Colin D Gordon

Last week, London was the venue for two significant fashion events. One of them – “London Collections:Men” (LC:M: 16^th-18^th June) received extensive media coverage.  For the other, “The Urban Muslim Woman Show ‘13” (Saturday 15^th June: London Novotel West), there appears to have been scarcely a mention in any of the UK’s national daily newspapers. In the“Guardian” on 15^th June, columnist Imogen Fox enthusiastically declared that “Despite being only one year old, ‘LC:M’ is booming”, with a total of 134 designers (including the Christopher Kane, JW Anderson, Rag & Bone, Jimmy Choo and  Alexander McQueen labels) participating in the 30 shows, 22 presentations and 21 “special events”. She also referred to comments by some fashion commentators that Italian designers “ might be feeling overshadowed by the current buzz around British menswear”.

Dylan Jones (Editor-in-chief of GQ magazine) took a similar view in the ‘London Evening Standard’ on 14^th June when he noted that, until last year, the “menswear element” of the bi-annual London Fashion Week had been “tacked on to the end of the women’s shows”. In 2012, however, the British Fashion Council (BFC) decided to create “our own men’s fashion week” and to time it precisely at a moment preceding the rival occasions in Florence, Milan, Paris & New York. Why London? Because (Jones insisted), we have “the greatest tailors and the best youth culture & street style in the world”.

So where exactly did all this leave the organisers of the “Urban Muslim Woman Show ‘13”? Sidelined by the publicity surrounding LC:M? Not at all, judging from the UMW’s advance press releases: They expected at least 500 guests for a Show already in its third year, “fast gaining support and which has become one of the highlights of the Muslim calendar”. Among the established designers at UMW were Sri Munawwarah (“pioneers in Malaysian Muslim Lifestyle”), Jeny Tjahyawati (from Jakarta, Indonesia, “whose works look stylish, unique & fresh”) and Tuty Adib of Bilqis” (also Indonesia-based but “setting trends in Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore”). There was also an opportunity for “ new & emerging talent to showcase their fashion collections for the very first time before their official launches” – such as Amalina Aman from Australia, who “ is on a mission to show how women can still dress beautifully and be glamorous without compromising their modesty” and “Nahara”, a new British luxury label which aims to blend “uncluttered designs with traditional silhouettes” and to focus on “the movement & texture of beautiful fabric”.

UMW emphasized that the designers involved were “keen to challenge conventional thinking on Muslim women’s fashion” and thus that “their bold, creative & flattering styles are not only innovative and refreshing but also demonstrate how fashion and modesty can be beautifully combined to produce a chic, contemporary look”. Featuring on the list of the six main speakers announced for “UMW ’13” were Cherie Blair’s half-sister, Lauren Booth, (who converted to Islam in 2010) and Haslina Mohd Ali, Marketing & Corporate Communications Director of Sri Munawwarah Design.

A recent “Guardian” fashion blog has surmised whether Muslim styles have finally come “ on trend”. Walk down Oxford Street (it asserts) and you will observe that “the stereotypes of the hijab as bland and restrictive” no longer apply. Instead “there are gaggles of friends wearing bright leopard print H&M shawls as a hijab, girls with a mountain of fabric piled up to create a beehive style hijab”. It also quotes Barjis Chohan (“a protégé of renowned British designer Vivienne Westwood”) as having founded her clothing label, “Barjis” to cater for “Young, fashionable Muslims who are struggling to buy clothes from the Western, high-street shops, because of the unsuitable hemlines and necklines” – and that research she conducted revealed that “the global muslim fashion market is worth £59 million.

On 6^th June, the “Huffington Post” reported that the “mainstream fashion industry” is turning its attention to “the more modest world of Islamic style. Bloggers like Mariam Sobh (founder of “Hijab Trendz”) and stylists like Yasmine Yasmine “are the ones changing the game, drawing attention on the runways & internet to how trendy and beautiful modest fashion, including hijabs, can be”. In an interview with Shaimas Khalil of the BBC World Service, Jana Kossiabati  (Editor of “Hijab Style”) stressed that “Islam doesn’t prescribe rigid rules of colour or style – it just says these are the areas you need to cover, the rest is up to you”. Her blog, she added, “gets as many as 2,300 visits a day from across the world, including Africa, the Middle East and the United States”. According to “muslimwomenclothing.co.uk”, with “so many innovative & catchy hijab dresses out there, these garments are taking the market by storm”.

Meanwhile, the “Muslim Women Fashions” website states that “No muslim woman wants to look as if they are wrapped up like an ancient Egyptian mummy, with the face all squished up” – so offers advice on the appropriate hijab styles for different face shapes: Those with “oval faces”, for example, “ should keep their hijab evenly aligned – it shouldn’t be “skewed”. Rectangle face shapes, however, (they suggest) can be perceived as short: “The width from ear to ear appears longer than the face length from top to the chin – so the best hijab style is one which lengthen the look of the face. Avoid hiding your eyebrows and forehead”. Round faces can be given “a flattering look” by a loosely draped hijab” but styles “wrapped tightly around the cheeks and chin” should be avoided. Finally, for those with square faces (“strong cheekbones, jawline and forehead”) it is “imperative not to draw attention to the jawline by draping the hijab tightly over the chin”. Instead (it recommends), “drape the hijab in a soft round fashion and allow the fabric to form soft folds under your chin. This will allow your face to appear lengthened”.

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