How Fashion Designers Find Inspiration amid Lockdown?

Royal, elegant and glamorous dresses carrying a whole story one designer can tell inside every embroidery, every pleat and every drape. A designer is simply weaving his fairytale on the garment. He’s an artist seeking inspiration from everything around him; He can build a whole story around one thought hidden inside each tailoring, embodied in breathtaking designs.

Although the body was locked down, however it is not the case with fashion designers’ imagination which was unleashed during coronavirus isolation.

Some fashion designers found lockdown a great opportunity to go back to the roots, finding inspiration within the simplest tasks of life, while others were inspired by the beauty of this unpreceded event, we found ourselves stuck in.

How Arab fashion designers are getting inspired during coronavirus pandemic in lockdown? Well, we got the answer!

NAJA SAADE
 

His passion for fashion was bigger than his past career, but Lebanese fashion designer Naja Saade found covid-19 a wonderful opportunity to combine these two different fields together, he told Special Arabia: “Reopening the doors of my atelier to produce gowns for Covid-19 patients during the Coronavirus pandemic brought back distant memories of the time I was a radiologist. And I found myself juggling between fashion design (my actual career) and medicine (my previous one).”
 

“It struck me how both, medicine and fashion can bring light to many lives in different ways,” he added.

This pandemic was definitely an inspiration for Naja who confirmed: “This is the idea I will explore in my new collection that will also reflect a lot of Naja Saade’s history and memories.”

RAMI KADI


 

Lebanese fashion designer Rami Kadi is contemplating the beauty of the whole thing, it is an optimist approach towards the pandemic, “Everything that's happening around us and all around the world is an inspiration”, he told Special Arabia.
 

“Seeing everyone in their homes while Mother Earth is healing is an inspiration by itself. It's the best time for research and virtual innovation.”

ALI YOUNES


 

It is time to take a break from life and enjoy the little things, for the Lebanese fashion designer Ali Younes, who emphasized that being a fashion designer “it is almost impossible to have free time for yourself during a busy productive life! Today with the lockdown, I have the time to reassess my steps and study every move for the future.”

As for his source of inspiration Ali said:
 

“Creativity can come out in any medium! Artists need sometimes to be isolated to create. I guess I have created an inspiring environment by investing in time to practice things I’ve missed during the busy days.”

Ali told us as well that he’s spending lockdown with a lot of reading, painting, listening to music and watching movies about art and history. “I have been watching Classic movies of Icons like Grace Kelly, Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida.”

HONAYDA SERAFI
 

Saudi Designer and business woman Honayda Serafi, who launched her womanwear label in 2017, opened up about how the pandemic is affecting the fashion industry: “It is definitely challenging to find inspiration in such times that are both physically and psychologically draining because of how fast everything changed, especially for the fashion industry that was completely put on hold”, which forced it to to rethink its ways of producing, and to move on a slower pace.

Honayda insisted that inspiration can be found anywhere, she said: “I truly believe that creativity emerges inexplicably in the most confusing moments whether on the design or marketing front, since brands were faced with totally new consumer behavior.”

However, Honayda’s brand is benefiting from this opportunity to develop further sustainability plans. “In the end, staying home and having more free time, actually fostered my creativity”, she confirmed.

Speaking of inspiration, the Saudi designer shared her thoughts:

“The simple fact of witnessing such unprecedented events, is inspiring by itself. Inspiration is right in front of us especially when seeing all these charitable initiatives proving our humanity now more than ever; this cannot but open our minds.”