My Story
Sabihah Khan
Asalaam Alaykum Sisters,
First of all apologies for not getting this blog post finished straight after I launched, it was always my intention to launch with a short blog post with a little introduction to me and the factors that steered me down the path of starting my own clothing line. It has been insanely busy in my life recently with my brother and sister getting married around about the same time.
So it all began when as young girl I saw my mother regularly on her sewing machine making clothes for herself and for others. As children do, I started to imitate her and it wasn’t long before I was designing and sewing my own clothes as well as experimenting with different fabrics to see what I could create.
I made the conscious decision to wear hijab at the age of 15 and my first abaya was biege which stood out as it was different from the most commonly used black. This did raise eyebrows as it was different from the norm but I didn’t want to look like everyone else. Wearing oversized black jersey abayas wasn’t my type of modesty as I felt like I was drowning in endless yards of material. Cheap abayas or shoddy designer replicas just didn't fit in with my style.
Clothing that suited my needs was extremely limited on the high street. The other option was to spend weekends in local Asian shops trying to find abayas but all I came across was black low quality fabric and poorly made abayas that failed to impress me. I soon realised finding modest clothing that was appealing to me was an impossible task. I started buying fabrics that I liked and tailored them to create dresses and abayas exactly the way I wanted, clothes that would make me feel confident and look stylish without compromising my modesty. The clothes that I made for myself started gaining attention from friends and family and they started asking me to make something similar for them. I would usually give them my current abaya and make a new one for myself. They were so impressed with my clothes that they would encourage me to start my own brand.
While shopping on the high street I would always think to myself, if only that dress had full-length sleeves or was a maxi length. Finding outfits like that, that weren’t designer, was extremely difficult and I was always left feeling frustrated. Buying high street outfits and adding layers to try to make them modest didn't work for me as I always felt I was trying to cover over the root problem that I knew could be solved with a few simple design changes.
My view on modesty is that it should make Muslim women feel confident, elegant and comfortable. I have always wanted to dress modestly but still be able to look presentable and feel confident in my attire. My wardrobe consists of only a few well-tailored dresses that I love to wear again and again and create different looks with. Quality is worth more than quantity. A few well-tailored pieces can be mixed and matched and kept for years rather than fast fashion items that may only last one wash or lose its form and feel uncomfortable after one use. I can say I have felt like this on many occasions.
So there you have it - a little bit about me, my background and some reasons why I wanted to start my own brand. The next few blog posts will talk about the challenges I faced in setting up my brand and the process of making a dress from start to finish. I will also be writing about the inspirations behind some of my pieces in the first and future collections inshAllah.
I would love to hear your thoughts, you can get in touch with me via email, instagram DM or send a quick tweet, whatever you prefer.
Wa'alaykum Asalaam
Love Sabihah