The photos demonstrated conclusively to him that taboos hardly exist anymore — and that it was time to come up with something to combat the “diktat of nudity.” He knew that he and his team were on the right track.
“Cosmopolitan, Elle, Vogue, Marie Claire, it’s all about sex and naked skin,” says the devout Muslim. “The motto is that sex sells. But we, and millions of women around the world, believe that fashion can also be different.”
Çamlica is a quiet residential neighborhood on the Asian side of the megacity Istanbul. Birer and his friend Mehmet Volkan Atay, 32, two stout men in jeans and designer jackets, are sitting at their desks on the second floor of a white house.
Soft jazz music is playing on a laptop. The two managing directors of Alâ are in excellent spirits, as are the two women who are sitting across from them: Eyma Yol Kara, 28, the editor-in-chief of Alâ, “the magazine for a beautiful lifestyle,” and Esra Sezi, 24, the head fashion editor. Both women are young, attractive and wearing headscarves.
Most Beautiful of the Beautiful
The core team of the magazine, which is currently the talk of the country, are perusing the sixth issue of Alâ. It’s a complete success, as were the preceding issues, so much so that the magazine has to increase its circulation again, from 25,000 to 30,000 copies. These are impressive sales figures for such a high-gloss product, which only uses models that wear headscarves and only advertises brands specializing in women’s clothing that conforms to Islamic customs. Alâ is the avant-garde of “Tesettür,” or “veiled” fashion. The name of the magazine, which stems from the Ottoman era, means “the most beautiful of the beautiful.”
Categories: Entertainment, Turkey, Women Rights