For discussion of this book we selected the charming little cafe Amelie in Zagreb which I previously wrote about here. Lucija, Diana, Anita met in person, while Armina who lives in Sarajevo joined in later during the group discussion.
"Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali is written in two parts. First part tells the story of Ayaan's childhood while second part tells the story of her escape from a forced marriage and the brutal militant Islam regime in Somalia.
"Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali is written in two parts. First part tells the story of Ayaan's childhood while second part tells the story of her escape from a forced marriage and the brutal militant Islam regime in Somalia.
In second part, Ayaan shares her wonder of arriving in modernity of Netherlands, and her relentless effort to create a productive, independent life for herself. An outspoken advocate of the rights of Muslim women, she was elected to the Dutch parliament in 2003. Ayaan became a notorious critic of Islam, at one point daring to call the Prophet Muhammad a pervert for consummating marriage with one of his many wives when she was only nine years old.
In 2004, she made a short film called Submission: Part 1 in which she depicted women mistreated under Islamic law raising their heads and refusing to submit any longer. Tragically, the film’s producer, Theo van Gogh, was brutally murdered by an offended Muslim, who left on van Gogh’s body a letter threatening Ayaan to kill her.
Since 2004, Ayaan has had to live under the constant protection of bodyguards, often going into hiding for months at a time, currently she lives in US.
"At the time Christian charismatics were no less aggressive then the radical Muslims. Maybe people were just holding on for what was comforting and safe." - Ayaan Hirsi Ali (page 108)
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS
On the photo: Anita and Diana
Anita liked the way in which this book was written. It was easy to follow the story and relate to the feelings author wanted to portray, however she didn't like the part where Ayaan started to impose her political opinions towards the end of the book.
Lucija pointed out how this book made her
question her religious believes. She always considered herself to be quite
liberal towards other religions, but she never took time to better investigate
Islam as a religion. She wasn’t aware of the fact that radical Islamist separate themselves
in their own communities when living in a foreign country, not for the sake of nurturing
their religion and culture, but due to the fact that they consider other none-Muslims
filthy.
Katarina - for me, the most memorable text in the book were last 10 pages where Ayaan fairly states that her giving up the faith is her private decision, she doesn't thinks all Muslim women should do it, she thinks Islam is a religion in which some of the practices need to be taken with reserve and not literary and they should be adopted to liberal democracy and the reality of living in 21st. century. To be perfectly fair, I think this should be done with Catholicism as well (women to be able to become priests, Church should be paying taxes etc.)
Lucija was also intrigued by the moment in the book when Ayaan came to
asylum in Netherlands and was surprise to see how different then her Bosnian Muslims
are.
Diana was particularly shocked when she
learned that excision (genital mutilation) is still happening in radical Muslim
communities not only in third world countries but also in communities stationed
in Western European countries.
UNDERSTANDING OF ISLAM
On the photo: Anita
Diana pointed out that the negative
connotations of Islam for Westerners often come from the fear of unknown. Diana considers herself Catholic but she is
against many of the things Catholic Church preaches and has done in the past.
Armina, who is a Muslim from Bosnia, who
survived a war in Bosnia, understands and practices her religion in modern
and peaceful way said that she has negative opinion on the topics as the one
discussed in this book. She thinks this book is politically motivated as many
other books against Islam in the last 10 years and gives completely wrong
picture of Islam as a religion to people who know nothing or little about it. Armina thinks Ayaan’s descriptions are
over exaggerated and sensationalized with the goal of making Islam look bad, focusing on self-promotion and selling the book.
Anita commented that she respects the
different opinions of this book but she still highly recommends it and thinks
it is a very motivating and intriguing female life story. Even if Ayaan has after
escaping to Europe from a Somalia managed to do all she did: to educate herself and bravely speak up on sensitive subjects, consequently earning money from this
book, so be it, good for her.
Katarina - the second time I started reading this book I also got the Quaran in English and the Bible to read in parallel, where I saw that indeed many of the verses from both books if taken literary as radical leaders take them in order to manipulate with poor, hungry and uneducated masses in the countries without real government leadership can be extremely violent and deadly, as these people are used and manipulated by a small group as an army of mortuaries.
