest, “but on their own terms” ¹². Against the backdrop of a secular nation-state, many Muslim Singaporean women are positioned within conceptions on how they should dress. On one hand, they desire to be kept abreast with contemporary fashion trends. On the other hand, they want to adhere to religious obligations by dressing modestly. As such, their body then becomes a site of negotiation to articulate their identities as modern, progressive Muslim women. By projecting themselves as cosmopolitan, many hijabis (hijab-wearers) also seek to dispel the longstanding perception of the hijab as traditionally backward, oppressive, and an antithesis to modern fashion¹³. 

For instance, many Singaporean hijabis draw inspiration from platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, where fashion and hijab tutorials frame modest dressing through contemporary and global fashion aesthetics while still signalling Islamic commitments to modesty¹⁴. Since social media offers diverse and plural representations of hijabis across the world, many Singaporean and Malaysian hijabis increasingly perceive that there is no singular image as to how the hijab should be worn¹⁵. Thus, they are encouraged to experiment with different hijab styles. 

In reconstructing these looks through new hijab styles and experimenting with modern fashion trends, hijabis are also actively constructing new meanings of what it means to be a Muslim woman in Singapore or Malaysia. While such practices may appear to challenge the religious symbolism of the hijab, many women exercise agency by selectively adopting cultural influences while preserving commitments to modesty¹⁶. Rather than a simple or set middle ground, this reflects an ongoing process of negotiation, where cosmopolitan and religious values are continually balanced. 

Therefore, hijab fashion in Singapore and Malaysia can be understood as a dynamic blend of local and global influences, as well as traditional and modern sensibilities. In this very context, social media is an essential medium that facilitates the expression of both cosmopolitanism and piety among young Muslim women, while also contributing to the growth of the Islamic fashion industry in this region. 

Moral policing of the female body

Thirdly, social media has influenced hijab culture by amplifying the moral policing of women’s bodies. Across the decades, globalisation has caused hijab culture to be influenced by secular and Western values, thus adding another layer into the religious significance of modesty and simplicity. As such, many people feel inclined to “police” hijabis who contravene these traditional Islamic values¹⁷. 

Muslim consumerism has resulted in a range of Islamic products beyond the hijab such as ablution-friendly nail polish, Halal make-up, and other “Muslim-friendly” accessories. Many Muslim women in Singapore worry that the rise of Islamic fashion on social media and digital platforms prioritises aesthetics and trends over religious standards of modesty¹⁸, fearing the encroachment of overly capitalistic values. Similarly in Malaysia, the expansion of modest fashion as a commercial industry has blurred the boundaries between religious modesty and consumer aesthetics, raising concerns about the commodification of Islamic values¹⁹. 

As such, many among the Muslim community in the region feel compelled to leave opinionated comments on photos of hijabis who they perceive not to be dressing modestly enough or are not correctly upholding the responsibilities of a hijabi as the commenter sees fit. For instance, there was hostile backlash from the Muslim community in Malaysia and Singapore when Neelofa, a prominent Malaysian hijabista, launched her hijab collection at the Zouk Kuala Lumpur nightclub in 2018.  The situation was aggravated by the circulation of viral videos of Naelofar (Neelofa’s brand) models in hijab, dancing sultrily to garish music in front of men. While some remarked that it was an ingenious publicity stunt to promote the hijab collection, others heavily criticised Neelofa²⁰. In addition, Malaysia’s mufti (an Islamic Sharia scholar issuing formal legal opinions) even issued an open letter to criticise Neelofa’s actions, highlighting how the modest body is perceived as ill-fitting in sexualised spaces. An article in the Malay Mail wrote that Datok Zulkifli Mohamad al-Bakri said “We are concerned that the recent turn of events may bring forth a new normalised phenomenon in wearing the headscarf […]” and that the hijab “holds many symbolism of the wearer, including the women’s honour, the obedience of a servant toward God’s orders, a form of perfection in religion, and the dignity and morality of a Muslim woman that must be preserved with pride.” 

These discussions show that social media enables the Muslim community to ingrain constant reminders on hijabistas’ platforms of their religious standards as a hijabi.  Therefore, social media is a space that has magnified the moral policing of Muslim women’s bodies on how they should behave and appropriate the hijab.  

Conclusion

Social media has popularised and boosted the visibility of the hijab as a religious expression among the Muslim community in Singapore. The increased global visibility amplifies the intersection between religion and consumerism, thus shaping the hijab culture as part of a greater social change termed “Islamic cosmopolitanism”²¹. Moreover, new hijab trends and modest fashion constantly emerge on social media as hijabis negotiate their self-identity by balancing between contemporary fashion and religion. In spite of that, the quest for this hybridity is being increasingly subjected to the moral police on social media who attempt to manage how Muslim women in Singapore ought to dress and behave. All in all, social media has been instrumental in creating many spaces to ignite these conversations surrounding the hijab culture and Islamic fashion.