Muslim fashion designers moving beyond the traditional
By Robb Young, in London
Muslim fashion designers making their own fashion statements
Punks or ravers they certainly are not. Discreet and devout,
their kind of fashion statement could not be further from the
razor-sharp mohawks or day-glo accessories of those counter-culture
types. But young Muslim fashion designers around the world are making their
own fashion statements, modestly, challenging the status quo in their
communities as well as stereotypes outside.
In an ever-influential global pop culture that idolizes the shortest
of skirts and catwalks where flesh can overshadow fabric, Muslims from
Sydney to Saudi Arabia who love fashion are taking matters into their
own hands.
Muslim fashion designer Sarah Binhejaila: Reviving the festive spirit of modern Islamic fashion
"When I first took up the hijab seven years ago it was a struggle to
find any fashionable clothing. Dressing up was an ordeal to the point
where I'd have to mix and match parts and pieces of clothing from
several stores, just to come out with a single outfit," said Sarah
Binhejaila, a Saudi who started the made-to-order brand Niyaah a year
ago when she moved back to the Middle East after studying fashion
abroad.
Instead of a two-layer system in which a uniform outer garment
covers Western clothes, Binhejaila and other Muslim fashion designers like her are
creating alternate looks in a single layer that she calls "complete
wear."
"Historically, Islamic fashion for women across the Arabian
Peninsula was always rich in design, colour and embroidery. But this
rich history of tribal Islamic fashion was threatened to become extinct
due to the enforcement of the black abaya," the long over-garment and
matching head scarf, she said. "I'm attempting to revive that festive
spirit by using the richness and appeal of modern fashion within the
boundaries permissible by Islamic dress code."
The British designer Sophia Kara made just such a statement in
Leicester, England, last year when she showed her line, Imaan Collections. One model wore a hooded abaya with a matching niqab, or
face veil, in shocking pink over a salwar, or loose pants, printed with
an ornate English floral motif.
Muslim fashion designers and companies starting distinct ranges
intended for fashion-conscious women who observe hijab, which means
either covering one's head or, more broadly, dressing modestly, is part
of a much wider trend. Filling a market gap for products that either
comply with Shariah law or that are simply more attractive to Muslim
values is a niche that is attracting increasing numbers of
manufacturers and retailers. Toys like the Fulla doll, a modest Barbie
of sorts, and comic books with Islamic superheroes like "The 99" are as
much a part of this sector as the traditional domains of Islamic
finance and halal, or permissible, food.
Modern Islamic fashion is part of the global halal market
"The hunt for the Islamic fashion dollar at the retail end of the value
chain is now starting to heat up. But it has a very long way to go
until it is anywhere close to being fully realized," says Abdalhamid
Evans, senior analyst at Imarat Consultants, a Malaysian marketing
company that specializes in the global halal sector. "You can just
about squeeze Islamic fashion into the broad concept of the halal market, in
that clothing is an offering to the same consumer base as halal
consumers - the same people who eat halal food and use Islamic
financial services."
Kamarul Aznam, the Malaysian-based managing editor of the bimonthly
Halal Journal, tracks everything from Muslim fashion to pharmaceuticals
around the world and knows well the inherent difficulties in trying to
quantify this market. "There is no such thing as an official statistic
or trade data for the global Muslim fashion industry but there are
guesstimates, which we use regularly," he says.
Assuming that 50 percent of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims dress
modestly and that, conservatively, they spend $120 a year on such
clothing, Aznam estimates that the global Muslim fashion market is worth at least $96
billion a year.
"And as for non-Islamic countries such as the U.K. or France, since
they have a higher purchasing power parity and clothes have a higher
price tag, I would imagine it to be higher, spending up to $600 a
year," he said. "Assuming the U.K. alone, which is home to around 1.5
million Muslims, the figure could be in the region of $90 million to
$450 million a year."
At that rate, the 16 million Muslims in the European Union could
create an Islamic fashion market worth $960 million to $4.8 billion a year.
For Muslim fashion designers, the market potential is enormous
Ausma Khan, chief editor for Muslim Girl, a young women's lifestyle
magazine that was started last year in the United States, believes that
dedicated brands would have added appeal for many Muslim consumers.
"The potential to design Muslim fashion for women and girls and to market to
this audience is enormous," Khan said. "Imagine the clothes you see in
most contemporary and popular fashion outlets - Muslim girls and women
are buying them and then creatively filling in the gaps. But they would
absolutely buy the same clothes with higher necklines, longer hemlines,
a more voluminous fit and so on," she said.
Even in fashion sportswear and activewear, start-up companies like
Hasema from Turkey and Ahiida from Australia have tickled market
observers with the advent of functional Islamic swimwear. Aheda
Zanetti, Ahiida's founder, trademarked her designs as the "Burqini,"
playing off the words bikini and burqa to describe her two-piece
loose-fitting tracksuit.
