Across New York’s sidewalks and tucked-away alleys, young Muslim women glide on skateboards and pose for rooftop selfies with the skyline behind them. Draped in patterned hijabs styled in creative twists and buns, they became the face of a growing subculture in the early 2010s, presenting a new kind of cool rooted in individuality and a distinctly Muslim aesthetic. In crafting their own visual language of ‘cool’, which was bold, colorful, and unapologetically different, these women turned New York’s streets into their fashion runway. It became a space to showcase a self-made subculture, one that redefined what it means to be young, Muslim, and feminine in today’s world. Long before fashion was created in ateliers or polished for glossy magazine spreads, passing through layers of edits and approvals, it had just one birthplace: the streets. It was unfiltered, spontaneous, and deeply rooted in community and culture. From Tokyo to London, youth subcultures used fashion as a form of expression and defiance. It was their way of staring back at a world that constantly watched and judged them, using street style as a mirror, a challenge, and a declaration of…
