Modest fashion now on offer in heart of Italy

Just a couple of months before Italy’s most populist government of recent years came to power, a very different kind of enterprise began in Bologna, a city known for its gourmet culture and historic university. Hijab Paradise is the brainchild of the ­Moroccan-born Italian Keltoum Kamal Idrissi and her best friend FatihaMouradi.

Just a couple of months before Italy’s most populist government of recent years came to power, a very different kind of enterprise began in Bologna, a city known for its gourmet culture and historic university. Hijab Paradise is the brainchild of the ­Moroccan-born Italian Keltoum Kamal Idrissi and her best friend FatihaMouradi.

Idrissi opened the first shop of its kind – a “modest fashion” haven where women who want to dress appropriately can find everything they need, from head to toe. Literally, starting with their hijab.

In Italy, there are currently about three million Muslims, making up just under 5 per cent of the total population. 

When asked about the veil, and why she used it in the name of her shop, Idrissi says that for her, personally, the hijab “was the goal, the objective”. She began wearing it seven years ago. “I learnt that faith is made of steps, and so the higher you go on those steps, the closer you get to wanting to manifest it.” She sees the veil as a symbol that “identifies me as a Muslim”.