This is what I think is now happening in the Middle East and in some other third world countries. I agree with Ayaan when she saids that Islam in majority of Muslim countries now in the world (in terms of population size) did't go through the reformation and enlightenment but is practiced the same as in 7th or 8th century, and these practices do not belong to 21st century.
"No book is completely holly, the problem arises when the secret books are taken as absolute. Muslims should us their free will when understanding what is written in Quran. In the Quran, Alah calls himself benign and remorseful and a number of times He mentions that he has given us a free will. In comparison to Judaism and Catholicism, in Islam a penance to Allah."
writes Ayaan
This is what I think is now happening in the Middle East and in some other third world countries. I agree with Ayaan when she saids that Islam in majority of Muslim countries now in the world (in terms of population size) did't go through the reformation and enlightenment but is practiced the same as in 7th or 8th century, and these practices do not belong to 21st century.
Armina thinks that Ayaan’s horrific
childhood molestation and mutilation have more to do with the third world African
culture where she is raised then with the true meaning and the practice of
Islam as a religion in general.
Armina points out that those who are the
strongest critics of Islam mostly haven’t even read the Quran and investigated the religion in depth. She finds it sad that people are blaming and
stereotyping all of the Muslims according to terrorist deeds of Muslim extremists, she saids
that this would be the same as if she would blame the Serbs as a nation for the
deeds of the Serbs who attacked her country - Bosnia.
On the photo: Lucija
Lucija concludes that although she is a Catholic
she doesn’t believe in Catholic Church – Vatican, but she believes in God and the
community of people with same believes who are "The Church" in her eyes.
"Why are infidels enjoying the life in peace in democracy while we - true Muslim nations, are killing each other when we are the ones who are respecting the God in the right way?"
asks Ayaan in the book (page 269)
WOMEN IN ISLAM
Armina points out that the base of every religion (Islam as well) is not to hurt any other live being (man, women, child) no matter where and how in the world religion is to be practiced. Armina pointed out the verse from Islam refering to the way man should treat women (which I also found) which saids: "The Best Among You, Is The Best To his Wife".
Ayaan compares relationship between God and human in Islam as a relationship of a master and a slave and saids that Quran is written by a human and not God (which also goes for Bible). She claims that Islam as she knows it is taking all of the human rights from women.
Ayaan compares relationship between God and human in Islam as a relationship of a master and a slave and saids that Quran is written by a human and not God (which also goes for Bible). She claims that Islam as she knows it is taking all of the human rights from women.
The most memorable and suitable quote from the book for Anita was comparison of Muslim women with the birds in the cage who are still afraid to fly out to the freedom even when you wide open the doors of their cage.
"Each value I learned from Islam taught me to put myself last.
"Allah said that men must beat his wives if they do not obey, this is written in Quran."
writes Ayaan (page 293)
CONCLUSION
Overall,
the book “Infidel” is definitely eye-opening and shocking, especially for those
of us with a narrow knowledge of Muslim culture and Islam as a religion. It
is hard for us to distinguish the elements of radical vs. more modern Islam
practices.
We have
agreed that the women who are currently going through the suffering which Ayaan
went through while living in Somalia and Middle East in her childhood are probably unfortunately
unable to get in contact with this book and read through Ayaan’s experience and
maybe find motivation to follow Ayaan’s example.
Most of the ladies agreed
that this book should be viewed as memoirs of emancipation of a very determined
and strong woman who is trying to fight her way from what looks like the end of
the world to a modern civilization where she can be the owner and a tailor of
her own destiny.
Did you had a chance to read the "Infidel" ladies? What is your opinion on it?
You can find out more about the La Passion pour la Fashion book club here and read more about the ladies in this exclusive club here. For more photos from this meeting check out our photo gallery. You can see the book we are currently reading in the right column of the blog and are welcome to read along with us and later comment on the book by adding comments to our reviews.
Last summer I posted a couple of color and pattern coded inspirational posts like orange loves pink, crochet and mint..now when I am looking back at them I can see that many trends seem to be here to stay, bright neon colors seem to be here to stay for sure, at least in summer months ahead, they certainly look lovely on the sun bronzed skin.
