ISM Sweden shows H&M's new spring collection

Gothenburg, Sweden. At 4.30 pm today, ISM Sweden could reveal the latest fashion outside H&M's main store in Gothenburg. It was clear that the latest fashion had been inspired by the decision to open seven stores in the apartheid state of Israel. This spring's colour is army green, accompanied by accessories such as machine guns and helmets.

Around the catwalk which was set from H&M's main store, a descent crowd of spectators soon gathered, showing a great interest in what was going on. ISM handed out flyers informing about H&M's decision to establish in Israel, a decision that has been condemned by 48 human rights organizations. There were some people who changed their minds and turned around as they were about to enter H&M to shop.

Half an hour later the guards of H&M wished to cancel the fashion show because it "disturbed the customers", a view that was not shared by the police who allowed the action continue.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IXglFpSTvM

Bathrobe brigades in Amsterdam informing people about the dirty secrets of Ahava beauty products in front of a store that sells the product. (Cris Toala Olivares)

By Adri Nieuwhof* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

The international campaign to boycott Ahava beauty products has recently won the support of a Dutch parliamentarian and an Israeli peace group. During the past few months, activists in Canada, the UK, Ireland, Israel, the United States and the Netherlands have campaigned against the sale of Ahava products because of the company's complicity in the Israeli occupation.

The Stolen Beauty campaign has included protest actions by "bikini brigades" around the United States organized by the American peace group CODEPINK, and allied actions have taken place in London, Paris, Vienna, Montreal and Amsterdam. The Dutch "bathrobe brigades" that appeared in shopping centers in Amsterdam and Haarlem, not only caught the eye of the press, but also that of Dutch parliamentarian Harry van Bommel.

Ahava manufactures its cosmetics in a factory in the illegal Mitzpe Shalem settlement in the occupied West Bank. However, Ahava labels its skin care products imported into the EU as originating from "The Dead Sea, Israel." Van Bommel, concerned about this misleading labeling, asked Dutch minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen to investigate the origin of Ahava cosmetics, and Verhagen agreed.

The settlements Mitzpe Shalem and Kalia, located deep within the Israeli-occupied West Bank, own 44 percent of the shares of the company. Before the June 1967 war, Palestinians lived on some of the lands that are now part of the two settlements; there were Palestinian communities in Nabi Musa where Kalia is now located and in Arab al-Taamira next to Mitzpe Shalem.

According to the Israeli group Who Profits From the Occupation? (www.whoprofits.org), the mud used in Ahava products is taken from a site on the shores of the Dead Sea inside the occupied territory, next to Kalia. Ahava uses Palestinian natural resources without the permission of or compensation to the Palestinians. Meanwhile, Israel denies Palestinians access to the shores of the Dead Sea and its resources, although one-third of the western shore of the Dead Sea lies in the occupied West Bank.

This week Palestinian tourism minister Khouloud Daibes voiced her disagreement with Ahava's practices in the West Bank. In protest of Israel's aspirations to nominate the Dead Sea for the Seven Natural Wonders of the World competition, Daibes wrote her Israeli counterpart a letter to express her objection to "promoting the Dead Sea in the competition, alongside products like Ahava, which are produced illegally in the Israeli settlement on occupied Palestinian lands."

Recently, the international campaign to boycott Ahava beauty products received support from the Israeli peace group Gush Shalom, which sent an open letter on 17 November to Ahava's management, urging the company to move its operations out of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Gush Shalom stated: "Your decision to locate in Occupied Territory and make use of natural resources which do not belong to Israel was a mistaken gamble which already harmed your interests and might harm them even much further. Sooner or later you will have to get out of this damaging and illegal location -- and the sooner, the better."

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, parliamentarian Van Bommel told The Electronic Intifada he welcomes the international Ahava campaign. "It might appear a minor issue, but it is important as an example of [Israel] economically hampering the realization of a Palestinian state." He added that he would welcome initiatives in other EU countries to raise the issue in their parliaments. "Subsequently, the pressure on Israel will increase and more importantly, we can engage the public in the debate."

* Adri Nieuwhof is an independent consultant based in Switzerland.

