From the burqa to the catwalk (you won't believe where)

[ensho]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KC19Df04.html


One young woman is sporting jeans, a long-sleeved woolen jacket and running shoes. Another is clad in a colorful Afghan national costume - a loose-fitting outfit with wide trousers and a long scarf. Both amble gracefully down a carpeted catwalk before a panel of prickly judges.

Welcome to Afghan Model, a televised show that is part beauty pageant, part fashion show. It is broadcast in 10 central provinces on the private television station Emrooz (Today), and sponsored by private companies and businessmen.

"We want our Afghan youth to get familiar with traditions and events that exist in the rest of the world," said Emrooz program director Fahim Kohdamani. "We also want to help promote and preserve Afghan national costumes that have been part of our culture for centuries if even some are now being forgotten. At the same time, we want to introduce new, modern designs. Most of all, we want to give an opportunity to young Afghans to be seen as good-looking and decent people in the world."

After Afghan Model's first round last month, 80 contestants advanced to the next stage set for Norouz, the Afghan New Year, on March 22.

The show will conclude in the summer with finalists competing for two top prizes, including trips to Asian and European countries.

An act of courage
When Emrooz first announced its plans for the program, the station hoped to attract a couple hundred contestants. Instead, more than 2,000 aspiring models between the ages of 18 and 32, many of them men, rushed to sign up.

Some of the young women come from Afghanistan's volatile and deeply conservative southern provinces, including Kandahar. In such areas, merely going to school wearing only a headscarf - rather than a body-length burqa - takes enormous courage.
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and the article ends with:

But Hamed is not worried about what people think. He is just enjoys being a model - and even getting recognized in the streets of Kabul.

From there to a Milan catwalk is a giant leap, but that's his dream.
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this is one of the nicest things I've read coming out of Afghanistan. wishing all their dreams come true.

[alfredo]

1. Some Afghan Models

[ensho]

2. beautiful - thanks for pics

nt

[alfredo]

3. I'm a sucker for a pretty face