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Women don’t just wear burkas in Afghanistan — that is a stereotype,” says Zolaykha Sherzad, 42, an architect turned fashion designer who has many myths to dispel about her country.

Photo: Jack Brockway

“In Kabul, there is a trend for long skirts and suit jackets, while the younger generation wear skinny jeans with long shirts that cover their butts. And what’s fashionable right now, as a hijab, are light, sheer scarves draped about the head and shoulders.”

Zolaykha’s womenswear label is Zarif Design and she wants to use it to show Afghanistan in a new light. “It isn’t just about war. When people in the West see pictures of Afghanistan, they’re sad ones: destroyed towns or widows and orphans. But there is also beauty. The people have power and strength. They’re inspired, they’re just very poor.”

Often described as Afghanistan’s only fashion designer — in the sense that we know them — Zolaykha hosted the country’s first fashion show in Kabul in 2006, and has since held trunk shows in New York, Dubai, Delhi and Paris. “There is a fashion industry in Afghanistan but on a very small scale and not in the way we’d describe fashion in the West. On every street you have a tailor: but they are men, tailoring traditional outfits for men.” Afghanistan’s alternative to high street fashion is a recent flurry of cheap, synthetic imports from Pakistan and China, which have been readily adopted by the locals. “People don’t have much money, or electricity. Synthetic clothes are easy to wear and don’t need ironing.”

But Zolaykha didn’t launch Zarif Design as a label to revolutionise the Afghan fashion industry. In fact, 90 per cent of its customers live outside Afghanistan. Her idea was to provide work, creativity and focus for dispirited Afghans. In that way, the label is as much a social enterprise project as a fashion brand.
“My first aim is not to provide fashion but economic means. I set up the label in 2004 to provide work for eight women who had skills but no means to make money.” Zolaykha now employs 50 people at her two workshops in Afghanistan, 60 per cent of them female — a huge step in a country where women are usually forbidden to go to work by the Taliban.

“My main purpose is for them to earn a decent wage doing something in an environment where everyone — from the tailors, to the weavers to the managers — is respected at an equal level. Working on the label encourages creativity, and is a way of reviving traditional Afghan crafts and skills. It offers variety from the humdrum of everyday life.”

Zolaykha was born in Afghanistan but now lives between New York and Kabul with her architect husband and two sons, aged 12 and five. Her family fled Kabul during the Moscow-backed coup in 1978, when Zolaykha was 10, and took refuge in Switzerland. Zolaykha later trained as an architect at the New York Fashion Institue of Technology, where she met her husband. When he was offered a role rebuilding Afghanistan, the couple moved to Kabul temporarily. This is when she had the idea for Zarif Design.

“I wanted to connect to the people in Afghanistan and help them. I didn’t know where it might lead. Over the last six years the label has not only helped Afghans but it has enriched my life.”

Next week, Zarif Designs will be the star attraction at the Afghan Fashion Show, a charity catwalk show to be held at Porchester Hall, which has been organised by Bridget Cowper Coles and Lady Sarah Jackson, whose husbands are the former British ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Sherard Cowper Coles and former head of the British Army General Sir Mike Jackson. The night will be dedicated to the murdered British doctor, Karen Woo, who was one of the show’s founding committee members.

Meanwhile, Zarif Design has a new mentor — fashion matriarch Agnès B. “She asked me, How can I help?’” says Zolaykha. “In January she gave me a place in her store in Paris, and we’ll be selling jackets and coats in the London shop after the catwalk show. Staff at the workshop are thrilled.”

Afghan Fashion Show 2010 is on October 7, at Porchester Hall, W2, in aid of Afghanaid and ABF, The Soldier’s Charity. Tickets £75. afghanfashionshow.org.uk. Zarfi Design is available from Agnès B, Marylebone High Street, and Fenwick, Bond Street, from October 7: jackets and coats £180 to £300. All proceeds support the tailors and sustain their workshops in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Shortly after the event she visited Afghanistan and fell in love with the country and its people. Since March 2009, Dr. Woo has actively supported Afghanaid, forwarded her own health care initiatives in Afghanistan (Bridge Afghanistan and Conflict of Interest) and was a member of the 2010 Afghan Fashion Show committee.

The Afghan Show Committee pays tribute to a friend and colleague. Lady Bridget Cowper-Coles says “we will always remember Karen’s life with admiration and affection and her departure from this world with deepest sorrow.”

The 2010 Afghan Fashion Show will be dedicated in memory of Dr. Karen Woo.

The Afghan Fashion Show 2010 has the support of His Excellency Homayoun Tandar, the Afghan Ambassador in London, and an endorsement from the HRH The Prince of Wales. It will be introduced by Kit Hesketh‐Harvey and is supported by of some of the key players currently on the British fashion scene, so it will have a high profile. The show will be styled by Kamran Khavari’s well‐known production team Khavari‐Miller who will create an Afghan themed evening with his trademark style and elegance. The model Olivia Inge will head up the catwalk and lead a team of her friends, who will also model some ethnic Afghan clothes, lent by leading Afghan families.

The Show will showcase Zarif Design, the work of Zolaykha Sherzad, a New York based Afghan born designer who is becoming known internationally with recent shows in Dubai, Delhi, London, New York and Paris where her designs are currently on sale in Agnes B. Zarif Design (it means fine, precious in Farsi) was founded by Zolaykha in 2004 to revive the Afghan artistic culture and all the clothes are made in her workshops in Afghanistan by local men and women ‐“I want to show people that Afghanistan is not all about war, orphanages and Burquas. It’s also about textiles, and history and culture. It’s about beauty.”

During the evening, exotic cocktails and mouth‐watering canapés will be served. There will be a Bazaar selling ethnic jewellery and clothes from Afghanistan and also an “Accessorize” competition where work from students at the University of the Creative Arts will be judged by a panel of experts from across the fashion world. An Auction of Promises Website will accompany the event and the 5 top items will be auctioned on the night.

All proceeds from the evening will be shared equally between Afghanaid which has worked there tirelessly for 30 years and the ABF – The Soldiers’ Charity which gives life‐time support to serving and retired soldiers and their families.

Zarif Design was started by Zolaykha in 2004 to revive the Afghan artistic culture and all her clothes are made in workshops in Afghanistan by local men and women. She says, “I want to show people that Afghanistan is not all about war, orphanages and Burquas. It’s also about textiles, and history and culture. It’s about beauty.”

The Afghan Fashion Show 2010, has the support of HRH The Prince of Wales and HE the Afghan Ambassador. The evening will be introduced by Kit Hesketh‐Harvey and styled by Kamran Khavari who will create an Afghan themed evening with his trademark style and elegance. Top models lead by Olivia Inge will show the clothes.

This charitable event is the brainchild of Bridget Cowper‐Coles and Sarah Jackson who got to know and care about Afghanistan through accompanying their husbands: Sir Sherard Cowper‐Coles, former British ambassador to Afghanistan and General Sir Mike Jackson, former Head of the British Army.

All proceeds from the evening will be shared equally between two charities directly involved with Afghanistan ‐ Afghanaid which has worked tirelessly in Afghanistan for 30 years and the ABF – The Soldiers’ Charity which gives life‐time support to serving and retired soldiers and their families and is facing ever increasing requests for assistance. http://www.soldierscharity.org/.

Afghanaid operates in some of the most remote and needy regions providing vital support for communities and especially women ‐many of whom have helped produce the clothes on show. http://www.afghanaid.org.uk/

Fashion Show website: www.afghanfashionshow.org.uk

For all further information, please contact: info@afghanfashionshow.org.uk

For a downloadable version of the full press pack, please click here.