Source: Electronic Intifada

A while ago, the International Herald Tribune had an article about how Muslim fashion designers are getting more creative:

But young Muslim entrepreneurs around the world are making their own fashion statements, modestly, challenging the status quo in their communities as well as stereotypes outside.
[...]
Specialty fashion houses and companies starting distinct ranges intended for fashion-conscious women who observe hijab, which means either covering one's head or, more broadly, dressing modestly, is part of a much wider trend. Filling a market gap for products that either comply with Shariah law or that are simply more attractive to Muslim values is a niche that is attracting increasing numbers of manufacturers and retailers. Toys like the Fulla doll, a modest Barbie of sorts, and comic books with Islamic superheroes like "The 99" are as much a part of this sector as the traditional domains of Islamic finance and halal, or permissible, food.

One of the most interesting designs are the Burqini Swimsuits, specially this female Muslim lifeguard (to the left) in Australia (photo by brimfulofsasha). Definitely not as sexy as Pamela Anderson in Baywatch (to the right), but it serve the purpose, unless your purpose is something else :-p .

What actually brought this subject to my mind is this new Muslim Fashion Magazine, MSLM. The magazine is for Muslim women in the Netherlands.

A group of young fashion-minded women, mostly second generation Moslem clearly stands out in our society. MSLM shows the fashion of this group. Because these young women grew up in the Netherlands, because they are Dutch, their background creates a fashion-clash which results in new interesting forms and silhouettes for both Moslem and non-Moslem women. Designers are inspired and influenced by this, use elements of another culture or design custom-fit products. From traditional to trendy, from the Mid-East to the West.

By MSLM MAMA is showing how we can play in to the wishes of this group of girls whom, with their extra frame of rules and their colourful background, have specific demands for the way they dress. MAMA is very curious to what the industry has planned for them!

[Source: MAMA]

Natasa Heydra has a little preview of the shoots in the magazine here (click thumbnail on the right) and more exciting shoots from the MSLM Exhibition here!

Also don't miss these photoshoots in MSLM fashion magazine - "Where tradition and modernity meet" :

More here!

This one made up my day:

Reuters - Michael Jackson went shopping in Bahrain on Wednesday disguised as a traditional Arab woman, but if it was an attempt by the pop star to avoid attention, it failed.

A Reuters photographer saw him in a popular shopping mall in the center of the capital Manama all in black, with sunglasses, gloves, a veil covering his face and dressed in an abaya, or full-length robe -- but with men's shoes peeping out below.

The 47-year-old seemed to be shopping for new shoes in the mall with three Western-looking children, their faces also covered, and an unidentified woman.

The children drew the attention of other shoppers, who quickly recognized the star who is popular in the Gulf region.

A Bahraini official at the mall confirmed that it was Jackson!

Who wanna bet that in no time, a new 'Abaya' fashion will come to the market called Jackson. Good business for the Asian tailors who fills the Gulf.

What an ironic life!

I don't recall attending any festival, shows, conferences, even business workshops around the Arab world, without having a touch of politics in it. It seems that we are born with a destiny to live a daily political cyclone. Is it a coincidence that ALL of the Middle East, suffered, suffering and will continue to suffer for decades?

I'm not claiming that this is not the case in other parts of the world, but of what I saw and witnessed during my traveling and meeting different peoples from around the world, Middle Eastern suffer most. Don't tell me that it's our mistake. There are millions and millions other people in this world that are less wealthy and more happy. Is that a coincidence?

The criminal assault on Iraq and Palestine is serendipitously driving the Arab masses into political life, the genuine politics of the street, heated debate, and the empowerment that grows out of confrontation with power. The peaceful rallies that meet with cordons of baton-wielding police, tear gas, water cannons, bullets and mass arrests. The people respond by directing their fury, not only at U.S. imperialism, but the pro-U.S. governments that seek to deny them the democracy of street protest. The democracy that might start to look like revolution.

The corporate media has provided some smudged reportage on these demonstrations, which have occurred throughout the Arab world, from Rabat and Casablanca to Beirut and Baghdad. Rarely in citing the numbers do they note that in most parts of the Arab world such demonstrations are illegal and that those who participate are often putting their lives on the line; nor that the U.S. government wants them to be illegal, and applies pressure on Arab governments it subsidizes (notably Egypt) to continue to suppress anti-U.S. dissent.

Look at it, where in the Arab world; politically is stable? Even our hairdresser's have something politically to say!

The Jordanian Committee for the International Petra Beauty Festival has announced that it will present Lebanese singer Haifa Wahbi with the �Beauty and Arts� Award. The festival will take place in Amman Jordan at the end of May and will feature the latest trends in fashion and hairstyles for women.

