Anniesa Hasibuan’s hijabs fit for royalty at New York Fashion Week

Models walk the runway for the Anniesa Hasibuan show during New York Fashion Week on February 14, 2017, in New York City. AFP

In just two seasons, Indonesian Muslim designer Anniesa Hasibuan has made the hijab her trademark. This week, the designer, who has an outlet in Abu Dhabi, dazzled New York Fashion Week’s catwalk by styling it with flowing, iridescent gowns fit for a princess.

Like in her New York show last fall — which cemented her status as a rising star — all of the models who showcased Hasibuan’s autumn/winter 2017 collection sported lustrous grey hijabs that sculpted the facial features while carefully covering the hair.

Hasibuan’s collection features shimmering, on-trend pleats, silver and golden ruffles, and long trains adorned with pearls, glitter or embroidery.

“There is beauty in diversity and differences — something we should not be afraid of,” she says, speaking through an interpreter. “I believe being a fashion designer can bring a lot of changes, and beautiful changes, of course.”

Hasibuan unveiled her second New York collection amid controversy over US President Donald Trump’s recent executive order on immigration, currently blocked by a US court, that bars refugees and migrants from seven Muslim-majority nations. The decree ignited mass protests and global condemnation.

Hasibuan, however, aims to keep her work, which is primarily geared toward Muslim women, “separate” from politics.

“I’m here bringing the beautiful voice of the Muslim women, the peace and the universal values that fashion can offer,” she says.

Her dream would be to dress Kate Middleton, who the designer says is “like a queen’, adding she admires the Duchess of Cambridge mostly for “her elegance”.

Hasibuan won worldwide praise for her fall collection in New York last September, the first to feature a hijab in every look.

Since then she has opened new shops in her home country Indonesia as well as in Malaysia, Turkey and Abu Dhabi — proffering modern Islamic clothing dripping in glamour.

Chiara Sari, Indonesia’s vice consul in New York, donned a white hijab atop a black, velvet top and black trousers to attend the show, pulling her contemporary look together with a statement necklace.

The hijab is Hasibuan’s “trademark, and I don’t think she will lose that”, says Sari.

Since Trump’s contentious decree Sari has spent significant time reassuring her fellow Indonesians in the United States, while also urging them to “avoid travelling abroad” to reduce the risk of not being able to re-enter.

For Sari, Hasibuan’s growing fame is a gift. “Hopefully that will increase familiarity with Islam in general, especially now when it is getting a lot of bad press,” she adds.

* Agence France Presse