If you've been on the internet anytime since November you probably saw pictures of Reema Dahbours Jaha dress! Mixing a classic silhouette with breathtaking traditional embroidery, we asked her a few questions about the hand embroidered ivory dress she wore on her Jaha, and here is what she had to say:
What was it like designing your own Jaha dress?
Designing special occasion dresses is one of the most exciting and challenging things you’d have to create as a designer because you’re not just creating a dress you’re telling a story, and the story I wanted to tell with this dress was a fairy tale that celebrates love, heritage and being proud of your roots. I chose an iconic dress from my all time fashion icon inspiration Audrey Hepburn to create the silhouette. I also wanted to a have a two piece dress to have drama and comfort.
The use of embroidery went viral world wide! Why do you work with embroidery?
I believe that incorporating embroidery in timeless pieces that young women would want to wear now in 2020 has been missing from the market and I believe I can fill it in a way where these pieces will stand the test of time and help spread our heritage where it will never be forgotten and what a better way to do so than with embroidery.
Is there a meaning behind the prints of embroidery?
The meaning behind embroidery could indicate the marital status, her origins like which city she’s from according to the prints and colors used or even her work and weather if she worked in the land or lived by the sea. But now I use just specific motifs depending on research of the city that the persons from in my case Ramallah. Where I used the traditional colors of red and white worn by the Ramallah bride and used the motifs from my city.
Hand embroidery is a lengthy process, how long did it take to make your dress?
It took around 5 months to create and hundreds of hours of a woman’s time to create this dress stitch by stitch and to me this dress was priceless. In the light of everything that happened during my engagement in Gaza I put it up for auction where it was sold to a lovely lady in the US and we donated the returns to help families there who needed it most.
Thank you to Reema Dahbour for sharing her story with us, wishing this lovely couple a lifetime of love, happiness, and creativity.