Who comes up with the oh so cute ads? I.e. late for tea?
Oh! Our ads…Haha. Our ads are planned right from the beginning, so we kind of plan the ads before we design the clothes. We all came up with your’e late for tea, and we knew we wanted the illustrations to give the Hijab a bigger personality. You should see our next ads! Ssshh..secret.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
From really unusual places!!, People’s homes, Swedish forests or old photographs. The print on Our Waisted Abaya and floral hijabs both came from a provincial arm chair in my Aunt’s living room, and a skirt we are bringing out for winter was inspired by the travelling women of the early 20th century. The emphasis is on objects of the past, and how we can reconcile them with the future.
What has the response been like from the hijab wearers?
At first, people were intimidated. A hijab store? In the middle of a major shopping centre? Outrageous! We ‘re quite different to other stores in Sydney. Our packaging is different. Our mannequins looks different. Our sales are held differently. It took time for people to get used to us, but now everyone loves Hijab House.
Can we really be modest and fashionable?… you sure can. Fashionable can mean many things. A new print. A new cut or an innovative fabric. While we will never bring out figure hugging dresses or see through hijabs, our fashion direction will come from prints, cuts and fabrics.
Our style is…Simple, well-made basics like jersey abayas and signature cuts, with luxurious, feminine accessories piled on top. All at very good value of course!
Our style can go from simple and understated to elaborate and expressive – it’s all up to you!
A perfect outfit should be…neat, well-thought out and should tell a story. Every single Hijab House item tells a story, we love tugging at people’s imagination.
Our biggest achievement to date is…wow, um…honestly? Just the little things like making people leave with huge smiles on their faces, or inspiring women to wear the hijab for the first time, because they couldn’t find a place they belonged to. I think these little moments are what we’re most proud of. You’d be surprised how often it happens!
You probably won’t know this but…everything in Hijab house, is designed and made by Hijab House itself, from the prints to the cuts, we do it all!
Our next challenge will be…expanding our abaya and skirt range. It was never part of our original business vision but most women like to buy everything at once, and our abayas are popular as it is!
Could you see yourself designing for the bridal market? We’re actually working on that at the moment! We’d love to do a couture bridal collection one day. I can see it now…luxurious silks, organza's, pearls and embellishments. We won’t be afraid to use a bit of colour too!
Which designer inspires you? Everyone in the office is loving Rodarte. Their latest collection is so modest, so feminine and the colours! It conjures up images of a big wheat field and farmyard sunsets.
How does it feel to know your inspiring women all over the world…? It’s incredibly rewarding. Once, we received an email from a sister in Germany who was experiencing some hardships living in a predominantly German area with hardly any other Muslims. She was being taunted because of her Hijab and no one understood what it was. In her email, she was actually inspired by our store to be more brave because we had been brave in opening up in a Major Australian Mall. We then sent her out some gifts to cheer her up and they worked! We try and cheer people up whenever we can. It means a lot to us.
When can we get out hand on your work…UK USA etc? Very soon! We promise! We want the online store to be as easy to navigate as possible – so it may take a bit longer, but it will be worth it. We promise.
Will you consider opening stores outside Australia? Hijab House was made for the international market. We can’t wait! Indonesia and Malaysia very soon. Woo!
What are the non Muslims reactions to the store? Amazing! Another one of our proud achievements. We went out and made big beautiful posters, hung them out in the open, and watched people as they walked buy. They’ve been inspired, intrigued and we have so many non-muslims walk in and ask really positive questions. All because we’ve been brave enough to open in the middle of a major shopping mall.
Want to have a peek instore? of course you do...