Haifa was nominated for the prestigious award since she resembles �true Arab beauty,� (ehemm...) in addition to her great contributions to the entertainment world.

On the other hand, Haifa plans on making a serious commitment to end the series of rumors that have been circulating about a secret marriage.

AwareFashion are clothes that react to invisible communication technology in the surrounding and thus enable the wearer to sense their immediate digital environment. The detection device is hidden in a detachable pocket and the fiber optics sewed into the cloth. When a mobile is near, small light spots appear on the sleeve.

KITTY, a finger-mounted keyboard for data entry into PDA's, Pocket PC's and Wearable Computers which has been developed here at the University of California in Irvine.
KITTY was one of this years ISWC (Int. Symposium on Wearable Computers) Wearable Fashion Show main features (see here).

KITTY, an acronym for Keyboard-Independent Touch-TYping, is a fingermounted keyboard that uses touch-typing as the method of data entry.

The device targets the portable computing market and in particular wearable computing systems, which are in the need of a silent, "invisible" data entry system based on touch-typing. The new device combines the idea of a finger-mounted chording device (such as the "Twiddler" by the HandKey Corp.), with the advantages of a system that uses touch-typing (such as the Virtual Keyboard by Senseboard or the Scurry by Samsung).

However, the KITTY system has distinct and important advantages in comparison to the mentioned devices (see attached Comment.txt document).

A patent application for KITTY has been submitted. We also have secured the international rights on the device.

More information about KITTY (including a Flash Demo) can be found at Kittytech.

This is hijab-in-fashion week. Armani thinks the headscarf (also known as Islam's 6th-fard-for-women-only) is cool and in-fashion.

And indeed, in Beirut's annual Fashion Week, being held this week, the hijab made some appearances (see photos on this page) in designs by Egyptian Hani Buhiari and Saudi Amina Al Jassem.

However, some of the designs lacked both hijab and coverings of other "ornaments," and so did not pass MWU! censors, such as this outfit by Lebanese designer Dany Atrache and the one at the end of this entry (do not click on the "continue reading" link if you are easily offended or if you have been undergoing i'tikaf at Muzammil Siddiqi's mosque for the full extent of your adult life).

As Armani told an Italian newspaper, "You can be packed with explosives even with your face uncovered."

So in a way, Arab and Muslim fashion designers are doing their part in the "War on Terror"--the way they must figure it, the less there is to wear, the fewer explosives there are to hide.

[via: MWU]
337.2984-295.574

Biometric Bodysuits.

A team of the Applied NanoBioscience Center at Arizona State University has built prototypes of biometric bodysuits. They can detect chemical attacks, deliver drugs to their wearers, or even perfume scents if your body temperature rises too much. The military version of the Scentsory Chameleon Bodysuit incorporates fuel cells to provide a lightweight source of power for the soldier's equipment. The civilian one can monitor your heart or blood pressure, deliver interactive games or simply work as a wearable computer. You will even be able to download new colors and patterns from the Web to change your appearance. Both versions should reach the market within a few years.

Frederic Zenhausern, director of the Applied NanoBioscience Center at ASU, has joined with Ghassan Jabbour, a professor at the University of Arizona, to develop two prototypes of "biometric bodysuits" that contain embedded sensors, power sources, microfluidic devices and other gadgets not normally associated with the latest Paris fashions.

Such "smart" clothing could give future soldiers early warning of chemical attacks or automatically deliver insulin to diabetics, Zenhausern said.

"The biometric bodysuit shows how electronics and fluidics can be incorporated into clothing to perform a wide range of tasks, from highly functional to the aesthetic," he said.

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Here is a photograph of the military version of the Chameleon biometric bodysuit taken by I4U News during the Wired's Nextfest 2004 held last May in San Francisco.

This biometric outfit demonstrates how miniature electronics could be embedded in clothing to promote health. It is made of clear vinyl and white plastics to show the placement of various electronic and fluidic devices. In the future, such an outfit could diagnose diseases and deliver medications to the wearer, monitor heart rate or blood pressure, deliver interactive games and other forms of entertainment or function as a wearable computer.

Another possibility would be to download different designs from the Internet so the fabric could change colors and patterns, Zenhausern said. And it could all be made to look stylish by blending the electronics with high-fashion designs, he said.

Source: Tribune Online