But a royal collaborationhas thrust the nation into the sartorial spotlight.
Bright and colorful, the limited-edition scarves, sold to be worn as hijabs,celebrate female collaboration and empowerment.
"Muslim women are supposed to wear scarves. For me, it was always a forced thing. (Scarves are) something my mom's generation never questioned but I think now, our generation is different," Malaysian entrepreneur Vivy Yusof, 29, tells CNN of the way the royal line is updating a traditional form of dress with modern values.
The elevator pitch
The site boomed. Today it has 150 employees, sells 400 southeast Asian brands, and receives 1,000 orders a day on average.
Yusof distinguished Fashion Valet from competitors by focusing on local brands and commissioning designers to create pieces exclusively for the site.
Then in 2015, she founded her own line, dUCk, which specializes in colorful, high-end scarves aimed at urban women.
The chance to collaborate with royalty came when Princess Sarah attended a Fashion Valet pop-up event in Brunei's northeastern Muara district in June 2016.
"The hotel stafftold us: 'Princess Sarah is going to come.' So we were very nervous," recalls Yusof. "Do we put out a red carpet? But she was just a normal human being shopping with her daughter."
After the event, Yusof accompanied Princess Sarah to the parking lot, and impulsively asked her to collaborate on a line of headscarves.
"The worst she can do is say no," Yusof remembers thinking. "She just smiled and didn't say much. It was really crazy. I never thought that was actually going to happen."
A few days later, Princess Sarah's sister-in-law, Noorsurainah Tengah, called up.
The princess was in.
While Yusof and Princess Sarah brainstormed design concepts, colors and fabrics, Tengah took care of the administrative details.
Available in four colors, the scarf retails for $140.
"It turned into something that was more than a product ... it symbolized something for all womanhood," says Tengah.
Ready to launch
In April, the Royal dUCk Scarf line officially launched at Brunei's beachfront The Empire Hotel and Resort, where the princess gave an emotional speech.
"It was a really honest speech. It meant something and these women could relate to it," says Tengah.
"At the risk of underwhelming everyone, it honestly was just one woman to another being able to make a connection, each being able to relate to the other, being inspired and wanting to build more on each other's perspectives and seeing where she would take us," she reportedly said.
That ethos seemingly touched a nerve with female consumers.
"On the...
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