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Journalism of Courage
Braving religious and cultural opposition, a Saudi designer has dared to colour menswear
About 10 years ago, Saudi fashion designer Yahya al-Bishri decided he had had enough of the plain, long white robe worn by men here.
Al-Bishri, who had previously designed only for women, came up with a line of men8217;s robes, known here as thobes, that featured elaborate geometric embroidery or patches of denim or leather. Some were made entirely of coloured fabric. But Saudi Arabia, a traditional society that places great emphasis on conformity, was not ready for al-Bishri.
8220;Many people were shocked that I was developing the thobe, considered the national costume. I was accused of trying to destroy our culture, of promoting homosexuality and of trying to make men resemble women,8221; he said.
Still, little by little, his male clients became more daring, encouraged in part by the positive reaction of women. Today, al-Bishri, 46, has a two-floor luxury boutique for men and women in Jiddah, one in Riyadh, and a showroom in Paris. His client list is a who8217;s who of Saudi high society that includes the monarch, King Abdullah, and other members of the royal family.
Al-Bishri, who in the late 1980s was one of the first Saudis to enter the world of fashion, was used to overcoming barriers. His father, shocked by his son8217;s choice of profession, initially cut him off. So al-Bishri supported two-and-a-half years of fashion design studies in Italy and France by writing and selling poems and freelancing for local newspapers.
He returned to Saudi Arabia in 1990 and opened a small boutique in Jiddah. The religious police, or mutawa, raided his shop half a dozen times, accusing him of violating a ban on the mingling of unrelated men and women.
In 1997, though, he got a phone call from the royal court. Abdullah wanted to see his designs. In his research into Arabian men8217;s fashion, al-Bishri had discovered that in the 1940s and 8217;50s, King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, father of Abdullah, had worn elaborately decorated long-coats, or diglas, that men wear on formal occasions.
Al-Bishri told Abdullah that his designs were inspired by Arabic and Islamic art. Abdullah asked him to make coats similar to the ones his father had worn and thobes in bright fabrics. Newspapers published photos of al-Bishri and Abdullah at an annual cultural festival in which al-Bishri had been commissioned to design 1,000 diglas for a show that showed Abdullah introducing him to regional royalty.
Soon after, al-Bishri received a phone call from his father. 8220;He congratulated me and said he8217;d always been proud of me, despite what people had been saying,8221; al-Bishri said, 8220;It was one of the proudest moments in my life.8221;
Now, al-Bishri8217;s modern boutique is crowded with men being fitted for thobes and going through the racks. 8220;I was bored of the classic thobes, and Yahya8217;s designs were special. He created a revolution in menswear,8221; said longtime client Mahmoud Abdul-Ghaffar, 46.
_Faiza Saleh Ambah, LATWP
