Melanie Elturk and Haute Hijab: Design, Faith and Building a Brand

Melanie Elturk and Ahmed Zedan launched Haute Hijab in Chicago in 2010. Their company’s history connects a particular wardrobe problem with the work of building a brand around it: finding suitable cloth, making designs, learning from customers and deciding what kind of business to become.

Hijab, making and early ambitions

Growing up with a visible identity

In her 2021 interview with ABC News, Elturk remembered starting high school near Detroit in 1998 alongside a small group of other girls who wore hijab. She and a friend made a point of being outgoing. They wanted classmates to know their personalities and feel able to approach them. Elturk remembered being voted class clown at the end of her first year.

Her memories of school also included searching thrift shops for scarves she could adapt as hijabs. Bringing those finds into her outfits allowed her to express a love of fashion; she also recalled being voted best dressed. The head covering became central to the look she wanted to create.

The attacks of 11 September 2001 changed how visible she felt as a Muslim American. She described grieving as an American while also becoming acutely conscious of how others saw her. Later, she wanted to help women who wished to wear hijab but feared the reception they might receive. That personal history gives the company’s purpose a setting beyond the clothes themselves.

Learning the work of making clothes

Elturk’s route into design involved practice before it involved a company. In a 2017 Houstonia interview, she recalled a sewing class in the seventh grade, followed by learning beadwork and embroidery herself. As a teenager, she made clothes for friends who struggled to find particular garments, including skirts without slits.

She described teaching herself to make patterns, choose fabrics and insert zips. Later, a design assistant worked beside her to develop designs and samples. She had useful experience of making individual pieces, but still needed to ask how a clothing line was manufactured and where its materials could be found.

Her preference was for classic pieces over rapidly changing trends, with Victoria Beckham and Olivia Palermo among her style references. Yet personal taste could change too: she remembered a teenage rule against mixing black and brown, then described happily wearing the two together. The interview connects the work of making clothes with a founder who had distinct preferences and was willing to revise them.

Law was a serious ambition

An earlier record helps explain the career she eventually left. The Women Lawyers Association of Michigan Foundation identifies Elturk as a 2008 scholar at Wayne State University Law School. In the testimony it preserves, she described entering law school to pursue social and racial justice. Recognition from the foundation encouraged her to continue towards those aims.

The testimony gives the familiar description of Elturk as a former lawyer more substance. She had ambitions for the legal work itself, and the foundation preserved her own explanation of why it mattered to her.

Building a company with Ahmed Zedan

The Story Exchange’s 2017 profile credited the combination of Elturk’s experience as a wearer and her husband’s background in marketing and business. They both wanted to start the venture, and both had to learn unfamiliar work, from website development and merchandising to sales. The founding story therefore involves a partnership with different contributions.

That profile also records a recognisable approach to the range: plain colours that remained available alongside changing printed scarves released weekly. A regular range and a rotating selection gave the business two different rhythms.

Elturk’s public role developed gradually. She had not originally intended to show her face on social media, but began modelling the products as the company’s Instagram presence grew from 2013. She described customer service messages and social media as ways of keeping in touch with the women buying the scarves.

From vintage scarves to repeatable stock

The first launch involved a great deal of unglamorous preparation. In Shopify’s 2019 Vanguard interview, Elturk recalled an intended clothing launch being delayed. Vintage scarves offered something the couple could sell while that work continued. She described washing and ironing hundreds of scarves, then photographing them in their apartment before the autumn 2010 launch.

Each scarf was an individual item. Selling it meant its own photograph and listing could serve only that one sale. Elturk remembered most pieces disappearing quickly, leaving another week’s work of preparation and photography. The model supplied an opening collection, but also created a repeated workload.

Her later move to Dubai brought access to different fabric markets. Elturk described taking cloth back to a hotel room, cutting it on the bed and discovering that the edges were uneven. Tailors hemmed the pieces, which were then sent to an employee in Chicago. Finding finished vintage scarves had given way to arranging production: fabric, cutting, finishing and delivery each needed attention.

Choosing the product and the career

In her 2019 Fashionista interview, Elturk explained that scarf sales initially supported the clothing line. Reviewing the business’s figures revealed that headscarves generated most of its revenue. Focusing on them meant taking the apparently secondary product seriously.

Leaving law was another decision. She said she had combined the business with legal work for six years and waited until it could support both her and Zedan. She loved her legal career, so the change required thought and prayer. The couple moved to New York in 2016 to concentrate on the company.

Outside investment followed. Elturk credited Arlan Hamilton of Backstage Capital with the first yes during fundraising and identified Cue Ball as the leader of a later seed round. Fashionista reported that the latest financing round had raised $2.3 million.

Production between Ajman and America

By 2019, the production story had acquired a different scale. Hafsa Lodi’s October report for The National described salmon-coloured scarves awaiting a final check in Ajman before being packaged and sent to a warehouse in Texas. The UAE was part of the work behind a business whose main customer base remained in America.

