BAGHDAD: More than four years after their priceless garments were plundered in the looting that followed the US-led invasion, Iraq's premier dress designers are back in fashion - of the ancient Mesopotamian variety. Now they are ready to display their latest works on the international stage. Perhaps New York, perhaps Paris. Anywhere but Baghdad.
"We are working like butterflies - quietly," says Iraqi House of Fashions director general May Rammo. "We don't want to attract attention. If you are working for the government you are open to being attacked."
Hidden away in a three-storey building in Baghdad that she prefers not be identified, Rammo oversees a team of 307 designers, artists, embroiderers, dressmakers and models who are recreating dresses and costumes in styles dating back 5,000 years and more.
Artists copy images from ancient pottery and drawings, designers adapt them, experts source natural fabrics in local markets, embroiderers create the motifs and dressmakers sew them onto dresses that the models then display.
Don't even ask the prices of these exquisite, handcrafted garments bearing colorful motifs from the Sumerian period (5000-2330 BC), the Babylonian era (2330-1750), the Assyrian epoch (1800-613) and so on up until the start of the Islamic period in the 6th century AD.
"They're priceless. They're not for sale," says Rammo. "Some of them have taken a year to complete. How can you put a price on that? Many people have wanted to buy them but we're making these dresses to preserve our culture. They're just for the pleasure of seeing."
For many of the chic and well-to-do here in the capital of Iran, a country where women are required by law to conceal the shapes of their bodies, Simin Ghodstinat's designs provide a sort of middle way. Her clothes are elegant, luxurious and expensive - all while staying well within the religious authorities' strictly enforced boundaries of propriety.
Ghodstinat's outfits are long and enveloping. They are usually made of several pieces of hand-woven and hand-dyed Indian fabrics, all in lively colors and based on traditional Persian, Kurdish, Afghan or Indian designs. And they have become something of a phenomenon among Tehran's small minority of wealthy women.
Dubai: A competition has been launched for creators in the Middle East to conceive a gallery space, decorative object or lounge chair. The winner will see their design go into production.
As a top prize, the winner of the gallery space category will have their design built at a high-profile location in Business Bay Dubai, which is slated to open in 2008.
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