“#Handsoffmyhijab”

We examine the emerging meanings of hijab practice as feminist strategy, and as a symbol of visibility for young Muslim women and girls in India. Through digital ethnography based on Instagram pages of selected retailers of hijabs, we explore the possibility of hijab as a costume of insubordination, and Islamic fashion as a critical practice against the backdrop of the 2022 Karnataka hijab row. We employ an analysis of Instagram posts to mark the intersecting points of faith, fashion media, and market in framing aesthetics for clothing practices among young Indian Muslim women. We also explore new contours of feminist assertions in the Muslim community, and how the digitally mediated visibility of Muslim women and girls contests the notion of Islamic fashion as oxymoronic.