Reading the Subtleties of Islamic Fashion

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Vanessa Friedman

Models in designs by Calvin Thoo at the Islamic Fashion
Festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Credit Vincent Thian/Associated Press

MALAYSIA---There are so many fashion weeks these days, from the Big Four (London, New York, Paris and Milan) to Tokyo, Rio, Miami and Abu Dhabi, among others, that I often think I could pass the year going from one to another, the way John Cheever’s Swimmer stroked his way across the pools of the suburbs. But even to a jaded observer, a fashion event took place last week that seemed — well, not like the other ones: the Islamic Fashion Festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I was not the only one who found it confusing. But that, it turned out, was precisely the point. [link]