trashy clothing and the anatomy of trash

“trashy clothing” is an anti-luxury, luxury, ready- to-wear palestinian fashion label characterized by its mix of satire, kitsch, and wit. a trojan horse brand, some might say. the brand’s goal is to address difficult political circumstances by conveying design statements of anti-colonial resistance via joyful ar tistic militancy. the brand is about story telling under occupation, working through contradictions, and using satire as a register to express resilience. their collections, often inspired by arab music icons and popular culture, tackle issues of identity, ethnicity, and race.

interview byphilippe ghabayen

the struggle between what we endure and our desire to keep creating is one we know all too well. do you think of creation as a form of resistance?

creating is complementary to resistance, but not a replacement. we consider on-the-ground resistance to be the only true form of resistance. our work reflects our experiences and amplifies our voices, but it cannot be a substitute for direct action.

fashion is by nature frivolous. it is also inarguably a form of art. what does fashion mean to you?

we consider fashion to be a physical documentation of our time. with our background in film, we are very storytelling-oriented when it comes to designing. all our design choices have a backstory. the zippers, the cuts, the print ... they all contribute to the full story or world we are creating for each collection. this design process is inspired by palestinian tatreez (embroidery), where every motif tells the stories of a village, thus, allowing palestinian women to wear their stories on their thobes.

you define yourself as an anti-luxury luxury brand. tell us more about the reasoning behind this and your relationship with sustainability.

we wanted to create a satirical luxury label, starting with the name, by challenging the standards set in the fashion industry and playing with the illusion of luxury. with irony as our design language, we often play with contradictions in the spaces we inhabit.regarding sustainability, in early 2020, we developed innovative practices during cyber fashion week. we founded an international, sustainable, and accessible digital fashion platform. these practices including digital sampling and all-digital presentations, incorporating fashion, music, photography, art, and performance, have since been implemented into our brand. by digitally sampling garments before production, we minimize waste, finalize patterns more efficiently, and use deadstock fabric constantly.

arabic pop culture is something that’s viewed differently by our generation. with a little bit of distance, we see it as our very own “notes on camp”. who is the reigning pop queen at the moment?

haifa wehbe has carried arab pop culture on her back. she captures the collective arab queer experience of not fitting in. her lyrics and interviews challenge those criticizing her for what she wears or how she acts. despite receiving hate occasionally, she doesn’t diminish herself, but expresses herself even louder, which is empowering. we would also like to note her iconic quote: “haifa haters can kiss my high heels and can kiss my ass.”

the epitome of arab pop was perhaps the pre-internet melody tv era — our very own mtv — with icons like ruby, maria, marwa, haifa, and elissa taking over our screens. your collections give plenty of nods to this era. it feels so nostalgic to think back on these simpler times. do you think arab pop will witness a renaissance?

those were the unmatched golden days, which will not be relived. the streaming era killed the camp in our pop. the melody tv era was special because of how unapologetic the artists were in their work. today, everything seems more refined and toned down. however, we hope this phase is just a lull before a new boom. the raw, unfiltered energy of that time may inspire future artists to embrace creativity once again, potentially leading to a renaissance of arab pop.

"despite receiving hate, haifa wehbe doesn't diminish herself, but expresses herself even louder, which is empowering."

what does trashy mean to you?

is it a commentary on the vulgar, the popular, or a celebration of it?trashy is so anti-luxury that it becomes luxury. it starts from ground zero, without any standards, so we get to set our own. trashy is unhinged yet serious, kitsch yet glamorous, political yet superficial. it is a love story of contradictions.

as said by susan sontag: “camp is a certain mode of aestheticism. it is one way of seeing the world as an aesthetic phenomenon”. how would you describe the effect of this phenomenon on your visual dna?

aya el sharkawy said it best in her article for kohl journal titled “another camp or the second testament of camp”. she wrote: “arab camp is excessive, subversive, emancipatory, and visceral. arab camp is queer and kitschy; it is at once naïve, self-conscious, and reflexive. arab camp is self-orientalisation, it is belly dance outfits worn by khansa or the darvish. arab camp is golden framed mirrors hung on velvet-textured wallpapers in the bathroom. it is so much “terter” (arabic for over-ornamentation) face coverings and bustiers. arab camp is textures and bright clashing colors; it is knockoff gucci t-shirts sold on sidewalks downtown, where mannequins clad in costumish lingerie line the street. it is high fashion: ahmed serour, trashy clothing, and kojak, but it’s also popular culture: fifi abdou, she’ban abd el reheim, and ismail yassine”. [...

your ss24 theme was bourgeoisie, mufflers, and oil. as self-explanatory as this title is, what was it a commentary on, and how did it translate into pieces of clothing?

we were inspired by the satirical illustrations of palestinian cartoonist naji al ali, who dedicated most of his career to criticizing the concepts of greed, resistance, and american imperialism. following his assassination in 1987, he left behind over 40,000 cartoons, from which we have researched and built the collection. for us, oil symbolizes corruption, exploitation, and greed, while mufflers represent censorship. we examined the bourgeoisie, which represents complicity. these were the main themes we wanted to focus on in the collection. the collection stemmed from our frustration with how relevant naji’s drawings from the ‘70s and ‘80s remain today. nothing has changed. the corruption and the killing of our people remain ongoing. through the collection, we aimed to highlight the nonchalant complicit bourgeoisie.