Chechen First Lady Fashion Going Global

The Moscow Times

The first lady of Chechnya has unveiled new designs from her fashion line, Firdaws, in Dubai — the first-ever foreign fashion show for a Chechen company, Interfax reported Monday.

The company, founded by Medni Kadyrova, currently only has boutiques in Grozny but has plans to open one in the United Arab Emirates.

“I am sure that this show in Dubai is the first step to the conquering of the fashion world in the Middle East,” Kadyrova said.

The show, named “Lady Chechnya,” featured 70 variations of traditional Muslim female dress, decorated with diamonds and other precious stones. It will also be presented later in Saudi Arabia.

“The natural beauty and grace of Eastern women inspired us to create these works of art,” she explained.

Celebrated Lebanese designer Zuhair Mirad, who fashioned Jennifer Lopez’s controversial semitransparent dress at the Oscars this year, was Kadyrova’s guest of honor at the show.

“It’s a great honor and pleasure to be here and participate in the event,” he told Abu Dhabi-based paper The National.

“The Chechens are very artistic when it comes to embroidery and their combination of colors,” he added. “They have a lot of taste.”

Firdaws, which means heavenly gardens in Arabic, was founded in 2009 with the support of Kadyrov himself and won the grand prize at the Moscow fashion competition International Couturier of the Year in 2011.

A Muslim Fashion Shop: For Women With a Taste For Fashion

A  SHOP providing a wide range of imported Islamic apparel for Muslim men and women  has opened at Danga City Mall here.

Mohamad Hisham Hadi, 40, and his wife Norhaslinda Shukri, 40, the owners of the outlet, sell fashion that is in accordance with the teachings of Islam.

Among the couple’s favourite clothes are the jubah, which  are long garments.

They often make it a point to check out the different designs of Islamic apparel  online. This was how they discovered a popular United Kingdom brand, Lawung.

“My wife and I  bought some of the Lawung designs online, and wore it for Hari Raya Aidilfitri last year. We received so many enquiries and compliments about what we wore  that we decided to go into business selling these clothes along with other brands of Islamic wear,” said Hisham.

The Lawung brand of Islamic wear is already being sold in  13 countries, including the United States,  Germany, United Arab Emirates and France.

The name Lawung combines the Chinese words lao meaning old, and wung meaning king.

Lawung specialises in modern-looking “executive” jubah.

The couple’s boutique is called Dishdash  and was set up with a capital of RM20,000.

“At present, our shop is the only distributor of the Lawung brand of clothing in Johor Baru.

“The brand offers a wide range of designs that have been receiving a good response from customers,” said  Hisham.

The designs are made from quality fabric with high standards of stitching, giving it a mass appeal among young and old alike.

Hashim hoped Muslim men would be more open-minded about Islamic apparel, and not merely wear it when going to the mosque or surau.

Meanwhile, Norhaslinda said Dishdash Boutique is also an agent for the Silk Route and Abaya brands of Muslim women’s wear which is imported from the Middle East.

The boutique also sells Muslim prayer items and various local brands of thaub.

It is located at Lot 1-103, Level One, Danga City Mall in Jalan Tun Razak.

Turkish Fashion Magazine Unsure About Showing Models Off

ISTANBUL — Across a neon-lighted corridor in a hyper-designed modernist loft here, a group of Eastern European models posed coquettishly for a magazine spread, their heads covered in brightly colored scarves.

Except for the religious headgear, the shoot could have been for any glossy fashion magazine. But Ala — called the “Vogue of the veiled” in the Turkish news media — is no conventional publication. In an unlikely fusion of conservative Muslim values and high fashion, it unabashedly appeals to the pious head-scarf-wearing working woman, who may covet a Louis Vuitton purse but has no use for the revealing clothing that pervades traditional fashion magazines.

One of Ala’s founders, Ibrahim Burak Birer, 31, a religious Muslim and a former marketing analyst who favors jeans and designer jackets, said he decided to start the magazine — its name means “the most beautiful of the beautiful” in Turkish — after seeing a transsexual with strap-on breasts in a transparent dress on the cover of an international fashion magazine.

