Global brand boohoo’s price today is not the same as it was in the beginning stages of its manufacturing days. From their collaborations with Ming Lee Simmons, Hennessy Carolina’s holiday collection, and even Rae Sremmurd’s Swae Lee’s tracksuit collection for boohooMAN, boohoo continues to flex its partnership muscles by giving influencers and designers the chance to show off their style with debut collections. Now, they’re doing something a little different to serve a larger community in a big way. Designed by 20-year-old Sameera Mohmed, the fast-fashion retailer officially introduced its first-ever modest collection on June 21, 2022.
“The inspiration behind my collection was basing it all around my beliefs of dressing modestly. I noticed that Boohoo was lacking a diverse, modest range, and I also wanted to create a collection that included more sustainable materials,” Mohmed told ESSENCE exclusively. “This gave me the chance to create a capsule collection that was more sustainable yet modest.”
She continued, “I have always liked dressing my best. As I was growing up and learning more and more about modesty in my religion, it made me realize that you can dress modestly yet be fashionable.”
As part of boohoo’s wider commitment to mentoring and educating the next generation of designers in the fashion industry, the global brand partnered with Graduate Fashion Week in October 2021 to launch a competition to find upcoming talents to design a more sustainable commercial range for boohoo, according to a press release sent to ESSENCE. As part of the competition, students were asked to curate a sustainability-centric collection including four complete outfits, with a grand prize of having their collection sold on boohoo.com and receiving a £3000 cash prize. Mohmed, who is a graduate of the University of Central Lancashire, reigned victorious with her fearless modesty collection.
As part of her earnings, Mohmed was hands-on mentored by Penny Armstrong, boohoo Design Manager, to bring her collection to life from concept to production. Moreover, the young designer was afforded the opportunity to visit the boohoo head office in March 2022 to meet the design team and view the samples from her collection before the collection launched in June 2022.
“Sameera’s work really stood out to us when reviewing all of the entries, the focus on modest clothing as well as sustainability was refreshing and something that ties with our journey in actioning solutions to a more sustainable boohoo future,” Armstrong said in a press statement. “Sameera really tapped into our Boohoo values and the mood, ideas, and product were true to our ever-expanding customer base whilst also being ready for the future.”
When it came to the aspect of sustainability, Mohmed made sure that the production made it front of mind. The Graduate Fashion Week collection features sustainably sourced materials including recycled polyester and recycled cotton. The collection includes co-ord suits and tracksuits, satin dresses, modest swimwear, and oversized poplin dresses – all for the fashion-forward modern-day modest woman to indulge in at affordable prices and fast shipping.
According to Mohmed, the Modesty Collection was inspired by influencer Batul Bazzi due to her consistent demonstration that “modesty can still be fashionable”. She continued, “I think it’s important to show that modesty can still be fashionable as its a way of dressing for my religion and to be expressed in a fun and funky way shows that it not only catered towards Muslims, yet diverse for women of all culture and religion.”
As she reflected on her growth as a budding young designer, Mohmed shared with ESSENCE a piece of style advice that she would give her younger self. “I would tell her to just go for it! Trial different pieces together and style them to make them modest fashionable,” she told ESSENCE confidently. “Not all clothing has to be revealing to be seen as fashionable!”
To learn more about Sameera Mohmed and the inspiration behind Boohoo’s first modest collection, check out the official Graduate Fashion Week video below on the fashion brand’s official YouTube channel.