Modest fashion icon, fashion designer and YouTube content creator Ascia al Faraj (@ascia) has decided to remove her headscarf.
The twenty-nine-year old Kuwait-American blogger uploaded a video to her YouTube channel explaining why she’s made the decision to live her life without covering her head.
In the video, titled “To New Beginnings,” Ascia disclosed there were a number of factors she took into consideration before making the tough decision to remove her headscarf.
The comments section of the YouTube video has been disabled, preventing fans from sharing their opinion on her decision within the platform.
Throughout the video Ascia also discusses the anxieties she’s had in the past in regards to living a true, authentic life both in front of the camera and offline; how she feels her identity has evolved throughout the past decade; and how she wants to give other women who wear headscarves within the most fashion community the opportunity to represent Muslim hijabi representation within the media and in campaigns.
“It’s time for me to take a step back from that and allow women, my own peers, that have been in this modest fashion space with me for so long, who wake up every single day representing a Muslim woman in a headscarf so, so well, I can no longer say I feel comfortable taking a spot within campaigns or in media where they want that Muslim hijabi representation,” Ascia said in the video.
“I’ve left so many silly ideas of other people behind, silly ideas of myself behind. These beliefs that kind of run into you by osmosis a little bit, purely based on who you surround yourself with,” she said.
“I’ve really gotten my life to a point where my identity is so ingrained in the growth that I’ve had and the people that I surround myself with, and the family that I’ve, Hamdullah, been so blessed to create with my husband . . . It’s been just so nice.”
She stressed to her audience that it was not an easy decision and a choice she has thought long and hard about, as she anticipates it will not be “the most well-received decision.”
Ascia concluded the video by informing her audience she will continue to advocate for “a women’s right to choose how she’s going to cover her body” and hopes those who wish to unfollow her will “go in all health and in all peace,” while also making it clear she is excited for a “new era.”
Ascia has stated in the past she shys away from referring to herself as a “Hijabi.”
“I try to stay away from calling it a hijab, because I feel like there are women that represent the hijab a lot better than I do,” Ascia said to Fashionista, back in Oct 2018 when referring to her headscarf.
“Hijab means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but within the Gulf region, once you wear a hijab, there are certain parts of your body that need to be constantly covered, including your neck, ears and wrists. Because I don’t fall into that, I don’t feel it would be proper for me to call it that.”
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Photo credit: YouTube.