My favorite neon combo's are one neon piece with white and black, bright orange or leopard print.Ann Taylor makes lovely neon necklaces and Manolo Blahnik even made a neon green Manolo stilettos.
Neon skirt - streetstyle
Neon clutch
Ann Taylor neon necklace
Neon sneakers
Neon shorts
Neon dress editorial - Shanina Shaik Plays it Cool in Sunday Life, Shot by Jeff Hahn
Neon wrap
Neon belt and Manolos
How do you wear your neons lovelies?
“Elegance is a sort of harmony that rather resembles beauty,
with the difference that the beauty is more often a gift of nature and elegance the result of art. Elegance is rare in the modern world, largely because it requires precision, attention to detail, and the careful development of a delicate taste in all forms of manners and style. In short, it does not come easily to most women and never will.”
This is the second book titled Elegance which I read in the last 3 years. My friends often tease me that I have a funny way of picking books (based on the way the cover looks). Ok, it's true that I gravitate towards fancy font, pink colored, girly covers which mostly means that I go for so called chic-lit tittles.
The first book titled Elegance by madame Genevieve Antoine Dariaux I purchased on a yard sales when I lived in Towson, Maryland and went to many yard sales with a lovely lady who I babysat for at the time- Mrs.Deb.
When I came home I parked it at the shelf and didn't get to read it until I moved to NYC to work in fashion industry. I can say, without exaggeration that this book positively contributed to my transition from a young lady to a women, in that particularly sensitive age from teen years to twenties. This book is a complete guide for woman who wants to be well and properly dressed for every occasion, it is a true style bible.
The second book titled Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro is inspired by the original Elegance by French madame Genevieve Antoine Dariaux. It is an interesting and witty real life trial and interpretation of Dariaux's style rules from the original book written in the 1960's by an English lady author Kathleen Tessaro.
I highly recommend you to read this book so I will not tell you how it ends.At first, I felt sorry for the main character Louise Canova, she reminded me very much on a Bridget Jones type of girl, so I had some prejudices as such character is a polar opposite of my own personality. However, as I continued to read, I started feeling as I was her friend, she pulled me into her story and I could relate on many situation she was going through, despite our character differences. I was very proud of her at the end of the book. :)
Here is a short video summary of the book by Kathleen Tessaro herself.
Next, I would like to share a couple of my favorite quotes and style rules from madame Genevieve Antoine Dariaux which I memorized and have continued to ensure myself into as I go through my life adventure, so I hope these help you lovelies as well.
"Being beautiful is no guarantee of happiness in this world.
Strive instead for elegance, grace and style."
“To be elegant is first of all to know oneself,
and to know oneself well requires a certain amount of reflection and intelligence.”
"Refuse to be seduced by anything that isn't first rate!"
"When comfort becomes an end in itself, it is the Public Enemy Number One of elegance."
"Always shop alone. Women who shop with their friends may be popular,
but elegant they are NOT."
"Underwear. Do not confuse beautiful lingerie, the kind that supports well and remains fresh, with the cheap, vulgar stuff of men's magazines. Fascinating? I'm certain. But elegant it is NOT."
For a while now I am following your work
and the way you showcase it. You are not keen to show at media events and to
speak publically, what is the reason behind it?
One of my friends interprets my avoidance of media as a
paranormal behavior (even when I do attend a media event) and he saids that
paranormal is always IN. I don't have a special reason for not showing up at
media events, I do come if I am interested and invited but I am aware that I am perceived as a private and shy person.
Your pieces seem to be made with „real“
everyday women in mind, they are wearable, romantic, seductive, how would you
describe your average client? Who is she?
For me, all women are divas! They walk every day over
invisible red carpet to work, to pick up their kids at the kindergarten, to
meet a friend for a coffee or to go out clubbing at night. My clients are
working, urban women who wants to be elegant all day long, but still quite chic
when it is appropriate. I nurture retro chic style of designing clothes, I want
and try to create timeless pieces or to redesign historically timeless pieces.
