Hijab tres chic!

How retailers are marketing to fashion-conscious Muslim women.

"Full coverage," not your typical fashion show prerequisite, was the theme at a "fashion seminar" recently hosted by Nordstrom at the tony Tysons Corner Center mall in McLean, Va. The show, called "Interpreting Hot Trends for Veiled and Conservative Women," was perhaps the first high-fashion hijab event sponsored by corporate America. The target: well-heeled Muslim women living in the suburbs of Northern Virginia, where mansions and mosques are filled with rich Muslim immigrants, an increasing number of whom shop at Tysons Corner.
The Nordstrom show is part of a growing trend: Western retailers and designers are beginning to market directly to Muslim women. In 2000, for instance, European designers Yves Saint-Laurent and Jean-Paul Gaultier showed at the International Festival of African Fashion in Niger while ultraconservative Muslims paraded through the streets in protest of the "satanic" presentation. A 2004 Hermes ad featured two women with the dark hair, dark eyes, and olive skin of many Middle Easterners and wearing the company's iconic scarves wrapped around their heads in the Muslim style of hijab. (When asked, the Hermes advertising department would say only that its marketing pitch is "global.") And a little over a week ago, French designer Judith Duriez, co-owner of the Dubai-based company Arabesque, debuted her fall 2005 collection of "sheilas" (veils) and "abayas" (gowns) for the cloaked Muslim woman. These fashions, traditional long black gowns (the color is one rule Duriez refuses to break), are enhanced by non-traditional accents such as mother-of-pearl trimmings and chiffon ribbons.
Retailers have likely caught on to the fact that conservative Muslim women are as interested in fashion as any other women and that, as a population numbering at least 500 million an estimated half of which cover up regularlythey constitute a large, and potentially lucrative, untapped market. Indeed, to anyone who's paying attention, it's evident that Muslim women are going to great lengths (and in some cases spending a substantial amount of money) in an attempt to reconcile their religious mandate to dress modestly with their desire to look fashionable. Many women interpret the idea of "hijab"the term comes from the Arabic word "hajaba," which is translated as "to cover," and is used generally to refer to modesty, and more specifically, to mean headscarves and formless gownsquite liberally. They wear Diane Von Furstenberg mini-dresses over Levi jeans or rapper-style do-rags as headscarves. Other women don scarves by designers such as Christian Dior, Hermes, Gucci, and Dolce & Gabbana. And even the traditional dress is no longer black and shapeless but comes in various cuts, colors, patterns, and textures: slim-cut, baggy, silk, chiffon, fringed, fur-cuffed, hand-painted, and even embroidered with rhinestones and feathers.

Since when did Asians become hot/haute?

Now, I mean that in the most asexual way possible. However, I’ve noticed a change in the wind. This must have been around senior or junior year of high school (2001ish). You would see the fashionable girls with their friends walking down the hall. With fresh hair color, matching Gucci shoes, and louis* messenger bags. It was a wave on the merge. Year after year I’d notice these women, girls, or even men; at the gas stations, in the airport, at Wal-Mart, and every time I saw them I was astonished by how simple yet fashionable these trendsetters are put together.

Now, don’t get me wrong…I am no ugly Betty in her sponge bob pajamas swishing around in her outdated house shoes. I’m well into fashion, and keep up with myself. Whether it’s a new Chloe bag I have to have, or that lipstick that taunting me to get at Sephora, I make sure to look my best.

However, there is something different about these women. It’s like; you will not find one teen or adult out of sync (respectively referring to fashion) even if it’s a quick trip. They must all be in some underground cult.... For example, just the other night, I’m at Target shopping for some regular products in the beauty aisle. You know the Olay wash cloths, some nail remover; that sort of thing. I notice this Young family, (Father, Mother and young boy). The mother had to be around 30. However, this diva had on some designer jeans, teal shirt “rock and republic”, a patent matching bag, matching eye shadow (I bet some real unapologetic brand like NARS), and some funky heels, also designer, and her hair was in a fresh angular new short cut. I’m thinking, “All this for TARGET?” I try to make some sense of it, by telling myself, “she must have been out to dinner or something earlier,” but the truth is she most likely got all jazzed up just for shopping at our friendly neighborhood store…

Now I’m definitely, not a “label whore,” so it’s not just the Damier bag that has amazed me, it’s much more than that with these women. It’s a sense of style! I don’t know how this came about or what day it was that I woke up and the dominating fashionistas turned Asian, but it’s definitely something that needs to be known. Growing up, I really never noticed any of them. I hate to say it, and to say it in that way. It’s the honest truth though. Walahi, we only new them as indha yare ( Somali..) Well, they have my attention now is all I have to say. Asians Rule!