Hazar Jawabra

Photographs by Fadii Dahabreh

Hazar Jawabra is a female Palestinian knitwear designer, transforming threads of yarn into captivatingly bold and ornate wearable pieces of art. Her first collection, ‘Different Skin tones’, vivaciously radiates fun and playfulness through an abundance of vivid knitted sculptural silhouettes and masks, communicating a story of inner-beauty and colourful personalities hidden behind a mask of societal expectation and pressure. The abundance of colours reflect the bold and colourful inner personalities that people often hide from the outside world, while the knitted mask shields the inner personality and desires, reflecting the idea that there are many layers to a person’s identity. Particularly in conservative and traditional communities there are often certain societal expectations and pressures upheld that lead to people being afraid to express themselves freely or dress colourfully - Hazar’s collection represents these people.

Hazar uses the traditional craft technique of knitting, that has been passed through the generations and combines it with a modern twist of unrestrained silhouettes, giving new life to a declining traditional craft. In a fashion industry dominated by industrial machinery with the value of handmade rapidly dissolving, reigniting a declining artform is invaluable to sustainability. As is reforming the fashion system to become a more inclusive space for Palestinian designers, who are defiant against the attempts to suppress palestinian identity, creativity and cultural heritage. For too long, the fashion industry has often contributed to the erasure of traditional and cultural craft techniques and fashion identities, by promoting a dominant Western fashion ideal and appropriating the traditions of others. It is time for the global fashion scene to honour and respect culturally diverse fashion backgrounds and give voice to the designers who are fighting to sustain their traditional arts  and cultural identity.