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Event: ZAY

Al Sadu Society cordially invites you to an exhibition of Kuwaiti fashion:

ZAY
Traditions & Innovation

6:00 pm Sunday 15 Feb. to 22 Feb.
Al Sadu House – Arabian Gulf Road
Contact 22432395
www.alsadu.org.kw

Here is a personal note on how the exhibition came to be:

ZAY
A showcase of various interpretations of the traditional dress, to invigorate and revive its wear.

Nafnouf and Zeboun
In my book Traditions, I had researched and passionately documented aspects of the traditional arts and textiles of Kuwait. I recognized and focused on some beautiful and significant examples of the traditional dress. Today I carry this interest and fascination a step further, into the realm of actual design. I take the zeboun, the robe worn by women and men in the past and the nafnouf dress, and try to revitalize their wear. To give both a modern line with a traditional essence.

I appreciate cooperation of Kaveri Agarwal, a young designer from India who I met through the Textile Art Association meetings. Kaveri has worked for some time in manufacturing and reviving the traditional Indian dress and textiles in her country, India, and thus understood my enthusiasm and vision and could execute it well.

ZAY is also an interesting attempt at cultural exchange. In the past the Kuwaiti merchants sailed to India in search of fine silks and gold thread for their dress and embroidery. It may be that again we follow that ancient cultural route.

I hope this artistic and cultural endeavor will give you the joy and pleasure it did for me.

Celebrating traditions…
Altaf Salem A. Al Sabah
Kuwait 2009

Proceeds of the sales go to the HAYAT Charity, caring for cancer patients in Kuwait.

8 replies on “Event: ZAY”

this is really great! i am very proud of our culture and i am happy more and more people these years are being more interested in bringing it back. i always wanted to be able to wear our traditional clothing and jewelry like how indians wear their saries everyday with pride. you dont see kuwaitis walking around in malls in dara’as and if you did the kuwaitis them self would find it weird. even though we do update the outfits at least they have to do with our culture.
on an other note even if the government isn’t really supporting the arts in kuwait now thank god that kuwaitis are being more open towards it and are actually supporting artists there. 🙂

toni first of all she was talking about women not men . because men already wear the traditional dishdasha .

2nd : its normal in kuwait that ppl who serve coffee wear dishdasha , we dont have to wear shirts and pants to show that we r modern !!! even if its a bank !!! its like a nurse wearing that weird white dress or a fire man wearing his red garment etc .. coffee servants in q8 also wear dishdasha its like a uniform .

Hi,

I am curious of the meaning of the word ZAY in your language/culture. I have heard that in arabic it is close to the words for uncommon or unusual.
Any help would be apprecited, and I will share the story behing my name with you.

Thanks,

Zay H.

Is Zaydoun involved in any shape or form with this event?
Each one go get yourself a khadi or raw silk spun Nafnouf and Zeboun.
And this is by order!

yes i was talking about women toni. thank you blue q8
and why the hell is a dishdasha a sign of backwardness. it looks professional if wore nicely and it doesnt make the wearer and less professional or less of a business man if he was wearing one. the other countries you mentioned are not automatically better then us because they wear suits to work they are still connected to their culture and they dont forget it and that the important part.
what i am saying is that even though they wear the dishdasha to work doesnt really mean that they are connected to their culture. kuwaitis were hard working people surviving on pearl diving and fishing, alot of really really hard work and physical labor. i am not saying that all kuwaitis dont work but many dont and take our blessing for granted. just sitting on their butts collecting money from oil and stealing from each other. we used to be a really tight knit culture everyone looking for the other persons back respecting everyone from every where, and now this generation has no idea of that time and are not grateful for all they have. but now finally people are starting to make something out of them selves by working hard and trying to get somewhere with that hard work and not just wasta.
so yes i do agree with you about it not being proud of the culture but atleast that is one thing they didnt leave behind …
even though art was not a big thing back then it wasnt shameful to be an artist or anything else, work was work and people today are starting slowly to accept that fact. not matter what job you have people are starting to realize its the amount of work you put in it that makes a better person not the position they have. im just excited about local artist getting a chance to be successful and the good reactions they are getting from the community. hopefully it will get even better in a couple of years so by the time i get back it wont be as hard as it was a couple of years ago.
sorry long post i know but just had to get that off my chest :/

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