Interview With The Founders Of The Russian Brand Ahada

Nobody can give us a better insightful and exhaustive understanding of modest fashion than the people who actually create it.  In this Interview section, we will portrait inspiring modest fashion enthusiasts entrepreneurs whether it be fashion designers, stylists, fashion consultants… Coming from various backgrounds each of them highlights the diversity and richness of modest fashion with their unique and personal vision.

As already introduced in a previous article, modest fashion has no boundaries, no limits and no religions. However, religion can sometimes be an inspiration to create a fashion celebrating the beauty of women. This is the case for the two founders of Ahada. Nature is also one of their key source of inspiration, especially the Caucasus Mountains because it is the motherland of one of Ahada’s founders. Qualitative, exclusive and elegant are the 3 adjectives that best describe their brand.

Unless stated otherwise, all pictures are from the Instagram page of the brand Ahada @ahada_ah_ .

About Their Brand

Hadidja : When I was a child, I really liked to create various clothes and gowns for my dolls. My father always told me that I would be a designer. Honestly, I really wanted to become one, but there were no professional education institutions for designers in our city. Furthermore, the rules were very strict for girls, and I wasn’t allowed to study in a different city because I was the only daughter in my family. But I’m really grateful to my parents because we have an amazing culture with a truly deep meaning and wisdom (not everyone has that). I started to study philology and learned English, which became one of the most important communication tools in my life. After many years, I met Adilya. She was creating clothes in a way that I always wanted. There were many modest fashion brands, but I always ordered everything from Adilya. One day we were brave and courageous enough to start our own brand called Adaha.

Adilya: The name of our brand is Ahada. We didn’t choose this name randomly. We spent a lot of time thinking about the best name in order to make it really interesting and fit our ideas into it. As the saying goes, “As you name the boat, so shall it float”. Ahada means ‘unique’ in Arabic and our brand is unique and exclusive in the endless world of style and fashion. However, it is not the only reason why we chose this name. Indeed, it is also worth noting that the first letters of the brand are the initials of our names, Adilya and Hadidja.

Hadidja: The key value of the brand is religion. We want to show the beauty of our religion to the entire world, and highlight that the woman is the most precious and priceless asset of it.

About Their Challenges

Adilya: I think that the biggest problem we face is the lack of qualitative and attractive fabrics as well as various accessories and materials in our area. Our brand creates qualitative, exclusive and unique clothes, which have to be modest at the same time so we spend a lot of time in order to choose the most appropriate fabric for each and every design. Unfortunately, stores mainly sell Korean and Chinese fabrics, which contain a lot of synthetic fibers and have an extremely low quality. We really want to offer the best natural fabrics for our customers to provide them with the highest level of comfort. We are striving to work with European fabrics manufacturers. They have significantly higher quality products. Sometimes, you can come up with inspiration for new designs by simply looking at a piece of fabric and falling in love with it.

About Their Inspiration

Hadidja: It’s my family, my husband, and my kids. Nature is also a source of inspiration. I was born in the Ingushetia Republic in Caucasia, and I can tell you that it’s a real HEAVEN on the Earth. There’s no better place for me, in this world.

Adilya: Everything that is beautiful. Beautiful fabrics, beautiful accessories and sometimes we just need to pay attention to an outstanding detail to find inspiration. But I have to say that nature is one of the strongest sources of inspiration. For example, Hadidja frequently looks at nature in her homeland. She was born in the mountainous Ingushetia, and you should be aware of the fact that many poets wrote beautiful verses about the beauties of Caucasia.

What Makes Their Brand Unique

Hadidja: Our clothes are not designed for an exclusive strict dress code for all kinds of reasons. For example, I myself prefer such a style because I follow the rules of my religion. However, our models are suitable for any occasions, for any type of women regardless of their social status.

Their Favourite Design

Adilya: One day we decided to make a cape because we are Muslims, and we wanted to make something really exclusive and comfortable for our sisters in faith.

Hadidja: Our cape AHADA it is our distinguishing factor from other.

Exciting News To Share With Us

Adilya: Recently, we presented our first collection on one of the biggest podiums in Moscow. It was our first collection that was called Debut. We offered two product lines: one for daily usage, and the second one for special occasions. We presented a lot of dresses and costumes, but capes are the real gems in our collections.

About Their Favourite Fabric

Adilya: I don’t have any specific favorite fabric. I like to work with any type of fabrics because I’m sure that virtually any of them can be used to create real masterpieces. I have experience in the creation of modern products from sackcloth, polyethylene, and lining cloth.

Hadidja: I prefer natural fabrics, especially silk, even though it’s really hard to work with it.

The Place Of The World That Inspires Them The Most

Adilya: I’ve always been inspired by mountains. There’s nothing better than mountains except mountains at the seaside. I really like the Caucasus Mountains, and this is one of the key reasons, which made our cooperation with Hadidja possible. After going to Ingushetia, the Chechen Republic and Dagestan, I fell in love with those regions, even though they differ from Central Russia a lot.

Their Philosophy In Life

Adilya: “It is important to move, no matter slow or fast, just move … if you move, you always move forward” – Adriano Celentano.

Hadidja: Above all, you need to be honest with yourself. “All other swindlers upon earth are nothing to the self-swindlers” Charles Dickens

One Last Word For Almaze Women

Adilya: Dear women! If you have something that you love, and you are good at it, go for it. You will succeed! The most important thing is to enjoy what you are doing.

Thank you Adilya and Hadidja for this inspiring interview!

If you want to learn more about their vision of modest fashion download our white paper “Modest Fashion Unveiled” here