There is a sweet poetry in clothes that are womanly without being sexually provocative. But if the purpose of clothing from Adam and Eve onward has been linked to the idea of attracting the opposite sex, does it really make sense to take sex out of the fashion equation? Perhaps the question should be asked the other way around: is covering up the body the death of sensuality?

There has always been an eroticism attached to what is behind the veil. As I scrolled through countless websites looking for hijabs, niqabs, khimars, abayas, jilbabs, and other religious-tinged garments, I began to notice that no one has anything positive to say about any of them. I figured that the only way I’d really know what life was like when consigned to wear the least-revealing piece of clothing of all time was to dress up as one of them.