Madiyah Al Sharqi, the designer from the Middle East

A meeting with the young designer Madiya Al Sharqi, originally from the United Arab Emirates who without ignoring her culture and traditions, chose to become a fashion designer. She expresses herself with freedom and without compromise all whilst hiding her face from the camera and the looks from outside. Interview: I think it’s because of our culture for us like women we are not allowed to be in front of cameras, but I think it’s changing nowadays, and I think it’s more of each family because I have so many friends now that can be photographed and can be on TV but with us it’s still very traditional, and it’s also interesting to see my clothes instead of just seeing the designs. I grew up with seeing my mother custom-make gowns for us when we were little and even for her, and meeting with other designers and we also had a little atelier at home, so we’d see the process of making the clothes and seeing everything transform from fabric to clothes, and then after I graduated from school I went to the French fashion university called ESMOD. My aesthetic is something which is ready to wear but luxurious, I love to mix different colours, I love to mix different fabrics, whether it’s with fur and silk, or whether it’s lace and leather. I think in this region because we have so much support from everyone it was easy to begin with but then the expectations keep getting higher and higher, so you always have to rise to that standard. But I think with the support, we always have a lot of support, whether it’s from the people, from the buyers and this region, and I love to see how all of them unite together and support upcoming designers.