Fashion Forward Day 2: Backstage at Toujouri

It’s countdown to the much anticipated show by Lama El-Moatassem’s label Toujouri. We caught up with the Palestinian designer 20 mins before her models hit the runway.

Her inspiration:

“This season the collection is inspired by traditional Palestinian embroidery. I’m originally from Palestine, but born and raised in Qatar. So, the process of this collection was based around those textiles. We’ve created our own prints and embroidery and I really wanted to explore, I guess, what is a personal side for me. And to learn more about traditional cross-stitch Palestinian designs.”

The motifs:

“We’ve reinterpreted some of the traditional motifs that were used in Palestine to communicate a woman’s social, ethnic and marital status in different regions of the country. We’ve done this through very geometric designs.”

The aspiration:

“These days, when you say ‘Palestine’, people always associate it with war, destruction and sadness. So, with this collection I really just wanted to recreate a feeling of hope and happiness. It needed to be fresh, easy and light.”