In a move that would have been almost unthinkable under ousted Islamist president Omar al-Bashir, Sudanese designers have organized a series of mixed-gender fashion shows to present their new lines.
The shows in upmarket Khartoum hotels saw female and male models parading down the catwalk together for the first time since before Bashir seized power more than three decades ago.
“In the old days, it was very difficult to organize a show like this. One would not dream of getting approval for it from authorities,” Sudanese designer Khaled Onsa told AFP.
“We used to face repression instead, but now we are ruled by a system that guarantees public freedoms.”
Bashir, a general who seized power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, ruled Sudan with an iron fist until his ouster in a palace coup in April last year following months of mass protests on the streets.
He imposed a harsh form of Islamic law, criminalizing everything from drinking alcohol to women wearing clothes deemed as “revealing”.
The transitional government installed after his overthrow has set about dismantling his legacy of repression.
