zaidd'or

A few months ago, I added a new theme to my collections named it “Revival” a story about an Arab queen that comes from humble beginnings as the rightful ruler she uproots social norms and frees herself of male imposed shackles.  Moreover, she deconstructs male traditional pieces to further impose her power.

I created this theme after moving back to the Arab region and realizing how much heritage and material we have in our culture that is not utilized do to social constraints or in fear of receiving negative backlash. Not caring about the consequences I went through the process, we had to break these social and cultural shackles and use our heritage to present to the world how rich we are in history, culture, and art.

I took everything that had to do with men’s and women’s traditional clothing and looked at it as an outsider looking into our culture, I wanted to present pieces that are so Arab inspired yet wearable by my international clientele. We pride ourselves by wearing pieces screaming French or Italian influence and culture. Why can’t we do the same? It doesn’t have to be in kaftans, abayas and traditional clothing. But in pieces that can walk down the red carpet.

A few weeks ago my dream came true, I was called by a Pakistani stylist, Sarish Khan, Miss Pakistan needs a dress for the Lux style awards. He comes for a visit into my atelier and picks out a dress inspired by the Emarati (UAE national) Kandora or Thob (men’s traditional dress). A dress named the falcon, as mentioned previously is inspired by the UAE kandora. Deconstructing the cuts found on the traditional dress as well as using the tarbouch that is customary to UAE men’s clothing. The dress was created, Moreover, the dress has a fully hand painted falcon wing on one of its tails. Symbolic of the Arab queens freedom and ability to fly.  The necklace reminiscent of the UAE men’s tarbouch (tassel) is made out of crystals and pearls.

My dream has been fulfilled, I was able to present our culture in a way for the world to appreciate.