Fashion Designer Feiruza Mudessir Debuts New AfroRetro Collection
It’s early December, the festive season is soon approaching and that can only mean one thing – every Xmas-themed song ever written being played on repeat for the next few weeks. It begins well, but by day six, the barrel’s bottom is close to being worn out from the incessant scraping. “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth,” is a ‘tune’ you’d resort to on day 24. It is terrible, yet like many of the season’s bizarre traditions including paper crowns and Brussels sprouts, almost necessary for the holiday to pass happily.
However, the song’s subject matter - a young lady wishing for her incisors to grow - according to Ethiopian designer Feiruza Mudessir, would be well understood in her homeland. Feiruza titled her first fashion collection ‘Finchitua,’ an Ethiopian word that translates to ‘the girl with a gap between her teeth’ - a sign of distinguished beauty in African culture and a physical feature she possesses making the designer/model instantly recognisable among the UAE’s close-knit fashion community.
Cultural appropriations not only from Ethiopia, but also the multitude of ethnic influences found in Feiruza’s adopted hometown Dubai are hugely apparent in her recently released second collection, AfroRetro, which debuted at BurJuman’s EMERGE event last week.
The daughter of a tailor, although she admits her father’s connection with the clothes industry was not one that prompted her to embark on a career in fashion, Feiruza spent much of her early life travelling the world, exploring various ways of life. At home there was an emphasis put on interior decoration, which she credits for instilling a love of art and design. Since graduating in 2007 with a qualification from Edexcel University, which she completed in Knowledge Village, Dubai has been her base, although Ethiopia will always be where the heart is.
