Fashion Friday: Ferka 16

I get so many compliments on this shirt. It's caused middle-aged men to stop in their tracks and spontaneously burst into poetry.

My husband literally had someone try to smooth-talk him into trading for it, while he was wearing it. At one event, it even got the one-word approval of the ever-fickle teenage crowd.

The design is by French-Lebanese artist and graphic designer Jacqueline Bejani, the talent behind Ferka 16, ("Squad 16") a line of high-quality hoodies, tees and tunics for men and women, combining classic Arabic texts with modern design and urban style.

Ferka 16 's philosophy lies in utilizing “the exceptional lines of famous poets as well as young and modern writers and everyday expressions to send you a message of tolerance, unity and strength.”

The shirt (see above) my husband and I have [read: "fight over who gets to wear" (they're intended to be unisex)] features two lines by the renowned medieval Iraqi poet Al-Mutanabbi (or the "gangster rapper" of the era, as my husband likes to say, in that Mutannabi boasts both of his erudition, smarts, and skills with the sword and the ladies [the quest to be a lover and a fighter is surely a timeless one, after all...]).

The poem goes:

"The desert knows me well, the night and the mounted men...the battle and the sword, the paper and the pen know me."

Jacqueline kindly responded to a few questions about her design process and her inspiration for her designs:

Famous proverb:

"If you happen to see the lion's teeth, don't think he's smiling at you."

Q: What is your design process?
A: First I choose the poems I want to use and then an image begins to form over the course of several weeks, enough time to get it just right.

The choice of an uplifting poem (note the bird soaring between the lines of poetry) by the great modern Tunisian poet, Abou el Kacem Chebbi, for this shirt:
(See Ferka16's site for the full translation.)

Q: What does the Ferka16 line express through its designs?

A: I think these t-shirts offer a youthful, convivial, open, and vibrant image of Arab culture. My idea is to create a simple and popular product. [But I also] see it as a long term project, allowing different designers, poets, writers and artists to participate in this project and create a certain artistic dynamic.

And I love the script on this one:

Which says simply: "Hope, anger, star, patience, person"

Q: Where did the idea of making your line of t-shirts originate?

A: I had the idea of making these t-shirts so that my kids, who were born in France, might be able to appreciate the grandeur of Arab poetry, which is truly magnificent ! (It’s also a good way to understand something about the Arab spirit.) But it also came from a reflection upon beauty! That of Arab beauty, which is never highlighted.

In Europe there’s a certain wariness about all things Arab, but I also believe that this wariness also exists amongst ourselves! Most of all, I wish that Arabs would be as happy and proud to wear an image that reflects their own culture as they would an American or European image that they already think is cool and meaningful.

The shirts are of very high quality cotton and the printing is bold and bright -- even more so than in the pictures. Check out the full line -- including women's styles, on the site.

For more on Al-Mutanabbi (including audio recitations of his poetry), see here. And for more information about the line & designer, check out this longer interview with Jacqueline from Now Lebanon.

All images courtesy Ferka16.

A new look for "Lalla Lydia"

I'm working on a new design for the blog and would love your input! Take this poll or leave a comment about ideas you'd like to see for Lalla Lydia's forthcoming new look!

Electric oud, anyone?

Don't you love how all those "related videos" on the sidebar of youtube can lead you to something wonderful and unexpected?

Yesterday morning our day started slowly, over coffee, with some rare winter sunlight pouring into our living room. As we sipped our coffee my husband played a beloved Fairuz song...which led us to an enjoyable flamenco-Lebanese performance of "Janaat" by oudist Wadih el Safi and guitarist Jose Fernandez, before YT's algorithms lead us to... DuOud!


Parisian duo Jean-Pierre Smadj and Mehdi Haddab combine electronic oud with accoustic and a whole lot of electronica. The two musicians draw from their backgrounds as sound engineer and trained jazz musicians, as well as their North African heritage, to create music that's more than just fusion. They've really made "classical" oud music rock!


If you've heard them play, drop me a line and tell me what you thought.

Vanity Fair does Qaddafi

First it was the New York Times commenting on the sartorial choices of North Africa's kookiest leaders -- now Vanity Fair has a special slide show, replete with (admittedly funny) zingers and jabs -- and not just about the clothes.

What do you think, "billboard medal plaques" as the next accessory trend for 2010?
After statement necklaces come...statement regalia!

See my older posts on the fashion statement of Qaddafi Jr. meeting Hillary Clinton, and the general's elite corps of female body guards.



First image UPI/Landov, second by Andrew Heavens/Reuters/Corbis, via Vanity Fair.

The New Yorker on Arabic Literature

"Found in Translation" is a marvelous new essay on literature from the Arab world by Claudia Roth Pierpont in the New Yorker. (And lucky you, there's an audio essay, too!)

With a lead-in like:

"The ways that people think and work and suffer and fall in love and make enemies and sometimes make revolutions is the stuff of novels, and Arabic novels, while not yet lining the shelves of the local bookstore, have been increasingly available in English translation, offering a marvellous array of answers to questions we did not know we wanted to ask. On such subjects as: the nature of the clientele of the elegantly crumbling pre-Islamist bars in downtown Cairo, straight and gay (“The Yacoubian Building,” by Alaa Al Aswany); what it felt like to live through the massacre in the Shatila refugee camp, in 1982, and how some of the people who still live there have been managing since (“Gate of the Sun,” by Elias Khoury); the optimal tactics that a good Saudi girl should use to avoid being married off, which appear to require that she study either medicine or dentistry (“Girls of Riyadh,” by the twenty-something Rajaa Alsanea, who has herself completed an advanced degree in endodontics). There is clearly insight as well as information in these books. And then, considering the reduced size and the volatility of the world we share, we might recall the essential lesson of a very old Arabic book that everyone knows, “The Thousand and One Nights”—that stories can have the power to save your life."

and snappy reviews of so many different authors' work, I've just added at least six more titles to an already long list of "must reads".

There are some marvelous publishers in the U.S. and the U.K. of Arabic novels (or novels by Middle Eastern/North African authors) in translation. My three favorites are

Interlink Books

Saqi Books

and Europa Editions

Pierpont's essay has convinced me that I must, finally, read The Yacoubian Building ... though at this rate, I'll still probably get to the film first before the book.(Anyone else read it yet?)

Tickity-tock: Moroccan tilework clock

Another one for my folie for all things zellij:

A deconstructed tilework-pattern clock in your choice of positive/negative black or white.

J'aime bien le bleu.

By designer Mostapha El Ouhlani at Dar en Art. Check it out for more great contemporary design from Morocco.

Contemporary Qahwa: turkish coffee goes modern

It's high time to add ibriks, or traditional Turkish coffee makers to the list of modern takes on traditional Middle Easter serving equipment (see older posts: samovar, narghile/chicha, and another Turkish coffee set).

Here then, for your daily dose of go-juice, is an architectural take on the ibrik (see a traditional cevze here), from Italian design firm Sawaya & Moroni, whose full line exhibits the founders' architectural leanings in design.

Designed by French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, this bad boy looks as stout as its intended black brew.

Source: Archiblogue