Afghan Fashion Hits London's High Street

    London 15 October 2010 - An Afghan fashion designer(时装设计师) named Zolaykha Sherzad has given a contemporary（当代的） edge to traditional Afghan style. She's recently brought her designs to London and they're proving quite a hit with the British.
    Zolaykha Sherzad launched her fashion label Zarif Designs in 2004. It started as a way, she says, to provide work for eight women who had skills, but no way to earn a living.
    Fashion design helps Sherzad reconnect with her roots
    Now, just half a decade later, she's selling her designs at a boutique in London.
    Sherzad, who was born in Afghanistan but moved to Europe at age 10, says the project has helped her reconnect with her roots.
    "I think I was looking for something to connect me back also to Afghanistan," Sherzad said. "It was not just going and helping¹, I think it was also something that I wanted to search my own identity and my own culture."
    Women entrepreneurs（企业家）
    Her company now has a workforce² of 50. They're all based in Afghanistan and 60 percent of them are women.
    Sherzad says she uses traditional Afghan fabrics³ and styles and works them into a contemporary design. Colorful wools and silks are woven and embroidered⁴ by hand. Some are etched with verse⁵ written by a 16th century Afghan poet.
    Sherzad says since the end of the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan, women have started to experiment more with their own fashion. The burqa, she says, is not the whole story.
    "The burqa is not a fashion. It's almost like a raincoat; you just cover yourself to go from one place to another one," Sherzad added.
    But most of Sherzad's designs are hitting the overseas market - in fact, 90 percent of her apparel is sold outside of Afghanistan.    And they're proving popular.
    Mannie Serpell manages the London boutique（精品店） where Sherzad's designs are on sale. She says they're selling quickly.
    "I think everybody is aware that it's a unique piece. It's not mass produced. It is made by women by hand - hand-dyed, hand-woven -- and so it gives it that something special. Every garment has got its own story," said Serpell.
    Customers find her works inspirational
    The customers here told VOA it's nothing like what they normally see in the shops.
    One woman said she found the project inspirational.
    She said, "We only hear bad news and bad things about Afghanistan, mainly about the war, and it's nice to know there's actually some positive things coming out of their country."
    It's that kind of response that Zolaykha Sherzad says motivates her.
    "I think that in any country that's in crisis⁶ creativity is a means to transform, is a means to change things, to provide hope and I feel like it's an important time for Afghanistan, for the Afghan people to be recognized by outside of Afghanistan but also for the outside to see Afghanistan with a different eye," said Sherzad.
    Sherzad's designs have already spread to Paris, Dubai, New York and now to London. It's a start to making her vision a reality.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

3 fabrics   

织物( fabric的名词复数 )； 布； 构造； （建筑物的）结构（如墙、地面、屋顶）：质地

参考例句：

• cotton fabrics and synthetics 棉织物与合成织物
• The fabrics are merchandised through a network of dealers. 通过经销网点销售纺织品。

4 embroidered   

adj．绣花的

参考例句：

• She embroidered flowers on the cushion covers. 她在这些靠垫套上绣了花。
• She embroidered flowers on the front of the dress. 她在连衣裙的正面绣花。

5 verse   

n.诗，韵文，诗行

参考例句：

• He is good at verse.他善于作诗。
• His book was in parts written in verse.他的书有许多地方是用韵文写的。

6 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。