In the past decade I was mostly absent from the fashion world and certainly had parked by label Samia Malik ihtgw on the shelf, mainly focusing on teaching and WOCI Reading Group. It seemed important to make changes in education especially of political concern.

I’m returning to my label Samia Malik this time putting aside ihtgw. The launching collection is titled ‘Women speaking the truth is a problem’. The collection is named after my experience; in the past decade I’ve been involved in art, political activism and education, as a Muslim woman speaking up and saying the truth, saying things out of the parameters of the status quo is repeatedly a problem to the extent of extreme controversy to reinforce silence, censorship and defamation. My origins as a womenswear designer, I use to think about the physical and mental movement of women; to liberate the movement of the women. I feel that my in-most desire and drive to return to fashion design is to be able to continue to be able to liberate the movement of women in the medium I’m initially trained in.

Women speaking the truth is a collection of 3 t shirts, 1 oversized shirt and 1 velour jogging bottoms. The collection is presented as an art installation in my studio.

Samia