JEDDAH, 5 October 2007 — A stage was set befitting the holy month of Ramadan for an on-the-spot textile designing competition. There were young Saudi children vying with their high school counterparts.
And they designed whatever struck their imagination from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. The contest was aptly titled ‘My best fashion designer is me’ held at Al Badriah Towers in Jeddah.
Over the five-hour period, some 300 participants showed up. Each was given a white T-shirt and asked to design it. “I like sketching and painting and when I heard a competition is being organized I looked forward to it and am here,” 11-year-old Rama Jalal of 186 School told Arab News.
For 12-year-old Abdul Aziz Al-Sharif of Prince Sultan Education School, this was not the first time that he was entering a contest. “I took part in some painting competitions before and won prizes,” he said. “However, this is the first time I am competing in a textile designing contest.”
Durrah Kalthoum, a 10th grader at Dar Al-Rawad, said this was the first time she was trying to paint a design on a T-shirt. “At the moment, I am sketching and painting whatever comes to my mind. I did not come with any definite plan,” Durrah said.
Khaled Saab of Publicis Graphics, one of the three judging members, said this was a novel experience for both organizers who included Sultan Al-Alawi, chairman of Fash In Group, and Headline, and participants. “We came up with this contest so that children could use their imagination and have fun and an enjoyable time.”
Sehan Kashgri, an established fashion designer and judging committee member, said: “Such on-the-spot contests will do a lot of good to young talents. Under scan are the ideas and color combinations that they use.” All entries were displayed at the premises for the benefit of the judging panel and visitors.
Maan Balila won the first prize of SR3,000, followed by Rayan Katouah SR2,000, Jamal Mahmoud SR1,000 and Samira Al-Faqi SR500. “All in all, the competition has helped us to find some of our future textile designers,” Kashgri said.
