Muslim Fashion

A young Sydney designer is on a mission to give Muslim women in Australia more fashion choices without breaching Islamic guidelines.

For Muslim women, it is a major struggle to find clothing in department stores that conforms to their religion - loose-fitting and concealing their body shape.

The traditional Islamic dress, the abaya, is not popular with young, hijab-wearing Muslims because of its heavy beading, dull colours and uncomfortable fabric.

But now the abaya has been given an overhaul, thanks to Nicole Ferretti.

Her makeshift showroom, in a quiet, south-western Sydney street, houses hundreds of abayas with a Western influence.

The military-style designs inspired by cargo pants and sporty abayas for the teenage girl were part of Ms Ferretti's "Pretty Covered Winter" fashion collection.

Ms Ferretti, 27, of Condell Park, said her collection had a strong Western influence, however, she was careful not to break Islamic dress guidelines.

"A lot of young women want to start wearing the abaya but their options are limited to those imported from the Middle East," she said.

"What I am trying to do is give young women who are thinking about wearing the abaya an opportunity to try something different."

Houda Afyouni, 27, of south-western Sydney, said she was never interested in wearing the abaya because of the heavy Middle Eastern influence. She said she purchased one of the abayas from Ms Ferretti's collection last year and received many compliments from friends and colleagues.

"It's trendy, it's modern and I don't feel like people are staring at me when I walk down the street."

She said living in a period where so much focus was placed on Muslim women made it difficult and was alienating. "What Nicole has done is help change the way Muslim women are dressing without compromising their values."

Ms Ferretti was in the process of developing a website to give Muslim women across the country an opportunity to wear her designs.

Source: The Sun-Herald