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Photos: www.moda.hr editorial
In one of your interview I have read that
you would like to design shoes. Do you have any concrete plans in that
department currently? Which Croatian producer did you have in mind? Would you
have your own brand of shoes?
All that I wanted to do so far in life I managed to do, but on a
bit different way. However designing shoes has remained my unfulfilled wish
unfortunately so far. I would
definitely design my own collection, the only company technically capable to
produce a proper shoe in Croatia is Borovo factory in Vukovar.
Footwear is different then clothing, in shoe making millimeters matter, if you make a minor mistake that shoe is no good anymore, it is very
hard to make a good quality shoe!
Past March you have presented your 10th
collection for local clothing brand Mak. How satisfied are you with this
cooperation? Is it more profitable and safer for Croatian designer to build his
own brand or to work for an established clothing brand? What are advantages and
disadvantages based on your experience?
Based on positive media and client feedback
on my last show, which I had on last Cro-a-porter, I am very happy with my long
term cooperation with Mak clothing brand. I am very proud that I managed to
build up Mak brand with my collections in Croatian market.
To have own clothing brand is an ultimate goal of
every fashion designer. I design my own line under the name Teo.P, this brand
is idle at the moment. Mak clothing brand collections I sign as Teo Perić. For a number of seasons now I have in
parallel design as a contributor for numerous fashion houses and my own brands (which is 4 collections a
year).
To have own line means having your own design style
and creative freedom and to take upon all of the responsibility for the results.
Designing for other clothing brands means designing within a predetermined
frame for already existing customer pool. Creating two totally different
collections in style is quite exhausting and demanding, but every real love
story hurts a bit, so does this mine fashion love story.
Why do you show your collections at
Cro-a-porter? Do you think there are to many fashion events in Croatia?
I have tremendous respect towards the organizer Viktor
Drago who started this event 10 years ago and challenged all other local
events. I think Cro-a-porter is very
influential in branding of Croatian fashion designers and creating a local
fashion market. Thank you Viktor!
You were offered to move and work abroad
but you decided to stay in Croatia, why?
I see life as a puzzle which always misses one piece.
During 90's I was interested into working abroad, and in 1996. In Seoul I got
the offer from Ebenezer Company to stay and work in Korea. However, as I
returned back home I got offered a job as a main designer for the local fashion
brand Nebo.
After 6 years working for Nebo I have continued my
fashion journey with my own brand, store and a studio in the city center in
Zagreb.
Do you think that in today’s economy it is
important for a designer to be equally good business man as a talented designer?
It is quite rare that a talented designer
is also a capable business man. Designers are usually artists, artists are
cheap. In today’s economy, market and in fashion system, a talented fashion
team without a good businessman can hardly succeed. A successful international designer
brands lie on such designer- businessman collaborations.
Every season you show quite mature,
complete, good quality and wearable collections, you don’t follow trends much
and many of your pieces could be cold classics which can be worn season in and
season out. Do you think that women in Croatia recognize and appreciate well
made clothes or are we to focus on trends and name on the label?
Trend factor is a measure of quality for most, producer and a
shopper but also for some designer. I don't follow trends, I don't think I make
them; I focus on making timeless pieces.
Croatians are very fashion nation, especially women,
who very much appreciate and buy good quality fabrics and making. I come from a
family of tailors and clothes makers – my biggest role model is my late father
who was a tailor. My mother is a true fashionista with an amazing style and my
sisters have tought me all about trends, anti-trends, branded and unbranded
clothes.
Do you think that Croatian
designer made clothes can compete with price and quality with mass produced low
end brands like H&M and Zara?
No, but with Croatia entering EU I see more potential
of Croatian designers working with local clothing factories on mass factory
producing their collections and selling them globally. Current situation in
Croatian textile industry is not allowing this to happen.
How do you see the fashion bloggers, social
media and street style influencing fashion industry globally? Is this influence
positive or negative?
Fashion defines who we are; this is where I
think fashion bloggers came from a need to express ourselves, our personality,
through clothes we wear. I see this as a positive trend and influence on global
fashion industry as they inspire and leave no one ambiguous, which is good for
design and industry overall.
