( CNN ) -- When Pedro Matos arrived in conflict-ridden Darfur in 2009 to work as a humanitarian worker , the last thing he expected to encounter was dapper dressing and sartorial splendor . `` I was blown away by what I saw , '' says Matos , a former urban planning engineer who went to Western Sudan to work for a United Nations agency supporting internally displaced people ( IDP ) in a region rocked by violence for a decade now . `` As I got more and more exposed to the camps and to the IDPs , I was taken aback and surprised with what people wore and how different they were from what I was expecting , '' says the Portuguese aid worker . Struck by the eye-catching color combinations and the rich variety of patterns adorning women 's clothing , Matos reached for his camera and started taking pictures of Darfur 's local fashion . This gave birth to The Darfur Sartorialist , a project aiming to show to the world a different reality of this remote part in Sudan , beyond the usual narrative of suffering and violence . `` The news we usually get about Darfur -- the war , the oppression , the camps -- exists but that is not the only story , '' says Matos . `` I hope the project can make people question the reality we see . '' CNN 's Inside Africa spoke to Matos , who is now based in Kenya , about fashion in Darfur and his project 's goals . CNN : How you 'd describe the way these women are dressed in a few words ? PM : Colorful -- amidst these deserted landscapes , people dress in incredible colors ; unique -- it 's extremely difficult to find two women with the same clothes ; proud -- there is a pride in the dressing which goes a bit against to what I was expecting to be a conservative way of dressing ; fashionable -- a lot of the clothing is traditionally Sudanese but some is also influenced by the Middle East . The traditional Sudanese clothing is the toub -- many meters of cloth that 's wrapped around the body and head . Because it often falls off , they have to wear something underneath so that the skin does n't get exposed . Those combinations are often unique ; their undergarment would often be a patterned shirt and trousers , and with the toub , combinations are extremely varied . But on top of that , you have all the influence that comes from the Sudanese diaspora , the soap operas and all the films from the Middle East where women often dress a bit more Westernized ; they have dresses , trousers , denim jackets and skirts , so you have a combination of all these things and it 's extremely difficult to find two women dressed the same . The variety is something that surprised me ; in the West we often have these fashionable dark colors and because there are all these franchise stores , you get to see people dressed pretty much in the same way . But in Sudan , they 're so varied . Read this : Congo 's designer dandies . CNN : How easy was it taking pictures ? Were there any security concerns ? PM : Sudan has been in the spotlight for human rights issues for a long time , so they 're extremely suspicious of foreigners going around taking photos . But after working side by side for so long with the security services , they eventually ended up trusting me and I was allowed to take pictures . CNN : Did women want to be photographed ? PM : That is quite interesting , because Sudan is a society where women are expected to behave conservatively and refuse photographs . So , when I 'd take their pictures , they would often refuse if they do n't know me . But if I 'm taking [ pictures ] of children , then the women would say , `` OK , you can take photographs of us too . '' My colleagues and the IDPs did n't have a problem because they knew me ; actually , they were quite happy and honored and flattered that a foreigner would be so interested in their clothing . Read this : Africa 's fashion bible . CNN : What has been the feedback you 've received ? PM : Most people in the West are extremely surprised and most people in Sudan are quite happy that someone is covering Sudan in such way , with many smiles , and proud , fashionable people . But what I 'm mostly interested about is to have people in the West -- those who know very little about Darfur , other than the stories of war and kidnapping -- understand that beyond the society we see in the news , it feels perfectly normal and conceivable that alongside war and oppression there are people who live their own lives and have aspirations which are not that different from ours .
Pedro Matos is the creator of the Darfur Sartorialist project . The project showcases the colorful and fashionable way of dressing of people in Darfur . In this video, you can see how a young man dressed as an Arab sheik with his beard trimmed to look like a lion.