AZIZAH INTERNATIONAL
Design with Tradition
By Sabika Makhdoom
Photography by Katherine Green
Lucky enough to be among the 100 select participants for a fashion show featuring Arab dresses, I grabbed the opportunity to interview the designer, Intisar Khalifa. Originally from Palestine, she migrated to Jordan with her family back in 1948, and entered the fashion industry in an extraordinary way.
An ardent social activist, Ms. Khalifa was helping Palestinian refugee women in 1967 when she noticed the beauty of their dresses. “I realized that they wore black dresses made up of different pieces, each piece unique and embroidered. It was then that I noticed the intricacy of their designs and decided to put some research into their motifs and origins,” she relates.
What she found was an imprint of the social evolution. Talking to the women who made these dresses, Ms. Khalifa learned that each dress reflected the women as well as their circumstances – the bright colored pieces meant good days, because the multicolored pieces were expensive; the dull-colored patches revealed days of impoverishment, due to war or famine.
“When it comes to dresses, a beautiful tradition was prevalent among the Palestinian women back then,” she said. “On their weddings, women sewed their own wedding dresses with every family member contributing a part of the trousseau and thus making these dresses a tapestry of fond memories of the dear ones” She said she found these handmade dresses inspiring. “I felt as if they were works of arts, each with its own story and a struggle behind it. Over the years, this has inspired me through my life. I feel deeply connected to my Palestinian origin through this.”
Intisar’s organization started off as a Vogue project, in that Vogue supported her to recreate the traditional Palestinian dresses. Originally, the designer says, the dresses were made of thick fabric with a straight cut. She recreated them with lighter fabric and with a more modern silhouette. Called an abaya initially, the design evolved, to include extensive use of chiffons, silks and satins; however, the designer says she insists on keeping intact the Islamic and cultural influence despite the touches of modernity. Draped loosely in light, cheerful colors in handmade fabric embroidered with creative designs, the dresses are an exquisite combination of Palestinian culture and creative evolution with a modern touch. “Whereas my venture can be traced back to very humble origins; the brand is a well-known icon of the fashion world,” she says..
Today Ms. Khalifa’s brand employs 170 women from Al-Bakka refugee camp in Jordan, most of whom use the income to support their families. “My work allows underprivileged women to work from their homes and earn a handsome income,” she says.
Working with a team of 15-to-20 highly motivated personnel, this humanitarian entrepreneur says she is an energetic person who does things without any delays or hiccups. “I am a very hands-on, creative and determined person,” she says. And that, perhaps, is her secret in successfully creating a unique cultural identity as part of the fashion industry.
The fashion show I attended for Intisar Khalifa’s dresses was part of a fundraiser for the Arab Center of Washington. The Center, with its mission statement of fostering a deeper understanding of Arab culture, hosts a biennial Arab Festival at the Seattle Center.
