Dar Al-Hekma organized a ‘Modish 50s Exhibition’ yesterday which is the first Fashion Design department show and will continue today as well.

“Modish means making modern designs from old ones, and here our inspiration came from the 1950s fashion,” explained Dina Kattan, Fashion Design program director.

The theme of the display by 12 junior students was fashion designing. They were motivated by such simple things as radio, apron, cars and camera.

“Housewives in the 50s are used to wearing puffy skirts at home while cooking,” said Noora Alharthi. “I brought the idea from the confines of the kitchen to the outside glamorous world,” she added.

Yahya Al-Bishri, a Saudi fashion designer, said, “It’s always great to see young passionate designers-to-be, specially that we lack fashion schools.”

British Consul General Mohammad Shokat, said, “We’ve always been keen supporters of Dar Al-Hekma and what it represents. There is a lot of work going on to enhance the role of women in development. Dar Al-Hekma is endeavoring to ensure that the next generation has the proper basic fundamentals to be able to play the role within Saudi Arabia, and we support that in every way.”

Renad Hefni, a Sophomore student, whose work was inspired by the 50s car said: “I imprinted the wings of the car on one of my pieces on the sleeves, since I like the contrast between gold and black; I relied a bit on the Roman style. The mixture between the 50s cuts, cars, and the Roman style turned out great and the result was satisfying.”

Another student said the biggest challenge for her was to make a long gown in one week, and the “outcome is really comforting.”

One guest, Sahl Serafi, said, “My favorite section is the foundation year students. Instead of fabrics, they used something completely different.” They used white non-woven fabrics. They also didn’t use a sewing machine and weren’t allowed to make sketches, they had to do it from scratch on the mannequin.