One thousand people. Enough to pack a good sized sports arena. That is how many people died when the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed, and while some point the damning finger at the deplorable working conditions in developing countries, if you dig deeper, you realize the real culprit…
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Hijabi. The word stumbles about my tongue in an ungainly fashion instead of rolling off gracefully. When it escapes my mouth, it falls flat. I realize then that I hate it. This word confines me within a box, reducing who I am as a human being to a dress code…
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In her latest piece for Aeon, Rafia Zakaria asks: Why do empires care so much about women’s clothes? In 1820, in the Indian city of Benares, an English Baptist missionary named Smith helped to save a woman from the Hindu practice of sati, the burning of widows. He described…
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When I think about what I wore in high school, I cringe. One outfit in particular comes to mind. Picture this: a short black halter dress with a ruffled skirt, topped with a cropped denim jacket and jeans underneath. Oh, we’re not done yet. Can’t forget the pink, stretchy sequined…
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When Los Angeles-based sisters Nadia Rayan and Nora Rayan Ghaneian were planning to attend a relative’s wedding in Egypt back in the summer of 2006, they came to the realization that their access to and selection of existing evening wear in the U.S. and Egyptian stores was mundane at best. In Cairo, they opted for a local tailor to help create their custom dresses — and, albeit a common and accessible option — were overwhelmed by the positive feedback to their silk column gowns that were simple, yet sophisticated.
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