One of my favorite online stores has grown from a personal shop/sell vintage store on Ebay owned by Sophia Amoruso in only 5 years. Nasty Gal has grown into a worldwide inclusive but also cool online store offering new and vintage clothes, accessories and shoes.
Nasty Gal has a worldwide delivery and issues monthly style lookbooks, its buyers shop for high and low end merchandise trying to put together a store full of unique pieces with a character. Delivery charges are not to high, clothes runs true to size (I ordered only dresses so I cannot speak for all) and prices are fair in comparison to quality.
Dresses I got are easy to take care of and wash. Also, there are always some promos and award games for loyal customers which is cool and appreciated. :)
When I shop, I get couple of dresses and I try to pick those made out of fabrics other then polyester. I know one might say ok, I pay for a bit of a lower price then Zara or H&M and then I pay for delivery and at the end the price is a bit higher even then in local store where I don't have to way for dress to arrive in mail, but honestly, at least you are not wearing the same dress and everyone else. Last Saturday I went to a wedding in Dubrovnik where two girls were wearing the same Lei Lou dress and the other two had the same Stradivarius dress on.
Bellow are the Nasty Gal dresses which I have placed on my summer must have list :)
Lenardo Cano FW 2012/13 - Madrid
Long time no post when I probably should have considering that Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb has been going on in my city last week, but wearing two hats during this event - PR for main event sponsor and naturally a blogger and a fashion lover got the best of me, not sparing one second of my week.
Nevertheless, I managed to complete all my work related task and fly over to the wedding at beautiful Dubrovnik (post shall follow) on Saturday night. Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb has traditionally hosted some young Croatian and well known international designers and with this post I present you my favorites from both camps.
Is obviously specially intrigued with shapes and volume, his collections are over the top voluminous and female curves and joints exaggerated while still symmetrical and quite theatrical. I loved the detailing and 3D fabrication effect he has given to the pieces with combining different sowing technics with fabric patterns. Arabian influence is quite visible in this collection but my favorite is the way he made leather shirts fits so naturally and comfortably as if they are made of cotton. Also, I am quite impressed with the way he made woolen pieces so voluminous. Although quite coutureish still very wearable collection!
In my review of Basso & Brooke collection from last years DFWZ you could have seen how much I love digital print & florals. Hermione de Paula didn't fail to impress me with her feminine, female figure faltering and oh so wearable «Marguerute's Menagerie» collection of shoes and clothes. She indeed managed to evoke the dark Lolita she was inspired by when creating this collection. I loved the way she played with floral prints which transformed into animalistic shapes & the way tops and bottoms are naturally fitting together but still gorgeous as separates.
Has narrated a quite emotional story with his collection.Judging by the looks at people's faces in Zagreb many didn't really get it, which I am sorry for. His collection "Selam 1 and 2" is envisioned as a pathway in between life and death, leading the soul to another world, influence of the Muslim culture is more then noticeable. Safak Tokur used great quality materials and presented his collection in quite an innovative way. I loved the way he doubled up the shoes so each men's shoe looked like it is glued on another one.
MARTINA SPORIŠ
Is a young Croatian designer whose intention is always to surpise and/or shock her audience. She described her collection as a combination of punk and barok, double-faced, zip & unzip combo. Martina showed her great tailoring skills and although not a great quality materials were used she has showed an amazing potential to create that couture - RTW combo which sells well! Great job Martina!
This line is divided on two lines: main one and the black line, although usually two opposites, in the FW 2012/13 collection these two lines have combined and matched into one whole. Featuring quite a androgynous, monochromatic, wearable & simple collection. I loved the way that cotton and wool/cashmere were forming spiderweb affect making simple tailoring & fabrication more daring & effortlessly sexy.
IGGY POPOVIĆ
Has positively surprised me on and off the runway with his simplicity, politeness and kindness to his show team. His 50's inspired collection is flirty, soft falling, curve hugging, playful and quite commercial.The collection has flirted with shapes of university and prep school uniforms, rockabilly stage and baseball Americana look. I loved the floral fabrication in inner pockets of shorts and gorgeously tailored nude pajama pants.Casual clothes made of luxurious fabrics, lace and silk? Yes please! I'll take it any day!
Which show was your favorite lovelies?
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