Saudi Haute Couture designer Yehya Al Bashri hopes to bring fashion to the Arab world
Haute Couture designer Yehya Al Bashri doesn’t shy away from making a statement. The Saudi fashion creator provoked a sensation with his controversial “Dress of Revolution at the Arab Fashion Festival in Beirut in 2002. In a show of solidarity with the Palestinian uprising against Israel, the bodice of the dress depicted 12-year-old Mohammed Al Dura crouching behind his father, moments before he was killed in an exchange of gunfire.
Outspoken and determined, Al Bashri has carved a spot for himself as one of the region’s talented designers. The path to success, however, has not been easy. The Mideast’s fashion industry is nascent, and uncovering potential talent is no easy feat. As Al Bashri explains, it’s mostly a result of fate.
During a recent visit to Cairo for an interview on Orbit television, Al Bashri spoke to The Daily Star Egypt about the fashion industry in the Middle East:
DSE: I heard that you were even a journalist for a while. So how did you get into design?
Yehya: I was a songwriter and a journalist actually. I never thought I would get into fashion. I believe that in the Third World you need to find your talent by chance. No families are helping you discover your talent, some even try to destroy it. My father tried to destroy my sketches and songs when he found them.
I discovered my talent by chance. I gave a friend some of my sketches and one day he comes up to me and tells me, “An Italian businessman bought your sketches. So I met the guy and he asked me why don’t I come to his academy in Milan. I did and I never went back [to Saudi].
It must have been very difficult to be an aspiring fashion designer from Saudi Arabia.
You have to fight a lot or nobody will accept you. When you are in a normal city maybe it’s easy, but it isn’t easy in such a strict place. It’s like you open the window and immediately a very strong wind pushes you back. You have to be strong and withstand it if you want to keep that window open.
What makes your talent so interesting and unique?
Ever since I started my style has been a mix between oriental and modern. I use all my knowledge from the academy to internationalize my design. But five percent is Yehya, my touch. There will be a little Arabic art inspired from something in the Arab world. I like to use architecture very much. One collection was inspired by the architecture in Morocco, which I really love.
How have things changed in the Arab world since you’ve realized your success?
I opened the window for younger boys and girls to pursue their talents in fashion. I’m happy to be the one to push that door open even though it has cost me a lot of pain and trouble. That’s what I’m trying to do with my academy.
How is the academy coming along?
It’s been very difficult. We want to establish it in Saudi Arabia but we are not sure if we will have resources there, so perhaps it will be in Egypt or another Arab country. The problem is that the entire fashion industry does not exist in the Arab world.
I’m not talking about just fashion designers. There are many people we need like cutters, illustrators, textile people, not to mention marketers, analysts, and other business people. We are going to have to import all these people from outside, mostly from France with my academy.
That’s another problem, bringing women over to the Arab world. We can’t escape that since there are so many important women working in fashion.
Although it’s so difficult, there’s huge interest right now in the fashion world in entering the Arab market. It’s empty right now and so when the industry is created, the returns will be huge I am sure.
Besides the academy, what other future plans do you have?
I hope by 2008, to begin to have a ready-to-wear clothing line available in many boutiques in different countries. I have finished most of the negotiations and I’m hoping to sign the contract soon.
Right now, I mostly design custom-made clothes for wealthy people, but what I really want to do is move into the street. That’s where true fashion is. Wealthy people might wear my clothes at parties and special events but nobody will ever see them. I want to see my clothes in the street. There really is nothing better than walking down the street and seeing people wearing your designs.
Knowing that a normal person likes your clothes, can afford them, and is enjoying wearing them around is so satisfying.
When this happens I know I will have realized my dream.
