indians sitting far from kashmir have romanticised dal lake chasme shahi and shalimar bagh for the longest time a lot of people visited the charming city of lakes until terror put a comma to all the travel plans and those of remembering the beautiful past flashforward kashmir is opening up again 4g is about to be restored in some areas and businesses are running amid covid19 restrictions terror talks are not new to this part of the country but what is new is some small businesses cropping up despite hardships and hitting national headlines one such small enterprise that is making a lot of news is a bridal fashion studio in srinagar sitting amidst lal chowk the citys famous square known for its political and strategic importance makeup and slay studio has become a sought after name in the city that is weathering restrictions of various kindsa makeup and slay studio briderun by three young women hiba fozia and tayba the studio has put srinagar on the map of striking bridal fashion the studio which takes care of local womens makeup and bridal ensembles came into being when the three entrepreneurial ladies realised the absence of a makeup studio in the citybasically ours was the first makeup studio in kashmir back in 2017 we had a few makeup artists but there wasnt any studio here so we thought it would be a great idea if we came up with a studio that offers everything with just women working there explains hibba whos one of its founder membersinitially we started with just makeup and hair and then added clothing as well women feel more comfortable around us because its very complex for a man to understand some basic women issues adds hibbaso what took this graduate from kashmir university and an ias aspirant to start a fashion business in srinagar as women we sort of knew our donts way before the dos but then we supported each other and tried to work things out my mother and father were very supportive luckily my mother studied fashion back in college days and thats what inspired me claims hibba as she speaks in her immaculate englishthe trio has not let the turmoils and lockdowns bog down their business and are trying to keep up with the hard days taking each day as it comes while swiftly changing the way kashmiri brides shop for their wedding trousseau at the same time they are battling challenges thrown up by people known to them who are often telling them that this isnt what you should be doinga beautiful kashmiri woman decked up by makeup and slay studiothe women behind the business feel that they have a better understanding of what kashmiri women want as women understand women better the trio have also taken it upon themselves to advocate body positivity there are different people with different body types and which is totally normal so we are here trying to normalise the norms helping women accept