Sherly SusisOnce a diamond in the rough, years of market research and a determination to bring only the best to the table finally culminated in the debut of Al Hayaah Enterprise, during a soft launch event on August 29 at its store in Kiulap.
A local Muslimah fashion brand, Al Hayaah offers a line of hijabs and shawls, as well as jewellery through a special collaboration with Swarovski.
A glittering innovation
“We are the second company in the world to develop our own material ourselves, and the only one currently in the Bruneian market,” said its founder, Maimun Abdullah. “The material in question is soft, breathable and made of 100% silk.”
And with the choice to embellish one’s shawls with Swarovski crystals according to your personal taste, Al Hayaah is certainly stepping up to be one of the upcoming Muslimah-focused fashion brands to watch.
The power of Muslimah fashion
What was once a niche market, the “modest” fashion catered towards Muslim women is steadily becoming a tool of creativity and empowerment wrapped up in femininity and a way to explore fashion, while still celebrating one’s identity, and it’s proven to be an extremely lucrative market as well. After all, the industry currently garners hundreds of billions of dollars on an annual basis.
In addition to Al Hayaah, several fashion brands that are currently making strides towards elevating Muslimah fashion globally include Louella by Olympic bronze medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad, who was the first Muslim-American woman to compete in a hijab during the 2016 Olympics, as well as Nzinga Knight New York by Nzinga Knight. Knight was the first Muslim-American hijabi to have competed on the reality TV show Project Runway, and her designs influenced by the conceptual marriage of her love for fashion, and her own upbringing as a young Muslim woman.
Current collections, with more to come
Al Hayaah currently has three collections: the Signature Collection, the Nur Collection and the Habibti Collection, and the brand also unveiled a new exclusive collection during the launch, known as the Exclusive Elham 2020 Collection.
The new collection, designed by local designer Sara Khadra Khalidkha, pays homage to the brand’s native roots by incorporating traditional Bruneian motifs into the design such as the tenunan with well-known flowers of Brunei, the Bunga Simpur and Bunga Pusing. But it wasn’t an easy endeavour.
“The success to failure ratio wasn’t very high in the beginning, and we struggled to bring these pieces to life,” Maimun explained. “But in the end, we finally did it.”
Due to the intricacy of its design, there are only 100 shawls available in this particular collection — another testament to its uniqueness and exclusivity.
With plans to expand domestically and internationally, we’re definitely expecting to see more from Al Hayaah in the near future!
Did you know?
In conjunction with their soft launching, Al Hayaah is currently offering 10% off on all of their collections for a limited time only! Don’t miss out on your very own beautiful, Swarovski-embellished shawl!.