Her name is Chiara, So what else do you want to know? Stuff about her family and where she is from? None of that matters, not when you have crossed the ocean and cut yourself, loose looking for something more beautiful, something that is inspiring and different. Chiara is a traveler not a tourist she is not like most of us who sometimes travel long distances just to watch TV and check into somewhere with all the comfort of home and we call it a vacation, sometimes I ask myself, what is the point of that.

For Chiara, traveling is about heading to the great unknown following the trails of a regular tourist but keeping her mind open and sucking in the experience for a keepsake and if it hurts then it probably freaking worth it.

Chiara is the designer of Munamer, arguably the first modest fashion brand that carries the “made in Italy” brand owned by Italian. Her journey to creating Munamer started during her travel to Pakistan, because of her love for people, tradition, and culture Chiara seized the opportunity to learn more about the Muslim culture in Pakistan during her stay there, Chiara quickly realize that our culture and tradition might be different but girls are the same all over the world, this realization was a catalyst for the birth of Munamer.

Chiara, who during our conversation with is heavily pregnant, described her Munamer as not just a brand but a lifestyle for woman who are travel and sport lovers and who are fascinated and in with their body, love to take care of their body and mind and above all for women who appreciate their tradition and cultural heritage. What we find fascinating about Chiara and her brand is that like every woman that is powerful and compassionate is the how pristine her designs are and the way it changes your mood with the color silhouettes. Her designs embrace color and mix Italian traditional techniques with modern silhouettes. Every piece is lovingly handmade and textiles are meticulously selected to create unique pieces that redefine modest fashion and that radiate joy. She uses colors in a bold, almost graphic manner; her designs are unlike anything you have ever seen and a total pleasure to look at. If we could describe her works in one word, it’ll be “regal”.

We were giving the chance to have a conversation with the designer and traveler she told us about her career from working with GEOX to BENETTON and her definition of Modest Fashion and her style advice.

Spy News Magazine: What are the meaning and the story behind the name of your brand?

Chiara: MUNAMER derives from MUNA, an Arabic name which means “Desire, Wish” and MER derives from “Sea” in French, therefore the meaning is SEA DESIRE.

My ideas have always been inspired by my travels. I have always been a traveler and I cannot imagine my life in a different way.  l love to see the world and discover new places and traditions, spend time with the locals, look for inspirations and new experiences. I love all differences in between cultures, I respect them, and I try to learn as much as I can from everyone. 

The concept of MUNAMER was born during my work experience in Pakistan. I had the opportunity to know better the Muslim culture through some fantastic colleagues and I was really surprised by how similar are the girls around the world, even if the culture and traditions are completely different.

For me this is not only a brand, it is a lifestyle for all women who love traveling, sports, take care of their body and mind, are social and connected with the rest of the women, are self-confident and want to express their personality, respecting their culture and origins.

Throughout MUNAMER I want to celebrate all these women, giving them the opportunity to cover their body or protect their skin, to wear the latest trends in feminine and colourful clothes with different prints and fits giving them the opportunity to chose their favourite pieces and enjoy their time on the beach, while feeling on trend, elegant, comfortable and modest. 

Spy News Magazine: Tell me about your professional career?

Chiara: I was born in Treviso, a small city near Venice and I graduated as a fashion designer in Milan at IED MODA Lab Institute.  In the past fifteen years, I worked as denim and casual wear designer as well as a buyer for many brands and retailers, and I spent a lot of time traveling and doing research around the world.

During my studies, I cooperated with follow designers on small projects: Yook, Bulgari, and Brooke. My first job was in GEOX, I was designing the Junior apparel collection. Then I worked for few years as the head designer in a Consulting studio, where my duties meant helping different clients following the whole life cycle of the collection from the mood research and design to the development of final samples.   

After that, I started my experience in BENETTON as Head of Denim collection. During my experience at Benetton, I was in charge of the design and product development. It was my responsibility to define the mood, research trends, design the garments and follow the product up to the pre-production samples, supporting suppliers in Italy, Northern Africa, and the far East.

During these years I witnessed the big boom of the fast fashion retailers and the buyer profile was becoming very key, so I decided to improve my skills moving into buying, at first in MIROGLIO group, where I was dealing with total look garments selection from far-east suppliers, style revision negotiating prices and following through the process to bulk production orders. Then I moved to INDITEX group in Spain, where I was in charge of BERSHKA, managing denim. Shortly after I became responsible of the Basic Denim collection, designing and following up product development.

In 2014 I moved back to Italy and I had the opportunity to use all my skills working as APPAREL and ACCESSORIES CATEGORY MANAGER for AW-LAB retail at BATA group. In that position, I had the chance to cooperate with brands like Adidas, Nike, Vans, Puma and much more.

Two years ago I moved to Ancona to follow my partner, and I decided to start my own business opening ELEVEN CHIC consulting studio. Now I offer design consultancy, developing capsule collections for manufacturing companies, and I cooperate with brands like Zara, HM, Guess, Twin-Set, Mango, etc…

Last year I worked for a manufacturing company in Pakistan, a very inspiring experience for me,  and this is when I started to developed MUNAMER.

Spy News Magazine: Chiara, Your brand is arguably the first made in Italy Modest Fashion Brand. what is inspired you start the brand?