When Lodi interviewed her, Elturk wore white and khaki with a white chiffon scarf carrying a tropical floral print. Elturk said the print came from locally sourced deadstock: leftover material from other suppliers. The detail connects her own outfit with a sourcing choice used for the company’s printed scarves.

Elturk also discussed a newly appointed director of design and innovation who was exploring materials derived from sources such as rose petals, mushrooms and coffee grounds. She presented those materials as research directions for future work. The report captures manufacturing, personal styling and material exploration as connected parts of the work behind the brand.

Being the person behind the brand

Faith and the use of talent

Elturk gave a personal explanation of her ambition in a 2017 account for the Muslim American Leadership Alliance. She described confidence and humility as compatible. For her, recognising an ability meant accepting a responsibility to develop and use it well.

Her parents’ encouragement was part of that account. Her father’s suggestion was concrete: make fifteen necklaces, take them to school as samples and sell her work to friends. When she considered art school, he encouraged her to investigate law because he recognised her intellectual ability. She presented this as attention to several talents, rather than rejection of creative work.

Elturk connected her willingness to speak publicly with her belief that her abilities came from God. When audiences asked about her confidence, she linked it to recognising strengths, working on weaknesses and using her talents in service. She understood those gifts as carrying an obligation to benefit others. Humility, in her explanation, could coexist with developing a public voice and pursuing creative work.

Visibility and connection

A 2016 interview with J. Kelly Hoey records a personal side of becoming the face of a fashion company. Elturk said constant self-presentation could become distracting, and that she had learned the importance of staying grounded in her values.

Asked what success looked like, she described recognising her designs on strangers in the street. She compared the feeling with a musician unexpectedly hearing their music on the radio. She also joked about having to resist rushing over to tell those wearers how delighted she was.

She spoke about making herself available to customers and giving women space to be heard. Tamara Gray and Dalia Mogahed were among the Muslim women she named as personal heroes. The interview captured an early moment in New York: Elturk said she had been there for three months and valued the people and opportunities she was encountering. Her sense of progress included these encounters and the sight of someone choosing to wear her work.

Developing the designs

A formalwear question

Elturk’s memories included an outfit that never quite satisfied her. In Glamour’s January 2018 interview, she recalled wearing a blush cotton hijab with a crystal brooch for her 2009 engagement photographs. Beside her dramatic ball gown, the scarf felt mismatched. The report accompanied a five-piece collection for formal occasions. Her recollection gives that move a specific context: she wanted the scarf’s materials and finish to receive the same attention as the rest of an occasion outfit.

Gizelle Begler’s approach to formal headwear

Creative director Gizelle Begler brought experience in bridal and formal clothing to that work. Cornell Alumni Magazine’s March/April 2018 profile placed her in the company’s lower Manhattan office preparing for a photo shoot. She tried on a silk cap in a nude shade, embroidered with black flowers and attached to black lace that she draped around her face.

A nearby mood board held pictures of Hedy Lamarr and Grace Kelly. The reference was old Hollywood, translated into a head covering with its own construction and decoration. The magazine reported that Begler had joined full time the previous autumn to expand the company’s offerings; embellished pieces for weddings and formal events were among the first results.

Her links with Cornell continued. Denise Green, then director of its costume and textile collection, described a planned student competition: participants would design headscarves, Begler would judge them, and Haute Hijab would sell the winning design. Alongside the studio work, the profile records a proposed way for students to work towards a commercial brief.

Prints with particular references

Begler described the connection between her earlier work and headwear in a 2020 Cornell Daily Sun interview. While designing wedding gowns in Egypt, she had encountered clients who wanted a head covering to accompany the dress. She later met Elturk and Zedan at a networking event for Muslim entrepreneurs in New York.

The interview documents particular Haute Hijab designs. Celestial Silver combined silk with metallic embroidered tulle and crystal appliqués. A design called The Classic, in the Heritage collection, used screen-printed silk twill with a pattern inspired by ceilings in Istanbul. The Pastel drew on ornate pink domes in Malaysia and the Philippines.

She also recalled a two-hour discussion with Cornell professors Frey and Netravali about underscarf fabrics, part of the work leading to three undercap designs. Earlier in her career, she had found that studying garment construction gave her the skills to teach sewing to a team. Her account connects the finished designs with both textile conversations and the practical knowledge needed to work with makers. For other approaches to design, explore six creative voices in modest fashion.

Listening to requests for an underscarf

A quieter design problem concerned the layer beneath a scarf. In MOJEH’s December 2018 interview, Elturk said customers had asked the company for an underscarf since its early years. She credited Begler with leading nine months of development before the launch.

The account described a closed back instead of an open tube, with pleating and gathering at the rear. Back straps and an elastic band provided adjustment. These were construction choices intended to address the way the cap enclosed and accommodated hair. The team also used fabric developed by Pyratex, bringing a specialist textile into the project.

