‘Girls in Green’ Brings New Meaning to the Phrase ‘Cover Girl’
By Cynthia Griffith
Mar/Apr 25
It’s early June in the historic little city of Chester, Penn., and 8-year-old Safiya Lockett’s long, flowered skirt swirls around her ankles as she beams with pride. Safiya loves her hijab. She proudly dons it on the playground, although she might be the only child wearing religious attire. She doesn’t even mind the other school-aged children asking questions like, “What is that scarf on your head?” and “Are you hot?”
As a young Muslim girl in America, Safiya holds a wealth of answers to preemptive questions she knows are on the horizon. She’s responsible and studious, unapologetic and capable. Poised with a quick wit and a level of rationality that exceeds her years, Safiya is usually the most serious face you would spy in a crowd.
But today, things are different. Today, Safiya Lockett is light on her feet, her smile a curl in an endless sea of bedazzled khimars and festively decorated shaylas (a type of hijab). And under the lights of a makeshift runway, she shines in a modest gown crafted by her own hands. The crowd explodes with applause as she spins around the stage. Other students line up behind her to take their turn, each adorned in handmade, sustainable designs from the fashion categories they created.
The children’s designs in this sustainable fashion show are variously girly, cozy, classic, and sporty. Each style of streetwear is different, but all of them are green. The theme for the show is, of course, conservation, conserving our modesty means conserving our planet as well.
Fast fashion continues to take an unfathomable toll on the environment. And as Muslims are tasked with being caretakers of the earth. As such, first through 12th grade students at The Institute of Islamic Studies (IIS) in Chester are making a difference by creating sustainable modest clothing and reshaping the runway with a futuristic flare.
Modest, Eco-Friendly Fashion Designs
IIS, the only K-12-learning facility in Chester, features a faith-based curriculum for local Muslim students. It is also the only school of its kind across Delaware County, Penn. This place is notable because of its proximity to Philadelphia, which is an iconic city for Muslim Americans and is sometimes called the “Mecca of the West”.
IIS is not a new development, though. Like the clothing launched on its runway, this unique school represents an old idea that has been revived with a modern twist. In this sense, it is old but also new having only been operational for a few years. Most of the teachers working there are very familiar with the philosophy embraced by IIS having been students at the old Institute, an Islamic educational facility that was shuttered in 2010 due to a lack of funding.
The original school, which opened in the late 1990s, was a community effort founded by the local Imam in collaboration with area Muslim parents. In 2020, some former students came together by pooling community resources and managed to reopen the latest school’s incarnation by taking on the role of teachers themselves. They hold out hope that the educational opportunity offered to the area’s Muslim students will stick around this time. Together, they pour their hearts, souls, and sometimes their wallets into projects they believe will bolster the community.
One of these young teachers is sewing instructor Zahrah Waites who makes her living crafting handbags out of repurposed materials. She pointed out the Islamic responsibility to uphold unpretentious mannerisms and to take on tasks with modesty and in moderation. This is the mindset she wishes to pass on to her students.
“Our Lord and Creator is Al-Musawwir, the shaper and fashioner of beauty,” Waites said. “God loves beauty and has demonstrated it in his creation of mankind and our environment. He has also placed the responsibility on Muslims to be the caretakers and maintainers of this beautiful earth. With the rise of fast fashion and landfills destroying our planet, upcycling or [repurposing] fashion is very important.”
That rise, as Waites mentioned, is a destructive trend. According to Florida State University, stocking racks with the latest apparel consumes about 79 billion cubic meters of water every year, making fast fashion the second most destructive industry in the world in terms of water consumption and water pollution.
The teachings of Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) on conserving water are clear in the Quran and hadiths, where we are told that one should not waste water even if one is on the banks of a flowing river, and it is also taught that polluting water is a grave sin. As industrial waste leaves a stain on the earth with each new pair of jeans that is created, the Muslim duty for preservation becomes clear.
Starting from Scraps: How the Modest Sustainable Styles Came Together
The mission to design eco-friendly overgarments and khimars began at the start of the school year. Sewing students were instructed to go home and ask their parents and family members for gently-used, unwanted items.
“We reached out and asked everyone to donate things like old clothes, old fabric, and unused materials,” Waites said. “Then we used those materials to bring the whole ensemble together. We covered a lot of the sewing basics and then we added the sustainability factor.”
On Tuesdays, the hum of the sewing machine takes over classrooms. Vision boards were etched into laptop screens. Blueprints were drawn in pencil. The students grew more confident and creative as their ideas transformed from thoughts in their minds to illustrations in their notebooks to real-life items they could hold, touch, and proudly wear. As the school year wore on, scraps became cozy earmuffs, and forgotten curtains were transformed into chic emerald gowns. And something inside the students was positively changing too.
“I think learning to sew things they could wear and walk around in helped boost their confidence,” Waites said. “Once you unlock that potential and the students realize what they’re capable of, nothing can stop them. I know every child has the ability to create something amazing that will greatly impact the entire world. The only difference is that now, they know it too.”
As a testament to that statement, Nuriah Blackwell, 13, who oozes with subtle confidence, entered the room. The 8th grader took sewing for the first time in the 2023-24 school year at IIS. She smiled excitedly, her posture as straight as a needle, an accomplished look sprinkling her eyes as she went on to describe the experience.
“I had fun sewing my clothes. It was different, something I never did before,” said Nuriah. “It made me learn new things about life. For example, if I was not able to buy anything, now I know I could make my own stuff.”
Beside Nuriah, sat her 6th grade classmate Sumaiyah Smith, 11. Sumaiyah, known around school for her kind spirit, easy going nature, and impressive collection of Hello Kitty items, is lovingly referred to by friends as simply “Mai Mai.”
“I could make a dress out of newspaper now if I wanted to,” said Sumaiyah, proving she feels anything is possible.
Both Nuriah and Sumaiyah seemed to agree that their favorite part of the whole project was “everything.”
In the end, the students wore their handmade overgarments on stage at a schoolwide, ladies-only fashion show, and their families got to witness their inspiring creations come sashaying down the runway. “When we invited the parents back at the end of the year to see the fashion that the girls put together, everyone was blown away,” said Waites. “It looked amazing. We’re already getting requests to do it again, and it’s so popular that we might need a bigger venue.”
Through their sewing, cooking, carpentry, electrical, and financial literacy courses, the IIS aims to nurture the youth by instilling in them a strong background in Quran and Sunnah while inspiring the highest level of moral character. Through these principles coupled with an active, hands-on curriculum, the IIS hopes to elevate young Muslims across Delaware County and beyond.
Cynthia C. Griffith is a social justice journalist with a passion for environmental and civil rights issues. Her writing on the earth, space, faith, science, politics, and literature have appeared on several popular websites.