Hana Sadiq: fashionable Arabic ode

(Amman) She mixes intertwining Arabic calligraphy, amorous verse and shimmering colors to create feminine, Arabic and contemporary clothing: prized by celebrities the world over, Hana Sadiq remains rooted in her native Iraq.

From neighboring Jordan where she lives, M^me Sadiq sews verses by great poets such as the Palestinian Mahmoud Darwish or the Syrian Nizar Qabbani, drawing on the different styles of calligraphy, from the elegant diwani to Kufic geometric shapes.

“Arabic calligraphy is the most beautiful of calligraphies”, enthused to AFP this fashion designer who was the first 25 years ago to bring up the upstrokes and downstrokes of Arabic letters on the most popular catwalks. run from the world.

In her residence-workshop in the center of Amman, M^me Sadiq recalls that it was on the fertile banks of the Euphrates, in present-day Iraq, that, for the first time in the history of mankind, writing was used.

Without these Mesopotamian beginnings “the other civilizations would not have existed”, says the 72-year-old designer, hair down, multiple colorful necklaces and imposing pendant earrings framing her face.

“We imitate the West”

A graduate in French literature before going to train in fashion in Paris, M^me Sadiq now divides his time between Amman and Paris.

Her collections regularly tour Europe and the United States, but it was during her tours of the Middle East that M^me Sadiq filled his suitcases with traditional silver jewelry, thousands of fabrics and clothes.

These treasures serve as inspiration, but also to keep traces of a heritage that she has compiled in a book entitled “Arab clothing and jewellery: a universal heritage”.

Her kaftans deploy a palette of rich and lively colors like the traditional Iraqi “Hashemite dresses” that her grandmother adorned herself with before parading “proud as a peacock”, she says.

This popular item of clothing — a fine black fabric adorned with gold or silver flowers with wide transparent sleeves — was the staple of Iraqi wardrobes in the middle of the last century.

If today the creations of M^me Sadiq are worn by Arab or European crowned heads, it all started in his grandfather’s textile store in Baghdad, where sellers of fabrics and embroidery from Turkey, Iran and even India rubbed shoulders.

“Arab fashion covers women’s bodies, but remains very feminine,” says Ms.^me Sadiq, who pleads for difference even in clothing.

For the designer, Western clothes have flooded the market even though they are not suitable.

“It is the unfortunate result of globalization, […] we imitate the West in all areas, architecture, furniture, clothing and food,” she laments.

“The guideline of my work is to allow women to remain feminine and attractive, I want that when a woman passes in front of a man, he notices her and sees her beauty”.