When Malala makes a move she gets a lot of attention. All eyes were on the Nobel Prize winner when she chose a custom-made sequined silver Ralph Lauren dress for the Oscars. The fitted hoodie looked like it was made for Malala—which it actually was—and carried more thought than she could have imagined.
It was all a dream. I wanted my dress to represent the message of our movie. stranger at the door and embody hope,” she captioned a post on Instagram on Monday, thanking the “brilliant team” who helped bring her vision to life. Ralph Lauren shared that she created the custom dress “to celebrate Malala Yousafzai’s nomination in her movie.”
Handcrafted by artisans, Malala’s silver sequined dress transforms a graceful silhouette into a sparkling work of art, the designer’s Instagram account said. “The dress features thousands of platinum sequins embroidered into the dress’s delicate tulle. The full-length silhouette and accompanying train are reminiscent of a sarong-like drape that gracefully runs from the side waist to the front of the skirt.”
Malala said the dress carried a message of hope, and perhaps that’s what sparked Lauren’s creative energy as she associated it with the colors of both twilight and stellar shine. The statement read, “To add a touch of shine and sparkle, a mix of crystals is hand-worked with a degradé effect so that the color of the dress fades like twilight and transforms from starry silver to an alluring ombre.”
According to fashion blogger Aamir Ali Shah, who consulted with Instagram expert Safia (bestdressedafghan), the dress wasn’t the only part of her look that had symbolism. The earrings that the activist paired with her dress were pieces by the American antique jewelry company Fred Leighton and were once owned by the Afghan royal family. It was previously owned by Queen Soraya Tarzi, the wife of Afghanistan King Amanullah Khan, who was a “staunch defender of women’s rights”.
Shah described her as “progressive for her time”, saying she was leading a turbulent feminist revolution. “In addition to her role as Queen of Afghanistan, she was Minister of Education at a time when women in many parts of Europe could not vote. She worked to achieve women’s rights to vote, stand for office and participate in nation building,” she wrote. “Queen Süreyya also established the first girls’ school in 1921 and the first women’s hospital in 1926, enabling women to receive higher education abroad.”
She thinks her jewels ended up in Fred Leighton, as did the “sold” goods of other exiled royalty.
“Soraya was the first Afghan lady and queen to try to promote women, train them and give them their rights,” said Shinkai Karokhail, a lawmaker, Afghanistan’s former ambassador to Canada. Arab News In your 2020 profile.
The Queen “started a great revolution and succeeded in making it happen through the king. She appeared in public and traveled extensively to inform women of their rights and the need for education. Tarzi also took part Times The magazine’s 100 Women of the Year list, which ranks the most influential women of the past century.
Shah also shared a photo of Khan and Tarzi’s daughter, Afghan princess Abedah Bibi, with earrings inherited from her mother and a dress that looks a lot like the one Malala wore to the Academy Awards. The “shimmering fabric, strong shoulder line and draping around the waist” suggest that Malala’s dress may have been inspired by a strong female historical figure.
What do you think of Malala’s dress?