STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now let's go to the studio of an aspiring fashion designer. She is 27 years old. Nailah Lymus is her name. She's had two runway shows, one during New York's Fashion Week. She began designing jewelry when she was seven. And now as an adult she has a line of clothing called Amirah Creations. Lymus is a devout Muslim, but when you see her dresses modeled on the runway, you might be surprised. NPR's Margot Adler reports.
MARGOT ADLER, BYLINE: The dresses Nailah Lymus designs are full of color - blues, purples, prints, tapestry-woven pieces. She is determined to break down many of the stereotypes about Muslim women. Like the assumption that all Muslim women are docile and wear black.
NAILAH LYMUS: I like colors, and I like flowers, and I like head pieces with feathers coming all off them, and all I do is put it on top of my hijab instead of putting it on my hair. But I like those things. I'm a woman, I'm attracted to those things, so I really want to break down that stereotype, and that we can wear them.
ADLER: Amirah Creations takes its inspiration from the 1920s through the 1950s.
LYMUS: There is a lot of flow, a lot of poof, a lot of very playful kind of pieces. So I picked that line because it worked for that era, because I'm inspired by that era, but also Islamicly(ph) it's pretty modest.
ADLER: At least compared to now. It was a period where you could be feminine, she says, but you could also be covered. Nailah Lymus is an African-American designer who lives in Brooklyn and who grew up Muslim. She herself wears bright prints and colors but her head and arms are always covered.
LYMUS: I do want to be looked at as a Muslim designer, but I don't want to just be looked at as just Muslim attire, I want it to be transitional.
ADLER: In other words, appealing to both Muslim and non-Muslim women. Although there are other Muslim women designers, she says, most of them design Muslim clothing, like the outer garments, or abayahs. For those who go beyond that, to design for all women, there are only a handful, she says.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Amirah Creations. Nailah Lymus.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
FELICIA VERNA: My name is Felicia Verna and I am wearing Amirah Creations by Nailah Lymus.
ADLER: We are at a fashion show in midtown Manhattan put on by Sonic Eclectic. Five designers will each have a dozen or so models on the runway. Felecia Verna is wearing a vibrant blue evening gown, long but sleeveless.
VERNA: I feel like a million bucks. I feel like a princess, a queen. So she is a designer that everyone needs to watch out for.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
ADLER: But when you see Lymus's clothes modeled on the runway, you realize no modest Muslim woman could wear most of them. There are halter dresses, tube tops, backs that are cut out, and skirts that are shorter than required by modesty, clothes that Nailah Lymus herself couldn't wear without a little extra something.
LYMUS: It's a word that I use. I say you can Islamify it, so that means having to throw a blazer on it, or a sweater, whatever the case can be; that's how as a Muslim we would make it modest enough where we can wear it. I did have some halter dresses, I did have tube top dresses as well, where your arms are out, and as a Muslim we can't do that. Maybe add a skirt under to make it more of a layered look. How I dress as a Muslim, I dress layered.
ADLER: And she says her local Muslim community has supported her. But when you take Islam out of the equation, these dresses are simply classic designs. Nailah Lymus has only been designing clothing for five years. As a single mom, she says economically it's been month to month. She's also a wardrobe stylist, wardrobe consultant and hairstylist to make ends meet, and she hopes to get more stores and clients buying her designs. Margot Adler, NPR News, New York.
INSKEEP: Take a look for yourself. You can see photos of Amirah Creations at NPR.org.
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