Even before the Islamic State (IS) group took over her home city of Mosul, 31-year-old Nesrine never imagined she would have a job working late into the evening at a fashion boutique.
But now, in districts of Iraq's second city not left totally devastated by the ferocious fighting to oust the jihadists, life is buzzing again — with more vibrancy than ever.
"We went through a long nightmare and now we have woken up transformed," Ms. Nesrine said.
Battling conservatism
Ms. Nesrine is employed at a new clothing shop that has opened up on the east bank of the river Tigris — liberated from IS months before the group's final defeat in western districts six months ago — selling skinny jeans and colourful tops from Turkey.
As pop music blares from loud speakers, she works alongside male colleagues advising customers lured in during a late-evening stroll by images of fashion models.
Mosul has long had a reputation as a bedrock of conservatism and became a hub for Sunni jihadists after the U.S.-led ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
But when IS seized control, the group imposed a radical interpretation of Islamic law far more severe than anything residents had known before.
"If a boy and a girl were discovered together then they risked being executed," said Rahma, 21.
Now Mosul University, where she studies English, is busy with groups of boys with gelled up hair and girls wearing colourful headscarves.
Having a good time
Ziad Dabbagh has just opened up a restaurant to give people somewhere else to go in the commercial neighbourhood of al-Zuhur.
"People in Mosul used to go to other provinces of Iraq to go out," he said.
Families dine and young men sip tea on the terraces and in the dining hall.
"It was as if we were lost in the middle of a desert, cut off from everything," said Roua al-Malah, 34, who was out with her family."And now all at once we have rediscovered that we can have a good time."
