Yousra Razine Mahrah

My starting point of my collection originated from my personal struggle with growing up in a strict moroccan household. This made me to create another form of me to cope and navigate through the different environments, one to cope within my strict household and the other for the outside world, but shortly after I came to the realization that both are me, different versions of me. The duality is a big part of me. I used to think the one that I made up for inside of my household was false but not till later when I started to also love that version of me and find out that that was also a part of my identity. The religious moroccan side of me. I embrace them both with warmth and love: the cultural aspect and my religious aspect, and the version i am to the outside world. I don’t want to choose between the two worlds, since I believe I belong to both. The struggle that exposed this duality became a part of me and my biggest strength.

for my collection I infused for worlds that I relate and navigate through as a moroccan woman: 1st world: that’s most closest to me and my affinity with expressing myself, which is dressing myself up in lingerie pieces and body conscious wear which goes against my Islamic beliefs.

2nd world: is the world of modesty and how my parents would prefer to see me, not as I am presented today, which is more concealed and less outstanding.

3rd world: is about my Berber heritage, and how the folklore berber people in morocco dress themselves in animal skins and striped rugs.

4th world: is the stereotypical way of dressing within moroccan youth on the streets . This is usually for example a full clothed outfit containing Gucci or Louis Vuitton, which I think is a counter reaction of not feeling accepted within dutch society so they want to keep some sort of status, and in that they show it off by being fully clothed in designer wear. by infusing these worlds together I wanted to shape a new image and play with these boundaries together to create an tension field.

Shape wise, To come up with certain forms,
I started with lingerie pieces that were a couple sizes down from my own body to drape them on my own body, this to create tension and more volume in certain areas. also using my own body to keep the process as close to me as possible! In that sense I feel also more close to the process since I am using my own body throughout the proces of designing.