INFLUENCER
W EMPOWERING AMERICAN MUSLIM WOMEN Growing up, Melanie Elturk recalls how extremely difficult it was to find hijabs she felt confident in. With her husband, she founded Haute Hijab, a stylish and fashionable solution for American Muslim women who now can chose from an wide collection of trendy and comfortable creations.
144 | VELVET Fall 2018
hen she was a teenager, Elturk went in search of printed silk scarves from local vintage stores to ultimately sew into hijabs. “I remember the first day I walked in to school with one of those, and people were like, ‘What is going on?’ My hijab finally made me feel so confident, something I had never felt before,” she recalls. “I thought if I could give access to really beautiful hijabs that made women feel strong and powerful that would be huge.” At a loss, she began collecting vintage silk scarves to improve both the quality and style her current hijabs were sorely lacking. She states; ‘Without real hijab options and role models, I noticed an alarming trend - young Muslim women weren’t wearing the hijab’. Armed with the knowledge that Muslim women needed hijabs they could feel beautiful in, and role models they could look up to, she founded Haute Hijab back
