Islamic Fashion Festival 2013

There are some girls who “get” fashion, and there are some girls who don’t. As much as I have tried over the years, fashion has never been something that has captured my attention in the way that it does with others. It’s not to say I find it irrelevant, pointless or anything of the sort. Rather,

1) some of the things, I’d never wear it in a million years either because I haven’t got the body or confidence for it / it’s not my taste

2) I’m not imaginative or creative anyway so it’d never occur to me to put certain combinations together (accessoring? What’s that?)

3) I’m generally risk averse so I don’t like to take chances with what I wear

So Fashion darling, it’s not you, it’s me. I just don’t get it.

What some may find surprising however, is that I appreciate Islamic fashion. As explained, I am by no means a fashionista so I’m not even going to attempt to describe it here (lest I fall foul of some kind of fashion laws!). I will however, just say this – I find Islamic fashion very, very pretty. To me, it’s both feminine and demure, flattering yet modest, and very wearable. In fact, it’s the kind of thing you’d look good wearing regardless of what size you are (which is an automatic win-win for someone who likes to eat at these gala dinners!).

So I was quite pleased when mum asked me to join her for the Islamic Fashion Festival Charity Gala Dinner at PWTC this evening. She had been invited by the organiser, Dato’ Sri Raja Rezza Shah, a good friend of hers and wanted to go in support of his work. Dato’ Sri kindly gave us some very good seats, right next to the end of the runway so we could feast on the fashion in all its glory…those seats definitely weren’t wasted on us!

Dinner was punctuated by the various designers showing off their latest collections, designed according to the festival’s theme of “Treasures of the sea”. There were a good mix of local, international, experienced and first-time designers, enough to keep it interesting. I spotted a name that I’m now a fan of There were also a few performances, with one notable performance featuring Dato’ Sri himself singing an Islamic song with some other Malaysian artists.

What did I like best about this festival? The fact that it was both spiritual and fun. I really liked the way the organisers weaved religion into fashion, and were so bold in their motivation of spreading Islam’s ideals through sartorial beauty. I liked the fact people there were proud to be Muslim but never made me feel uncomfortable about my not being Muslim. There were no attempts at conversion, no moments of dogmatic, irrational fundamentalism. It was just a pure celebration of spirituality and how one can express it externally in such an aesthetically pleasing manner. It’s something Buddhists can learn when we look at how to make Buddha’s teachings relevant and attractive to modern practitioners. Tonight’s open-mindededness demonstrates how a moderate approach is very successful helping people to understand how religion can be a relevant, integral part of your life.

I’m sure my conclusion is way too serious for an event that was meant to be much more frivolous, so let’s inject some frivolity back into it with a few pictures of meeeeeeeeeeeeee 🙂 I’m off to bed…got an interview with the Star tomorrow about the perils (haha jokes!) joys of mother-daughter philanthropy and charity work, so best get into that with a clear head! Turrah!

Love my new dress! <3[/caption]

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