“We realized that there was a gap to be filled for conservative Muslim women in Turkeywho have a different worldview,” he said in an interview at Ala’s sleek offices, where young women in head scarves sit hunched over Apple computers. “Until now, most fashion magazines have offered a lifestyle centered on being sexy, being skinny and eating sushi. But not all women dress like those girls from ‘Sex and the City.’ ”

Ala adheres to strict Islam-inspired sartorial guidelines: arms and heads must be covered; tight pants and skirts above the ankle are forbidden. But, Mr. Birer said, the Koran has no prohibition on five-inch stiletto heels. “You can be elegant and sophisticated,” he said. “Female beauty is O.K. as long as it’s not seductive.”

The success of Ala, which has attracted 30,000 subscribers since its founding in June, reflects the rise of an Islamic bourgeoisie in Turkey that has prospered under the Islam-inspired Justice and Development Party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

This religious merchant class, which sees nothing incompatible between wearing a head scarf and driving a Mercedes, is altering the society in a country once dominated by a secular elite that banned the wearing of head scarves in public institutions. In Istanbul today, religious businessmen endure six-month waiting lists for $150,000 BMWs, while hip young women in head scarves, skinny jeans and bright red lipstick throng the more than 80 shopping malls in the city. Head scarves are also now ubiquitous on college campuses.

In Ala, page after page of beautiful women in designer head scarves underscore Turkey’s growing comfort with such outward displays of religion.

Yet for all of Ala’s avowed restraint, the magazine and its attention-grabbing images of pouting models staring suggestively in their costly outfits have been criticized by some religious scholars. They argue that regardless of whether a woman is photographed showing off a head scarf or sexy lingerie, such behavior violates Islam, which calls for women not to flaunt their femininity.

Changing the Stereotypes of Muslim Women

NURA MAZNAVI KNOWS that when she steps out in her hijab, she’s a walking stereotype.

What’s a Muslim woman like? “A silent, submissive woman who doesn’t have control over her life, doesn’t have agency over her decisions, somebody’s whose important events in her life are dictated by people other than herself, particularly when it comes to love,” says Maznavi, 33, a former Bay Area civil rights attorney now practicing in Los Angeles.

Either that, or she’s seen as being asexual. “Repressed and oppressed,” she says with a laugh. “That we don’t feel in the same way other women feel love and desire.”

That image couldn’t be further from the truth. So to better reflect the diversity of the estimated 8 million Muslims in the United States, Maznavi and her friend Ayesha Mattu co-edited “Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women” (256 pages, Soft Skull, $15.95), a collection of essays about love, flirting, dating, divorce and sex that debuted Valentine’s Day.

“Most of us are highly independent, funny and opinionated,” says Mattu, 39, a San Francisco human rights consultant. “We thought it was time to tell our story in a more honest and individual way.”

From chaperoned dating and matrimonial websites to college flirtations and a whirlwind international romance, “InshAllah” — which means God willing — unites gay, straight, pious and secular stories of love and longing

among ethnically diverse Islamic American women of all ages.

As far as the two women can tell, it is the first book of its type.

What is Hijab?

Hijab is a word used in Islamic world for a special dress code for women which is the symbol of modesty and protection. It shows the expression of faith and loyalty of Muslim women towards their religion.  Islam says that beauty of a woman lies in hijab. Women in Islam are not supposed to show off themselves to anyone. They should keep themselves in ‘hijab’ or ‘pardah’ so that they can be protective of the evil. Hijab is the most important symbol in Muslim world for representing women.

Itsaves a woman from being show off, guard them from evil and protect their dignity and respect.

Muslim women are very proud when wearing Hijab as it is the Islamic culture. Hijab is not only the part of Islamic society but it is also a new fashion trend to be dressed in. Women, now a days, wear various kinds of ‘hijab’ for the sake of fashion and style and also for the protective cover sheet around them.

In Pakistan, fashion designers have given the Hijab a new trend, modern as well as conventional. There are also new styles of hijab for women so that they can try a lot more stuff even if they are in pardah like Scarves, Gowns, and Stoles. With new fancy looks, the Hijab is also being used as the main part of dress in different kind of functions and parties. Milky soft stuff with beads and colourful threads are very famous among the fashion world of hijab.

However, there are a lot of hijab styles which are circulating as a fashion trend in Islamic world all around the globe such as Issra, Asyeel, Racha, Azza, Luna, Marah etc. This new fashion style is always welcomed by the women who wear Hijab and keep themselves in pardah. Hijab can be very much helpful for those working women who feel insecurity while doing a job.

(19) Maher Zain - Google+

(19) Maher Zain - Google+