Thaindian News

Kuala Lumpur, July 21 (IANS) Indian designers will be among the 100 participating in the International Islamic Festival (IIF), which will be held here in November. The festival will showcase works of designers from many other countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, Dubai, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Iran. The theme of the event is “Discover the Beauty of Modesty”.

Through the festival, Malaysia hopes to emerge as the world capital of Islamic fashion, the New Straits Times said Monday.

“We want to feature Islamic couture in various designs. Being Muslim is not a deterrent to dressing up,” said Shah Rezza, the organiser.

“In some Islamic countries, fashion shows are restricted to Muslims. Here, everyone, regardless of their race, religion and skin colour can participate.

“How can we promote Muslim wear if it is restricted to ourselves? It is about time that we change the negative perception among the global community and show that we are also productive in fields such as fashion,” he said.

In conjunction with IIF, the IIF Young Designer’s Award will also be launched to discover new talents.

“So far we have received entries from 12 fashion schools, including the Raffles Design Institute, Carven Academy of Fashion, Lim Kok Wing Institute of Creative Technology, Noor Arfa and Kolej Tuanku Abdul Rahman,” said Rezza.

Culture plays an important role in determining style and fashion, Rezza said, adding: “While we do not have too many restrictions here, we are compliant with the values of Islam.”

A Muslim majority nation that has Islam as the official religion, Malaysia remains a multi-religious and multi-ethnic nation of 28 million of whom 33 percent are ethnic Chinese and eight percent are Indians.