In Istanbul on a recent Friday, it was time to send the page proofs of Ala magazine to the printer. Ala, which means \u201cthe most beautiful of the beautiful,\u201d is the world\u2019s first fashion publication for conservative Muslim women. Its office doesn\u2019t feel like a bastion of traditional Islam: The talk is of models, photo shoots, deadlines, and accessories.<\/p>\n
Zeynep Haso\u011flu, Ala\u2019s new editor in chief, sits behind a giant desk, her brown eyes amplified with dark eyeliner and mascara. She wears a black blazer with matching pants, her tiny frame weighted by a massive tiered rhinestone collar necklace. Stiletto shoes complete her outfit\u2014a look that many of her readers want. \u201cWe are trying to convey international fashion to ladies without infringing on our values,\u201d says Haso\u011flu. She flicks through her iPad as she describes an unfulfilled need of affluent women who have money to burn but little understanding of how to spend it. They don\u2019t know about Islamic designers because Muslim fashion has been a word of mouth industry.<\/p>\n
Ala, launched in 2011, is the primer these women want. It features models in head scarves with well-crafted outfits in the latest colors. One recent article, titled \u201cLooooooong skirts!\u201d gives tips on skirt designs and mixing and matching. A recurring section visits Istiklal Street, the central retail promenade on the European side of Istanbul, to photograph fashionable but conservative women. Like many of Ala\u2019s readers, they sport sleeves that fall at least to the middle of the forearm and no bare leg is revealed. Yet with their head scarves they wear jeans and boots or skirts and form-fitting jackets.<\/p>\n
Taha Yasin Toraman launched Etesett\u00fcr.com 15 months ago. That\u2019s Turkish for hijab, the veil worn by observant Muslim women. The site sells black cloaks that cover the whole body as well as tight pea coats that hug the waistline. \u201cThere are many online shopping websites in Turkey, but there were none for conservative women,\u201d Toraman says. He is launching an English-language site by August for the rest of the Muslim world.<\/p>\n
Turkey\u2019s fashion industry has its detractors, who condemn the idea that conservative women can wear flattering modern apparel. Women should instead avoid drawing attention to themselves, as Islam calls for. Female attire has long been a contentious subject. Mustafa Kemal Atat\u00fcrk, the secular founder of modern Turkey in the 1920s, urged Turkish women not to cover their hair. After a military coup in 1980 momentarily checked the rise of the Islamic parties, the government banned head scarves for university students and public servants. The ban was partially lifted in 2010.<\/p>\n
Under Sunni Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, Turkey has enjoyed a decade of prosperity, which has given rise to an Islamic middle class. It is widely reported in the media that around 60 percent of Turkish women now wear a head covering. Mehmet Dursun, chief executive officer of Armine, Turkey\u2019s top retailer of Islamic fashion, cornered the local head scarf market nine years ago before becoming a one-stop brand for middle-class Muslims. The retailer has a house line of apparel, shoes, and soon handbags, to be made in the same factory that makes Michael Kors bags. Armine apparel and accessories are sold in 1,400 stores, including in the U.S., the Netherlands, and Britain. Gross revenue in 2012 was $56 million. \u201cI would like to be the conservative Herm\u00e8s further down the line,\u201d Dursun says.<\/p>\n
The one thing absent from Turkey\u2019s fashion scene is name-brand designers: Most work in relative obscurity for retailers like Armine. One exception is Filiz Yetim, maker of bridal gowns for the modest. Yetim, who on an April day was wearing a beige head scarf, a black blouse tucked into a long beige pencil skirt featuring floral appliqu\u00e9s, and gold and silver bracelets, designs gowns that feature a head scarf, full sleeves, and a floor-length hemline. The going price averages $4,000 to $5,000\u2014not much for a handmade item. Yetim says she\u2019ll charge more in time. \u201cIn two years, this vision of personal fashion will be more established, and we will ask what is due,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
The bottom line: Turkey\u2019s fashion designers are reinterpreting traditional dress for Muslim women, creating a new industry in the process.<\/p>\n
Topol is a Bloomberg Businessweek contributor.<\/p>\n
via Turkish Fashion Designers Make Muslim Style Chic – Businessweek.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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