Sarah Bahaa: The Egyptian Fashion Designer on a Mission to Change Hijabi Fashion
Whenever people say fashion designer, I would always imagine a man in a suit that’s going through a midlife crisis. As of recently, the fashion scene has changed so much in the Middle East, and we’ve been hearing names of younger designers who are making it big.
One of the recent ladies to make it to the fashion scene is Sarah Bahaa; a 22-year-old fashion designer who’s been turning heads. Bahaa is an art student at Helwan University with designs that extremely compliment the women’s figures, yet managing to still staying classy and even modest, making her a top pick for hijabi women.
Bahaa, who is a hijabi herself, started her journey in the fashion industry by making designs for herself since it was always a struggle for her to find any clothes without wearing an undershirt, the dreaded “body.”
“People always used to ask me where I got my clothes from. My clothes always turned heads because they looked good and didn’t need any undergarments to cover up for my hijab. Then I met a girl who asked me where I got my clothes from and when I told her I made them, she asked why didn’t I sell my work?”
Bahaa has always been a fan of the arts. As a child, she used to sketch out drawings and designs without even realizing they could be actual clothes. The idea the girl gave her about selling her designs seemed very appealing to her, and got her motivated to do so.
“Ever since this girl told me to sell my designs I’ve been doing nothing but sketch, sketch, and sketch. Then at October 2016, I decided to prepare all my designs, including some stuff I wanted to do for myself personally, and I made a collection.”
“Before I was done with the collection, Cairo Fashion Festival was there and I made some dresses specifically for the event, including my dress, my sister’s and some others for models and socialites. The feedback was great! I was stopped to get asked, ‘who are you wearing?’ This event gave me a little bit of a head start before the release of my first collection.”
After Bahaa’s little teaser at the CFF event, she released her first collection, and it was very well received, especially by veiled women who always struggle with finding the right clothes.
“My mission is to make veiled girls look good. I don’t want us to get used to having to wear undergarments or jackets to cover ourselves, I want fashion that’s done just for us.”
“I’m currently working on my second collection, and the whole collection will be targeted for veiled girls, but of course, women without veils could wear them too and still look good. I want all women to look good, but I want to focus on veiled women cause we don’t have much options. We want to look good without all the effort.
I don’t want us to worry anymore, I want us to just wear whatever we can. Not just with dresses, but also with casual wear. As hijabis, we should be wearing somewhat loose pants, for example. Because we don’t just struggle with dresses and evening wear, we struggle with everything!”
