Fashion

Culture, Fashion

Zahra Lari: An example for women of faith

She’s been called the “Ice Princess in the Hijab.” And I think she rocks. Zahra Lari is a 17-year-old Olympic figure-skating hopeful from the United Arab Emirates. And you can’t miss her because she wears a black hijab instead of sparkly hair clips and nylon pants instead of the characteristic shiny nude tights. I love seeing a Muslim woman as a competitive athlete. I just love it. I was crushed when the Iranian women’s soccer team was disqualified from the Olympics because of their headscarves.

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Culture, Fashion

A style statement

Frankees Samad, a senior at the University of California Davis, debuted her womenswear line at the Signature Collection Fashion Show earlier this month. Hosted by the Runway Designers Club at the Performance Art Institute in San Francisco, the show presented the senior projects of 25 fashion students at UC Davis. As expected, models sashayed down the runway in gauzy, floaty gowns, wildly exuberant accessories, and deconstructed garments typical of any student fashion show (a dress decorated in hundreds of glass fragments, anyone?).

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Culture, Fashion

An interview with Bayan Jondy

Fashion designer Bayan Jondy: “I truly wanted Muslim women to feel confident and beautiful wearing modest clothing. Up until we launched, I felt that our options for fashionable clothing in line with my beliefs were very limited. I was frustrated with not being able to find the kind of clothing that reflected my personality and uniqueness; I was tired of wearing so many layers, especially in the spring and summer.”

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Culture, Fashion

Grace in all faiths

Somewhere in the back of a dress shop, a heap of lace, buttons, and silk sits quietly on a table. Over the next couple of months, it will come together by the delicate hands of seamstresses to become the dress I will wear on my wedding day. I am having my dress handmade, because I discovered that finding a modest bridal gown is a rather impossible feat these days. After looking at dress after dress online and pushing back hanger after hanger at every nearby bridal store, I got the message: strapless and plunging are in, covering up on one’s wedding day is not.

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Columns, Culture, Fashion

Dressed for success: Sunshine, heat, and the professional Muslimah

Listening to the weather forecast on my way to work, I pondered on the challenges the professional Muslimah faces when dressing appropriately. Whether it is finding modest clothing that suit her workplace, or finding an outfit that complies with safety requirements for risky jobs, we are often haunted by making the right dress choices that will enable us to get the job done while climbing the corporate ladder.

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Culture, Fashion, Multimedia

NISI Fashion

Inspired by the modern day feminists of the post-colonial Muslim world, my dedication to women’s education and empowerment extends far beyond the needles and bolts of fashion. NISI also acts as a women’s empowerment project because it supports education for young women in developing countries.

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Culture, Fashion

Wardrobe!

As part of Altmuslimah’s efforts to explore gender themes that Islam has in common with other faiths, the star of ‘Blossom,’ Mayim Bialik, reflects here on how her Jewish faith and its concept of modesty (tzniut) changed the way she dresses.

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Culture, Fashion

It’s the first Saudi fashion show… no cameras allowed!

Saudi Arabia’s first women’s fashion show was held by the Nafisat Shams Al Biqa’ Academy in Jeddah last month, despite a restricted audience, clerical resistance, and a mixed reaction from the Saudi public. Nevertheless, it remains a breakthrough for Saudi fashion designers and for Saudi women in general.

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