Celebrating International Women's Day
Get to know Fatima, founder & owner of Chammeli
It only seemed appropriate to launch this blog on International Women's Day. While some may know me as the owner and occasional face of Chammeli, I thought it was time you really KNOW me, Fatima, the founder and owner of Chammeli.
Chammeli was born out of equal parts love of fashion and frustration with traditional retailers. Tired of the friction between the two I followed the old adage, 'If you want something done right, do it yourself,' and launched Chammeli.
A love of fashion
Since I was a young girl, I always loved fashion. It stems from my trips to the markets in Pakistan where I would accompany my mom and aunts to choose fabrics and trims for our traditional clothes. At a young age I had the ability to customize the clothes as I wanted, and they were beautiful. But that stopped with shalwar kameez. When I was home in Indiana, I was stuck with whatever they had in stores. As the daughter of immigrants, I had to balance style with values which translated into lots of layering and cardigans. So many cardigans.
For many years, fashion was a hobby and interest. I enjoyed the challenge of putting together outfits in an artful way that walked the line between style and values. Through conversations I learned what I found enjoyable, other women found frustrating. It was out of service to these women I launched Modestly Speaking, a blog that helped women find clothing from traditional retailers that covered in a way that was chic and sophisticated. But after a while, I realized traditional retailers simply did not understand the needs of women like me. So, I took the leap and pivoted from blogger to clothing store owner.
Why Chammeli exists
For so many of us, fashion is not frivolous. It is a means by which we convey who we are and the values we hold. It also has a huge impact on how we feel about ourselves. We all know that feeling when you look in the mirror and you know you look good. This is the mission of Chammeli. To have women feel confident in who they are inside and out.
Because of my own experiences, I have a very meticulous curation process for the pieces sold at Chammeli. Not only do they need to be stylish and high quality, there are other details I examine: hem length, sleeve length, neckline, backline (if that's a word), sheerness of fabric, height of slit, among others. Your struggle is my struggle and I do the work because I believe all women should have access to clothing that meets their needs.
