Six years after introducing and promoting Muslim couture fashion as a modern lifestyle trend in several eastern and western countries, the Islamic Fashion Festival (IFF) is now preparing its fashion designers to show off its creations at one of world’s most prestigious fashion modelling catwalk.
IFF, under the patronage of Malaysia’s First Lady, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, has been invited to participate in the Milan Fashion Week in Italy and is giving its fashion designers ample lead time to be ready to meet the demand of the market when their works receive orders from the event.
IFF chairman, Datuk Raja Rezza Shah said he believed that the time was right for them to model Islamic fashion for the spring and summer collections at the Milan Fashion Week at the end of next year.
“Most of the Malaysian and Indonesian designers are at the moment catering to one-to-one orders and only a few are ready for export.
“If in Milan we have to be ready with factory production, then I anticipate in a year they should be ready for the event,” he said at the IFF fashion show themed " Moghul Splendour II”, here.
For the purpose, he has set up the Association of Muslim Apparel Entrepreneurs and Designers (AMAED) to get them to be more serious in the business of Islamic fashion.
It is also to facilitate them obtain assistance from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to expand their business into overseas markets.
Raja Rezza said even though IFF as a non-government organisation focused on promoting the image of Islam by displaying modern Muslim fashion, it had a role to pave the way and encourage fashion designers involved to expand economically.
The interest of the people in Islamic Muslim fashion was now growing and the development could be seen through the increasing number of specialised boutiques in Malaysia and the acceptance of non-Islamic western countries in supporting IFF shows, he said.
Since the first IFF in 2006 in Kuala Lumpur, it has been successfully held in Abu Dhabi, Astana, Dubai, Jakarta, Monte Carlo, New York, Singapore and now Bandung. Next month, the show will be brought to London.
Raja Rezza said IFF had succeeded in branding Muslim couture as fashionable attire acceptable by non-Muslims and even more gratifying was that non-Muslim fashion designers from various countries were also now involved in producing Islamic fashion.
The “Moghul Splendour II” highlighted a fashion range from AMAED and League of Muslim Fashion Designers (IPBM) of Bandung as well as several non- Muslim fashion designers like Milo and Paul Robb from Bali, Calvin Thoo from Kuala Lumpur and Sabeena Bani Ahuja and Natasha Mirpuri from Singapore.
The IFF fashion show was attended by the Raja Muda of Perlis Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail, the Raja Puan Muda of Perlis Tuanku Lailatul Shahreen Akashah and Minister of Tourism, Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen.