In line with our work, we have designed a capsule collection for FW21 that we showcased during the first Arab Menswear Fashion Week organized by the Arab Fashion Council.

This collection was live streamed on the Arab Fashion Council’s platform on Friday the 29^th of January at 8:30PM (Dubai time). The video, produced by The Clinic Studios and directed by Iva Kovic, was filmed a couple of days before a total lockdown of the country. In it we follow four individuals throughout snippets of their walking journeys, to a soundtrack of an increasingly deafening yet exhilaratingly relatable symphony of unashamedly mundane voice messages, a subtle wink to life in today’s absurd day and age. 

Manar Asaad shot by Aly Saab

The collection is titled ‘’Absinthe Blues 2.0’’, following in the footsteps of Eric Mathieu Ritter’s graduation collection ‘’Absinthe Blues’’ which was then an entirely blue collection inspired by the feelings of numbness that lead a person to follow the flow instead of taking a stand. Just as the initial collection, the 2021 version is equally entirely blue, but references an intense and busy lifestyle, the overwhelming daily rush of responsibilities and duties, exacerbated by repetitive periods of lockdown which very much take their toll on all aspects of a modern business.

Nadine Sami shot by Aly Saab

The items showcased stem from three of the four lines of the brand: code blue, code yellow and code orange.

In the code blue section, t-shirts, hoodies and shirts in black and white feature a silk-screen print in the back illustrating a visual from a plane’s safety instruction card with arrows leading to the emergency exit doors; a nod to the previous collection, the recurrent waves of immigration and the feeling of needing to get out.

Omar Baadarani shot by Aly Saab

In the code yellow section, dead stock such materials such as discarded craps of wool sourced from men’s tailoring, small rolls of great quality linen, poplin and wool found in Tripoli are used to create shorts, pants and shirts.

Omar Baadarani shot by Aly Saab

In the code orange section, focused on up-cycling thrifted second-hand and vintage materials, we focused on two very accessible items: jersey t-shirts and denim pants. The end result is a series of pieces in patchworked denim or jersey, including basics such as shorts, pants and denim-cut jackets but also pieces with dramatically long sleeves like jersey t-shirts with overlocked seams and a pointed-shoulders denim jacket.