"I think the Islamic fashion market is going to explode in the
coming years. There are signs of it already," said Gulsen Aydemir,
editor of Modest Flair, a U.S.-based Web site that sources style trends
and news for its Muslim readers.
"Muslim fashion and women's clothing has moved forward in leaps and bounds in
only a few years in terms of both comfort and style. The most important
change, in my opinion, has been moving away from bland, thick,
polyester gowns called jilbabs, which were uncomfortable in hot weather
and hard against the skin," she said. "But now, you can find Muslim
fashion offered in every possible color and some that is chic and
stylish, but still upholding the modest requirements of our faith."
Islamic Fashion Festival
The fact that Western-style runway shows have caught on as Islamic fashion
weeks have mushroomed across Muslim countries also brings the worlds of
designer fashion and Islamic requirements much closer to home. In
addition to Muslim fashion weeks in Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates,
Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey and other relatively liberal-leaning countries,
there is change elsewhere too.
Even Iran, where the religious police closed similar events in the
past, woke up to the idea last year, staging its first Tehran Fashion
Week to promote Islamic fashion (and not just sober cloaks like the
chador). War-torn Afghanistan also held its first shows last year after
the initial retreat of the Taliban regime, where Muslim fashion designers like
Zolaykha Sherzad and Isabella Ghidoni collaborated to swap the
all-enveloping contours of the burqa for less restrictive looks, like
the salwar qamiz, or two-piece pantsuit, and embellished robes with
head scarves but not necessarily face veils.
While small Islamic fashion shows are cropping up in as varied
locations as Leicester, England; Berlin; and Atlanta, the entrepreneur
Raja Rezza Shah is poised to take the concept global. As director of
the Islamic Fashion Festival, Shah pioneered the event for Muslim fashion designers to
exhibit collections specifically for the Islamic market. "We started in
Kuala Lumpur, then Jakarta, so obviously the aesthetic has strong
influences from here but next year we will also be in Dubai and Abu
Dhabi," he said. "Eventually we want to make a presence in Europe and
America."
Muslim fashion designers and non Muslim fashion designers work together
Malaysian and Indonesian fashion designers, like Itang Yunas, Herman Nuari
and Ida Royani, design only Islamic fashion while the others participating
in the festival are part of the wider fashion fraternity in those
countries where Islamic fashion is just one range of their collections. Not all of the fashion designers showing at the festival are necessarily Muslim
themselves but, Shah says, what unites them is taking the Islamic
fashion business seriously.
"At Dubai International Fashion Week, we have not targeted any
particular sector, but rather seek out all fashion designers who are interested
in showcasing their work to a larger audience," said Nayla Yared,
spokeswoman for the event, which had its first show this summer. "We
have had fashion designers like Suhaila Alyamani and Noora Hefzi who have
collections which conform to both traditional values and Islamic
tenets. Another young designer, Rabia Z, works exclusively on Islamic
fashion."
Besides transforming traditional outer garments like the burqa,
jilbab and abaya into more practical, individualistic versions through
the use of new textiles, colors, prints and embellishments, other
Muslim fashion designers are ready to start stretching an Islamic outfit's loose
silhouette. Some are even prepared to begin styling separates and
accessorizing in unconventional ways.
But just how elastic one's perception of modesty is, however,
depends on an individual's interpretation of Muslim doctrine and it is
this variation that fuels debate among both fashion designers and consumers in
Muslim communities. As a result, the question of covering one's head is
still a flash point in countries like Turkey and France today, as is
covering one's face with the niqab in Britain and the Netherlands.
'We believe that minimum and basic Islamic dressing begins with the
covering of the head. The less skin and shape exposed the better. But
we provide a range of design from the minimum to the maximum covering,
based on the different levels of understanding and readiness," Shah
said. "Our tagline is, 'Discover the beauty of modesty' and not 'Cover
up or you'll go to hell.' It's about women experimenting with ways to
feel happy about themselves while holding on proudly to their faith."
Muslim fashion designers Gulsen Aydemir and Ausma Khan: A balance of modesty and identity
Aydemir defines it as loose clothing that covers everything except
the hands, face and sometimes the feet. "Muslim women want to dress
modestly in a way that is still in sync with the styles of the cultures
they live in. Those living in non-Muslim countries don't want to hide
their Muslim identity and, at the same time, they don't want to
completely stick out in a crowd," she said. "It's a tricky niche, but
if you know what you're doing, the sky's the limit."
Khan's view of modesty is broader, but she agrees about the local
dimension: "In North America, for example, the majority of Muslim women
who would self-identify as Muslim, do not wear a head scarf. But you'll
certainly never see them in a belly-baring top or a miniskirt either.
That's what fashion designers need to understand to really capture the
potential of the Muslim fashion market."
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