Elturk explained that she had held back from supplying an underscarf because she was dissatisfied with the existing design. Answering the request therefore meant doing more than adding another item to the range. The team reconsidered its structure and fabric together, with a named designer responsible for that development.

Customers and the public life of a brand

A customer’s account of the conversation

The customer’s side of the formalwear discussion survives in Minara El-Rahman’s January 2018 Hijabi Life post. She described visiting Haute Hijab’s New York office the previous December for a customer interview with Elturk and Alice from customer experience.

El-Rahman remembered asking about scarves for occasions such as graduations, birthdays, weddings and baby showers. The luxury collection had not yet been announced to her. When it appeared, she connected it with that conversation and admired its beading, crystals and promotional imagery, while acknowledging the substantial price.

Her enthusiasm included the photographs and launch video as well as the garments. Yet she also considered other labels offering decorated headwear at different prices. Her response was engaged and selective: she welcomed more options for special occasions without treating one collection as the only possible answer.

A garment enters an exhibition

Begler’s work also appeared in a university’s account of clothing and public expression. In November 2018, Cornell announced Women Empowered: Fashions From the Frontline, an exhibition curated by students in fibre science and apparel design. Its preview included a US flag hijab by Begler, then Haute Hijab’s creative director, and credited her as its lender.

The exhibition brought together very different objects: judicial collars, sports clothing, political dress and garments associated with women’s work. Faculty adviser Denise Green explained that fashion could communicate political, social and aesthetic possibilities. Within that setting, a head covering could be discussed through its maker, imagery and public meaning.

The loan placed a creative collaborator’s work in a setting where curators could ask questions about clothing’s place in public life. The student curators wanted to show varied backgrounds and experiences, rather than one account of womanhood. The preview scheduled the exhibition from December 2018 to March 2019. For more on clothing’s public meaning, see creativity, choice and representation in Islamic fashion.

Making a campaign into a conversation

The agency behind part of Haute Hijab’s public communication offers another perspective. In its 2021 account of the Can’t Ban Us campaign, 5&Vine described its role in planning the launch and the ways followers could participate.

The agency recommended that Elturk interview the featured athletes on Instagram Live. Viewers could leave comments and questions during the conversations, and the recordings were saved to IGTV for people who arrived later. Stories Highlights gathered press coverage, product information and customer responses. Elturk also used the question feature in Stories to answer enquiries.

The campaign’s communication extended beyond a launch photograph. A conversation could happen live, remain available as a recording and sit beside further information for an interested visitor. In the agency’s account, the founder took the role of interviewer as well as appearing as the face of the company.

Community in particular places

Workplace values

In an interview with designer Peter Gould, Elturk discussed how she wanted the company to function internally. Gould recalled visiting its New York office in 2019. Their later conversation connected design with the relationships among the people doing the work.

Elturk used the Islamic concept of ihsan, which she explained through striving for excellence. She applied that aspiration to products, customer service, the website and the company’s wider communication. She also remembered working at the courts in Dubai: when her father visited from Detroit, a judge encouraged her to leave work and spend time with him. That experience informed her wish to make room for family life within a workplace.

One concrete example of the culture she described was a voluntary prayer circle. Colleagues who were not Muslim were welcome to join. She said the team included both Muslims and non-Muslims, and that shared respect for the company’s faith principles helped them work together. Her description put everyday relationships alongside the creative work in her understanding of the business.

A gathering in Dubai

A March 2024 MOJEH report described a gathering organised by Elturk in Dubai. Women sat in a garden while poet Saara Ali read work about Palestine. Some occupied chairs arranged around a woven mat; others settled on the mat itself. The reporter described guests from countries including Tunisia, Iraq, Syria, Canada, Pakistan and the Philippines.

Elturk spoke about the need to connect with others during a period of grief and uncertainty. Participants discussed difficulties they had encountered around covering their hair. Her wider message addressed Muslim women whether or not they wore hijab, encouraging them to bring their full personalities into public life.

The visit also had a business purpose. MOJEH reported that Elturk was in Dubai to establish a local fulfilment centre for the UAE. The article therefore records two kinds of work taking place during the same visit: arrangements for serving customers and a gathering where women could speak and listen together. Poetry, conversation and shared space gave the community idea a concrete setting.

The pressures behind growth

The history also includes a less celebratory account of expansion. In Saturna’s October 2025 interview, Elturk reflected on outside investment, growing costs and the difficulty of sustaining the company when further funding became harder to obtain. She described a slowdown in the latter part of 2022, financial pressures and reconsidering the pace at which the business should grow.

Her emphasis was on building a company that could support itself and continue beyond her own involvement. She wanted a lasting fashion house and was prepared to pursue growth more slowly and deliberately. She also discussed hopes for physical shops, while making clear that working through the financial difficulties came first.

Elturk acknowledged losing sight of her original intentions while trying to satisfy investors. Her ambitions at the time were still substantial, but the route towards them had changed. The founder’s story remained unfinished: alongside the next design or collection were questions about how the company could sustain its work, keep serving its customers and continue after its founder eventually stepped back.