The Aubusson Tapestry Museum is situated in an exceptional context shaped by a rich history and a powerful natural environment. The Creuse capital of tapestry has been marked by its history since the royal manufactory of the 14th century.
Textiles are a window into the communities that created them, with every motif and line signalling a different memory, tradition or identity. Often seen as folk art, these pieces of embroidery and weaving bring together dozens of narrative threads, from Japan to South America. But nowhere is it more fraught with meaning than in Palestine.
As an interdisciplinary artist, Madita defies simple categorisation, moving fluidly between the worlds of fine art, fashion, and performative expression. In this photo editorial, Madita proves that the artist and the artwork are often the same.
Our role is, first and foremost, to transmit our fascination with a craft and to ignite that same excitement in the designer. This is the foundation of our curatorial approach: creating the right encounter between a designer's universe and that of a workshop.
Our small crew stayed in the Saadia riad, where rooms overlooked a courtyard lined with Moroccan zellige (tilework) and intricately carved arched balconies. The interiors were a labor of love by the family of Caid Azzi Boujemaa, a former palace worker who was gifted the Riad in the early 20th century as a thank you for his loyalty. In the early 2000s the property was restored by the La Sultana hotel group,
That past is his - it is the 20th anniversary of his label, and accordingly he decided to embrace, engage, even embed himself in his own history. Which, in and of itself, is a history of histories - Moralıoğlu's office is peppered with random 1930s portraits (the ones his husband, the architect Philip Joseph, won't let him keep in their Bloomsbury home) and old, time-warped issues of Vogue, as well as overflows of books on everything from Merce Cunningham to Alfred Hitchcock.
From a single material, a Hyderabad-based design studio creates a wide range of site-specific installations, furnishings, and decor. It's all in the name of the firm, The Wicker Story, which was founded in 2019 by architect Priyanka Narula. Capable of being formed into everything from abstract constructions to functional objects, the natural material lends itself a huge variety of pieces that vary in size and complexity.
Fashion and dress in Mesopotamia - clothing, footwear, and accessories - were not only functional but defined one's social status and developed from a simple loincloth in the Ubaid period (circa 6500-4000 BCE) to brightly colored robes and dresses by the time of the Sassanian Empire (224-651). Styles changed, but the essential form and function remained the same. As in any civilization, the upper class and nobility wore more expensive clothes of higher quality.
The collaboration brings together Designtex's deep expertise in high-performance contract textiles and nanimarquina's poetic command of craft, tactility, and the beauty of the imperfect. For both teams, the partnership emerged from an immediate sense of kinship - a shared language of material integrity, color sensitivity, and a respect for heritage techniques reinterpreted for contemporary spaces. "We did that by using performance yarns and intentionally embedding imperfections into the weaving process."
The bag is crafted from genuine translucent leather in a pale, almost golden yellow that does a convincing job of mimicking the cooked skin of a steamed dumpling. The leather is soft and smooth to the touch, and because it's translucent, you can see straight through to the canvas lining inside. That lining is printed with images of chopped vegetables and filling, creating a visual illusion that's almost unsettling in the best possible way.
In the show, "dirty" extends to anything that breaks fashion's pact with propriety. Here are clothes caked in grime, blotted with makeup, stiffened by salt, pieced from trash, frayed, and faded. The garments span decades, from the 1980s through the mid-2000s, when the likes of Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier built their fame on defying convention, to today, when corporatization has made such daring increasingly rare. But forgoing practicality frees certain designers from the demands that the body be polite-and thereby policed.
It captures seven different femininities during an all-day pool party, enjoying themselves while revealing their distinctive styles. Creative Direction, Production & Styling by Maria Gkin. Photography by Eliza Poultidou. The models are Vanessa Otilia, Cyka, Alvina Chamberland and Angelica Komninak. The concept examines the thin line between what is seen as acceptable and what has been labelled ugly or immoral, explored through each woman's personal story. Textures, colours, makeup and styling come together, breaking down stereotypes and highlighting fashion as a means of freedom
The show features the work of 14 contemporary artists who use the rug as a medium to engage with cultural concerns related to religion, technology, social justice, housing, and the environment. The diverse roster of artists from the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia work across a variety of media, including yarn, cardboard, repurposed carpets, and hair combs, to transform this functional object into a site of experimentation - manipulated, reinterpreted, and made new.
Redolent of African basketry, hairstyles, headwear, and pottery, Donté K. Hayes ' abstract ceramic sculptures may be interpreted as poetic vessels, even though they lack traditional openings. While we easily associate clay pots and round woven forms with ideas related to storage, protection, and even spiritual significance, they also nod to the human head as a holder-a kind of receptacle for culture, language, personal expression, and dreams.
Embroidery is a historic mainstay of traditional clothing in Asia or the Middle East, as well as Western Haute Couture, but it is increasingly present in Paris, Milan or New York on modern men's shirts, bomber jackets or blazers. Designers at Dior, Dolce Gabbana, Kenzo or Gucci have adopted it in recent runway shows, while Louis Vuitton's celebrity rapper-designer Pharell Williams dedicated his entire June collection to India after visiting the country.
The Rural Cut places vintage fashion in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, among vineyards, open fields, and the animals that inhabit the land. As a Beirut-based stylist, I worked with a fully Lebanese team to create a shoot that feels authentic, where each garment and every frame reflects the textures, history, and rhythm of the rural landscape. Photography by Angele Basile / Instagram: @angelebasile Styling by Rinad Saad / Instagram: @rinaaaaddd
