SOOD
Redefining Muslim Fashion — Time Capsule I
Ever since I moved to San Francisco, I had a dream of starting something of my own, but the big question was what industry would that be in? It took me some years to figure this out and after years of dabbling in all kinds of creative mediums I asked myself the question — What do you without even realizing you’re doing it or learning about it? And for me it’s fashion.
I’ve always used fashion as a way to express myself, my moods, time periods in my life, and overall it’s helped me stay creative throughout my life. And so SOOD began. SOOD comes from my last name Maq-SOOD, and after doing a lot of research found that it means ‘Stay Cool’ which felt very fitting for my brand. I was born in the Middle East, and someone who grew up in the Chicagoland area — working in fashion wasn’t ever an option I had or could dream about. Most fashion went against the religion’s idea of modesty and that’s exactly what I wanted to change.
SOOD has become an important part of my journey. It started as an idea to just create scarves and collaborate with artists to have beautiful blackwork patterned scarves, but the idea grew into something so much more. I moved into designing clothes and jewelry. I worked with other pattern makers in India to recreate the basic white shirt with a new silhouette along with an industrial designer to create bold jewelry that stands out and introduce a new style of jewelry called the Ear Cuff. SOOD is not only about collaborating with local communities but giving back to those communities.
So when it came to choosing objects for a time capsule, it was a simple choice for me, I chose pieces from SOOD’s Collections. To tell a seamless story, I’ve decided to create a Lookbook in Adobe InDesign visually, give a sense of the items, materials, and the overall vibe of the clothes.
SOOD’s Dolman Shirt & Dress
As mentioned above, the idea first stemmed from taking a basic white shirt and redefining it to a bolder silhouette which can still be worn everyday but has a bit of edge to it. These dolman shirts are elevate any look and make a statement but still stay within the bounds of neutral colors and soft cotton materials.
The Dolman shirt’s come in 4 colorways, brown, white, brown & black, and brown & black and are all being locally produced in California. Our clothes will be available to shop this summer!
SOOD’s Bar Series
SOOD has two collections of jewelry, and the two pieces in the lookbook come from the Edge Series and Bar Series. When I was working on the designs for the jewelry, I went through 3 to 4 different iterations of plastic models to make the perfect piece. The 18k gold plated earrings were inspired by geometric shapes and to add a quirky addition to your look, they also come in sterling silver and are all manufactured in New York along with a matching ring to it.
The ring is called the Bar Ring and is part of the Bar Series. Within this set the Ear cuff is our idea of redefining jewelry and creating a new piece that slides on the top of your ear to create a bold look. SOOD’s jewelry got released on the website last December so it’s our latest shoppable collection.
SOOD’s Blackwork Patterned Scarves
SOOD’s blackwork patterned scarves were how SOOD began making them have a special place in my heart. This was my first ever collaboration with a local artist finding the right prints for these scarves. The photographs you see are of the Blackwork and Blackflower patterned scarves which both are inspired by blackwork style tattoos, and are the only pieces in the collection that are printed.
SOOD has been such a big part of my life for the past three years, and to see it come to live and grow our team to a team of 5 today has been humbling and wild expereince and this is exactly what I wanted to see in a Time Capsule.