Fashion Design
Aysha Birani
Cacophony
“Cacophony” is a visual story revealing the events of the death of my late grandmother, Aisha. A mother of ten children who was murdered by an Israeli soldier while picking tomatoes on her farm. This is a visual response to how the events of the Israeli invasion on Palestine spilled into neighbouring countries, namely Lebanon, taking people’s homes and lives. With my collection, I intend to illustrate the calmness that is on the surface while chaos is ensuing behind closed doors.
The silhouette of the knife and the head figure has inspired organic curves and awkward yet forceful channels. A mixture of damask, satin, velvet, tulle, and boning were used. The pattern in the damask represents the mixture of family with home. Satin represents the innocence of oblivion. Velvet represents the comfort of happiness. Tulle representing the idea of masked invasion, and the boning hidden strategically through the seams; to only allow for sight of the shape it creates, represents the way she passes.
Mixing the colour stories together crafts a mix of emotions to create a meaningful statement. This statement being: taking the purity of my grandma – represented by the colours and fabrics chosen – and tainting this purity by layering the garments with tulle.
I dedicate this collection of my feelings to my late grandmother Aisha.
I miss you.