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“I am a self-taught designer and my vision of style is called When west meets east”

Photo: Ayeda Shadab
“I am a self-taught designer and my vision of style is called When west meets east”

I introduce Afghan culture through fashion, for example I combine traditional pieces such as handcrafted embroidery of cotton that is very popular in afghan clothing with the western wanton type blend giving a more casual look to the clothes making it wearable for the modern afghan woman.

“We are living in an era  where  fashion is being revolutionized. We have adopted multiculturalism in our clothings, by combining various cultures, and putting different pieces together.”

Fashion has been my lifelong love, as a young girl I would always dress up in afghan attire and combine different pieces of cloth, because I love to create things of my own. I didn’t know back then that one day I will make a career out of a childhood interest. Today I am starting my own business in retail.

Most of my creativity and curiosity, comes from traveling to different countries. I have lived in Malaysia and China where I studied business, and also did part-time modeling, it was then that my hobby for design turned into a business idea. Social media has also played a big role in my designs I have found a lot of inspiration from other designers that are also introducing their culture through fashion.

I want my clothes to represent women empowerment, women should feel empowered when they wear my clothes.

Besides fashion, I learned new things from the countries I visited. Living in China was a great experience but certainly not an easy one. One of the biggest challenges was the language not many could speak English. In my traveling, I also found that in almost all countries women were actively participating in the society,

I saw more women working than men, I think almost 60-70% of women in China are working. In Afghanistan, it is the contrary you barely see women taking part in  our society.

With my designs I want to create a picture of a modern and strong woman, I want women to feel empowered when they wear my clothes and how you look on the outside reflects on how you feel about yourself on the inside.

Ayeda Shadab, Model and fashion designer