Amira El-Naqeeb walks into the world of trendy and stylish Islamic dress The scene is a dimly lit hall, with Buddha Bar music adding to the mystique. "I think this is going to be interesting," says one girl to another, anticipation straining her voice. Pan back: hundreds just like the two of them look up as the curtain rises. And in floats this exquisitely adorned beauty, the silk scarf wrapped around her head setting off no end of lace, beads and sequins. A fashion show has started, though this is no run-of-the-mill venue. Indeed it is the prestigious Cairo Conference Hall, no less. And as the newcomer is soon to find out, the garments on offer are, like the Taj Mahal, designed to conceal rather than reveal. For the Défilé d'Egypt -- the force behind the event, which took place lately -- has finally launched into the wonderful world of the Muslim veil. "A lovely surprise and a great idea," according to Ghada Mohamed, one of many young women who attended the fashion show. For many months, indeed, veil fashion has been taking the world by storm: on TV, in the print media (there is even a magazine entitled Higab Fashion ) and, even more than before, in the clothing industry. Designer Ghada Hussein, the owner of the first large-scale handmade scarf business in the Middle East, believes the fashion show took the phenomenon a step further: "when you see it before your eyes, the effect is stronger, whether in terms of mixing and matching colours or of wrapping style." Recently veiled Suzanne, who works in the clothing industry, credits satellite television with introducing greater variety and style of practical and convenient solutions especially because most veiled women work. Essam Aziz, the editor of the aforementioned magazine, tells a parallel story: "the idea behind the magazine came up when we started to realise there was a genuine need among veiled women for a practical guide to all that is trendy and practical. I also wanted to debunk preconceptions: get veiled and you'll never know what it means to be stylish again. We're all about the know-how required to establish that this is categorically not the case." Rehab Tarek, an architect, believes that veiled women's clothing can come in all kinds of styles, provided it conforms to the Islamic concept of the veil, as "the real Islamic dress code should be neither descriptive nor transparent," she explains. However, the veil fashion show does have its opponents: the new trends do not represent veiled women, said some, pointing out that they miss the point of the veil; others claimed that, of all that was on offer, there was nothing new. "It's a shocking misrepresentation of what the veil is all about," argues Kamal Abul-Qasem, a production manager at the ART Satellite Channels. Tight, revealing, immodest: the clothes were seen to depart from the logic of veil. Mohamed expressed the need for more designs specifically-geared towards the proper Islamic dress code to cover the market needs. Aziza, another businesswoman in the clothing industry, for one, loves to dress casually. "And I think the market is very poor when it comes to sizes and styles, especially with respect to the middle-aged among us." Pussy, 18, has been wearing the veil for a year now: "I make up my own fashion. Nothing in the market satisfies my tastes. This despite Susan's authoritative statement, "I know the market has everything." Aziz seems to reconcile both views: "Unlike their counterparts in the Gulf, veiled women in Egypt do not have a strictly separate wardrobe, and they end up buying items from non-specialist stores and fitting them into the general outline of the veil. This is why the market is in effect very big." All of which is besides the point made by Heba Idris, fashion designer: "my dreams as a human being came in the form of designs. I had designed revealing clothes in the past, but making an income out of that is not permitted by religion. "and this really bothered me about it. The veil has spread like light among women, and satellite channels like Iqraa have contributed greatly to this," she adds. Idris is pleased with the increasing awareness that women can be both conservative and elegant, especially among the young. This side of the equation is perhaps the most interesting, but it seems to have little bearing on purchasing decisions. Both Pussy and Ghada agree that, where things are trendy or unusual, people buy them. According to Suzanne, however, the one decisive factor is affordability. Others buy once they have noticed commodities in the media, Aziz adds: "Putting celebrities on the cover of a magazine -- that's effective salesmanship. And likewise people will follow a trend once they have seen a celebrity doing so." Aziz's own target audience is "the B-class" of buyers, upper middle-class women who can only afford an outfit every one or two months, and will not pay more than his magazine's cover price of LE10 for a fashion guide: "It is to them that I try to deliver a useful, informative message." For her part, Hussein's ultimate goal is to encourage women not only to wear but to love the veil no doubt: "when an anxious bride comes to me, I tell her, 'I'm going to get you a scarf a thousand times more beautiful than your hair.' And when she feels she is a vision to behold on her wedding night, it is this that gives me a sense of achievement and will to go on."
