Portrait by Keena ©

Name: Nailah Lymus, Age: 28, Occupation: Fashion Designer, Place of birth: Oneonta New York, Current residence: Brooklyn, New York

My background is a mixture of African-American, Irish, and Cherokee Native American  and I was born and raised a Muslim. My UMMI (mother) encouraged me to be creative and my ABU (father) pushed the academic side, so I had a very balanced passion for both.  I’ve always been creative and ambitious as a young girl, I used to make flowers and place them on my Hijab (head scarf) to make it fancier. I started making my own jewellery at the age of 7 and was interview by my local paper in Syracuse, New York.

I never wanted to become a fashion designer until the day I attempted to make a skirt for myself, to my surprise it came out exactly as I envisioned. From that point on I started to make my own clothes and friends and family began enquiring about my designs, before I knew it I was creating collections and accessories. I now operate as an independent designer and I love every minute of it.

I want to educate through my designs so I create transitional designs for Muslim and non Muslim women. I wanted to break down misunderstandings and stereotypes associated with Muslim women.

A common one is our attire and what we can and cannot wear. Muslim women can wear numerous styles of clothing as long as we layer them in a way that fits the modest guidelines of Islam. My garments are modest for the non-Muslim woman and would need to be Islamified (layered) for the Muslim woman. I simply want people to understand that Islam is our religion, but we are still women and love fashion.

I love how God created me. The power that a woman possesses once she truly applies herself and remains focused is amazing. I love that we can speak to each-other about the constant challenges that life presents. Women share information with each other that allows us to work on ourselves.

I am Complexd because I appreciate that my talent is a gift that God blessed me with and I know I should use it as a tool to educated myself and not get caught up in the superficiality of the industry. This is my reason for always mentioning that I am a practicing Muslim woman and explaining the true beauty of Islam.

See me of Nailah’s designs here