Chiara: I’m not sure if I’m the really the first one, but for sure is the first 100% Italian brand made by someone without any Middle-East origins, born and focused totally on the Modest market. This is a big honor for me and I hope this will be the beginning of a long journey and an amazing experience.

The idea was born because my inquisitive habit of observing different cultures during my trip:  I realized some common traditional clothes like kurtas or saree are so colorful, fancy and decorated, but there is nothing similar on beachwear… There are so many styles and interesting prints on bikinis but there is nothing similar when we look at Bikinis.

Holidays are a joyful time for everyone, so why these women can’t wear something comfortable and stylish when they spend time on the beach, swim or play with the kids in the water? 

When I realized this I started my research, buying samples, trying them on myself, looking for new prints ideas in local markets and thinking about new designs, to find the best way to mix the western trends with the traditional taste.

MUNAMER’s mission is to celebrate all women, giving them the opportunity to be elegant, comfortable and modest. 

Spy News Magazine: Sum up the aesthetic of your brand. Do you have any signatures?

Chiara: MUNAMER by Chiara Taffarello means ease, confidence, freshness, newness, and femininity. I decided to put my name on the brand because this concept represents me, my belief and my passion. My designs are evolutions of the fits that currently in the market, mixed with western shapes and details.  

To give a complete offer I tried to target different women. The sophisticated elegant customer, for whom I designed a style which looks like a dress, feminine in details and prints. Then for a younger and sportive girl, I developed some more fitted swimsuits, easy-to-wear shapes, studied to help the movements with surfer details and look.

For the fashion savvy woman l designed some cleaner styles but with extravagant and colorful prints. All styles are characterized as having vibrant colors prints, geometric designs, and an ethnic look.

The logo is a geometric metallic pink leaf and represents the mix between the inspiration I get from nature, the flowers, the beaches landscape mixed with the elegance and femininity of the Islamic geometrics and arabesque. This unexpected mix of inspiration and elements is what made me develop this collection.

Spy News Magazine: What does Modest Fashion really look like?

Chiara: Modest fashion can be described as a way to dress having a degree of awareness when is comes to covering parts of the body yet looking fashionable and on trend, but giving a certain level of ease and confidence.  This is a new concept of femininity based on keeping covered some parts of the body instead of exhibiting them.

Spy News Magazine: Is Modest Fashion religious? If I am not religious can I be part of the movement?

Chiara: Although modest fashion was brought into existence for people who weren’t comfortable in showing off their body as part of their religious beliefs, now it has evolved including non-Muslims as well overlapping subcultures and defining a new feminity as well.

I think it doesn’t matter if one follows any religion or not, it’s just a kind of style resonate in accord with the personal feelings, the personal way to express themselves feeling comfortable and see themselves fashionable. Modest Fashion was born as a Muslim movement, it is going to be soon a global trend as many other ways to dress.

Spy News Magazine: What’s the biggest misconception about modest fashion?

Chiara: I think the biggest misconception about modest fashion is that people think it would be boring and not stylish. For me is an honor and a challenge to prove is not like that. And I hope to be able to mix in the best way the Italian taste with the modest market needs. 

Spy News Magazine: You will be attending an event in the Uk, tell us about the collection you will be presenting?

Chiara: On 21-22 of April 2018 at the LONDON MUSLIM LIFESTYLE SHOW, I launched MUNAMER by Chiara Taffarello.  The brand presents a  MODEST SWIMWEAR collection driven by a new idea of BURKINI distinguished by offering different fits, designs, colors and prints. This first collection called SUNRISE TO SUNSET is a welcoming invitation into the MUNAMER world, a journey into a colorful, exotic, mystical and radiant atmosphere where all women can express their own taste and personality choosing the style they prefer.

There are a total of six styles, developed in a range of colors and prints: JULIE, GILDA, MAYA,AURORA, ARUBA, and VIKTORIA.

The goal of SUNRISE TO SUNSET collection is to offer the best look for different women during the whole day. Tropical prints and a sportive suit for the athletic girl who loves the morning water-sports, geometric and floral designs to relax on the beach or walk along the water’s edge, and more sophisticated and extravagant styles for the romantic sunset cocktail.

Almost all styles have a 3 pieces set: body, turban or head cover. I would like to invite you to visit WWW.MUNAMER.COM to immerse yourself in this new concept. 

Spy News Magazine: Where can we shop the collection?

Chiara: The launch of the brand was just a few days ago and I’m at the really start-up step, so at moment I’m looking for good distributors for middle-east and Europe.

The brand is all MADE IN ITALY, the collection is designed by me, using Italian high quality fabric, also print and manifacturing is made in a small laboratory that produce swimwear for luxury brands so the attention to the fit and details is very high.

I hope that soon you will be able to purchase the collection in the best mall and stores of Europe, Dubai, Doha, Abu dhabi, Indonesia, Egypt and many other places around the world. As soon as the production will be ready, the collection will also beavailable on MUNAMER on line shop.

Spy News Magazine: What style advice will you give someone wanting to dress modestly?

Chiara: I simply suggest to all women to dress in such a way so they feel confident and proud of themselves. It doesn’t matter if you dress modest or western my advise is to choose the clothes to reflect your personality, your taste and your belief. Fashion is one of the best means we have to express ourselfs, so my advise is: “Be different, be cool, be yourself! “ . The most important thing is to be proud of yourself respecting your identity and tradition, because by being yourself you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before.

By Anderson Azugbene