* Designers, emigres showcase traditional Afghan dresses
* Colourful designs contrast with plain, head-to-toe burqas
* Dress code for students stirs fears of wider crackdown
By Sonia Elks
Sept 21 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Kabul-born fashion designer Anjilla Seddeqi has long drawn inspiration for her formalwear collections from the bright, intricate and embellished traditional dress of Afghan women.
But now, with the Taliban back in power, she and other emigre Afghan women are championing their homeland’s rich clothing heritage to protest against a new dress code for female students, and help women affected by the movement’s return.
“I feel like what the Taliban are trying to do is to eradicate Afghan women from society in general, and then to also eradicate our culture. And part of that is our dress,” Seddeqi, 39, said by phone from Australia, where she moved as a child.
“They need to be called out all the time … Silence is not an option,” said Seddeqi, whose bold and colourful eveningwear creations are cut in brocade and silks.
