Saturday, November 5, 2011

Fashion Dreams - The Exquisite Gowns of Hana Sadiq

Last night, Boston's Center for Arabic Culture held a fundraiser featuring a fashion show of gowns by Iraqi fashion designer Hana Sadiq, entitled "The Many Names of Love". Held at Boston's elegant Taj Hotel, the show was part of a special fundraising evening that featured the fashion show as well as a silent auction, and dancing. The Center for Arabic Culture is based in Somerville, near Boston, and has a full and expanding slate of activities.

But back to the fashion show. A bit spent from finishing a major writing project, I was thrilled to be in the audience for the show. It was such a balm to my spirit to feast on the sumptuous gowns. Sure they were couture-priced, but they were of exquisite couture quality too. Each worthy of Sheherazade herself, they had gaspingly gorgeous detailing, brilliant colors, fanciful cuts and dreamy fabric. Many featured embroidery of Arabic calligraphy. It is hard to bring the beauty to you - but here is a close-up of a gown that shows some of her amazing ideas - combining color, calligraphy and embroidery.
Most gowns were accessorized by fantastic headpieces and hats. All the models also wore five pearl or silver sequins above each eyebrow, to interesting effect. The Fashion Doctors blog has posted several photos of the show - link below. Here is one of the photographs showing a closeup of a model with the eyebrow sequins and embroidered hat. Lovely!
The models were professionals from Boston's Dynasty Agency. Since I went on my own, I didn't socialize, but left quickly after the show, my mind filled with Ms. Sadiq's fantastic creations. The guests, so elegant they could have done their own fashion show, clearly seemed to be enjoying themselves. They auctioned off one of Ms. Sadiq's gowns right after the show. There were many photographers there, and if I see any of the photographs from the show I'll post them. In the meantime, here is a link to Hana Sadiq's website . Bravo, everyone at the Center for Arabic Culture, especially director Farrah Haidar. Well done! 

In a blog called Fashion Doctors, there are several photos of the show. You can link to them here.
And if you're in the DC area, Hana Sadiq will be presenting her fashions at a benefit for the ADC in Washington very soon.