TURKEY:An Austrian couturier of Turkish heritage has been asked to redesign the politically charged headscarves of Turkey's likely future first lady, Hayrunisa Gul.
Her Muslim headscarf has symbolised a dispute pitting Turkey's secular elite and the military against her husband Abdullah Gul's bid to become Turkey's president in an election process that began yesterday.
The headscarf, seen by secular Turks as a threat to the separation of state and religion, is banned from public offices and schools, although more than half of Turkish women wear it.
However, in an apparent effort to show that her ideas about fashion reach beyond the controversial scarf, she has asked a designer - whose collections adorn women ranging from Catherine Zeta-Jones to Naomi Campbell - to update her appearance for her anticipated new role.
Designer Atil Kutoglu said: "I was approached with some wishes and I'm already working on designs now. They not only involve headscarves, but the general wardrobe for Ms Gul.
"I'm working on a very elegant, very modern wardrobe for Ms Gul.
"I try in my sketches to bring together current trends and contemporary fashion with the seniority of her future role."
Kutoglu, an Istanbul-born Austrian from whose collections Austrian foreign minister Ursula Plassnik has also picked some of her trademark shawls and scarves, said he would meet Ms Gul later this week to discuss his designs.
"I have done more than 10 sketches - from a trouser suit to an evening wardrobe," he said. "I used inspirations from Ottoman and Turkish motifs - that's part of my personal trademark."
Kutoglu said Ms Gul became a fan of his designs after he met the couple in New York four years ago.
"I've been in touch over the phone a few times since. She inquired about fashion trends and about my collections, and has used some of my silk scarves, but none of my clothes," he said.