Introducing ISISDUNYA
Image courtesy of ISISDUNYA
Words by Ayat Al-Muhaisen
Existing between West and East, Isisdünya is a brand that seeks to celebrate and promote the nuances of Arab culture and identity.
The designer behind the electrifying brand is 25-year old Dunya Boukhers. Born and raised in Paris, with Turkish-Algerian roots, Boukhers draws inspiration from Parisian street culture; particularly the more ethnically diverse working-class neighbourhoods of Belleville, Chateau Rouge, the Chapel and Barbes, as these districts represent Paris’s eclectic socio-cultural background.
Boukhers is also inspired by her own cultural heritage. Having traveled through the Middle East, from Marrakech, to Beirut, to Algiers, the designer seeks to incorporate these cultural encounters and histories into each of her pieces. This delicate hybridity of the brand seeps through every one of its handmade, up-cycled, genderless, unique pieces. From its signature asymmetrical cuts to its intricate stitching and bold use of pattern and color, the clothes are a contemporary ode to traditional Arab dress and aesthetics.
The brand’s latest collection: “DAHBIA” masterfully reinterprets Algerian embroidery, the Amazigh’s print, the African bazin, the Palestinian Keffieh and other classical designs in order to highlight the technical synchronicity of different cultures and countries. These unconventional narratives provided through the clothes are at once highly universal and specific, transporting its audience between cultural pasts, presents, and futures. By collapsing traditional and modern fashion techniques across various Arab and non-Arab cultures, Isisdünya activates its brand mission of wanting to send impactful ripples through the fashion industry.
Frustrated by the racism, discrimination, and lack of representation that continues to permeate the fashion world, Isisdünya hopes to rebel against this violent history by creating novel designs that are at once fashionable, inclusive, culturally grounded, and ethically sourced and produced.
Discover more from Isisdünya here
