As well as being optimistic about the future of
his war-ravaged country, Rami Al Ali has other reasons to be upbeat: he is
about to become the first Syrian fashion designer to show his work at Paris
Haute Couture Week.
The invitation to appear on the world’s most prestigious fashion stage is a
huge endorsement for the 53-year-old from the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor who
turned to design after a childhood admiring his architect father’s drawings.
Now, following years of dressing A-listers from Oscar winner Helen Mirren
to Beyonce as well as Middle Eastern royals, Ali is rubbing shoulders with the
biggest names in the industry.
“Nervous, excited, tired, happy,” he told AFP when asked how he felt as he
prepared models for his debut Paris Couture show on Thursday. “It’s a mix of
very overwhelming feelings.”
After studying in Damascus, Al Ali left for Dubai as a young man in search
of opportunities in the fashion industry, working initially for two regional
brands.
He branched out on his own in 2001, building a regional fanbase for his
eponymous brand from the United Arab Emirates before creating a following in
Europe, including via shows in Paris outside the official Fashion Week
calendar from 2012.
The invitation this year from France’s prestigious Federation de la Haute
Couture et de la Mode places him in a new elite category that is increasingly
diverse.
Syrian traditions
“It’s a definitely big credit… to be acknowledged, to be authenticated,
to be endorsed,” he explained.
Other non-Western designers such as Imane Ayissi, the sole sub-Saharan
African at Couture Week, have hailed the French federation’s openness.
“It shows that things are changing, that things are moving forward,” former
model Ayissi told AFP this week.
Al Ali’s new collection of couture dresses — he also produces two lines of
ready-to-wear per year — has been inspired like most of his work by his
Syrian heritage and includes input from the country’s Craft Council.
“I built from my heritage, from my background, from where I was based, also
in the Middle East, in Dubai, all of those combined together created the form
and the DNA of the brand,” he explained.
Given an appreciation of tradition from his historian mother, Al Ali draws
on the design aesthetics of Damascus, Aleppo and Palmyra in particular.
“You don’t see them anywhere else, and those are the ones that I’m trying
as much as I can every time to bring back to life,” he added.
One of his dresses in Thursday’s collection features elaborate sculptural
patterns made from rolled off-white crepe fabric that has been stitched by
hand in a process that took an estimated 300 hours of work.
Creative freedom
Beyond the catwalks and glitz of the fashion world, Al Ali also attempted
to support Syrian artists through the country’s nearly 14-year civil war via a
charity initiative called Ard Dyar.
The fall of former president Bashar al-Assad in December, which led to the
rise of rebel-turned-transitional leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, has given Ali cause
for optimism about his homeland’s future.
Several Western governments have lifted sanctions on Syria as Sharaa, a
formerly Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist, attempts to fully pacify the country and
rebuild.
“We called the collection the ‘Guardian of Light’, and it came also at a
time that is very hopeful, very promising,” Al Ali told AFP. “I think many
great things will come to light very soon.”
After decades of Syria being a byword for violence and political
oppression, Ali hopes that artists will now help highlight the country’s rich
history and design culture.
“I think now we have much more freedom in expressing ourselves in all
different aspects, political, humanitarian, creative. We have a lot to say,
and definitely we are bolder, braver in the way we express it,” he said.(AFP)
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