Grammy-winning artist Arooj Aftab collaborated with Yasmeen Mjalli, the founder and creative director of Nöl Collective, an intersectional fashion house based in the Palestinian territories. Their collaboration took place during Aftab’s performance at Barbican Hall in London on June 2, adding a unique and meaningful dimension to her show.
Aftab shared with Vogue that her manager had gifted her a Nöl blazer in October 2021, and both she and her manager had been admirers of Mjalli’s work since the early days of her design career. The blazer, adorned with a Palestinian children’s poem embroidered on its back, deeply resonated with Aftab, who appreciated the nuanced emotions encapsulated within the gifted piece.
The blazer made its debut appearance when Aftab wore it during her NPR Tiny Desk concert, which was released in December of the same year. This initial collaboration sparked a desire to further collaborate for Aftab’s international tour in 2023.
“Thank you @voguemagazine for lifting us up! This collaboration is so close to my broken little heart. Yasmeen Mjalli of @nolcollective created this fire outfit with the troubling history and sorrow of a land so precious deeply woven into a raw silk fabric, in a colour of resistance and hope. I wore it in London on stage at the @barbicancentre performing Love In Exile. I will hold our shades of pain in power until we see the world change.” she captioned the post.
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For the performance at Barbican Hall, Aftab donned a striking two-piece silk suit in a rich, rusty auburn colour. The ensemble served as a fusion of Aftab’s Pakistani heritage and Mjalli’s Palestinian roots. Crafted entirely from raw silk taffeta, the suit paid homage to the fabric traditionally used in Pakistani wedding garments and historically associated with South Asian royalty. Mjalli incorporated a block-print pattern with glittered corners, featuring the tatreez flower motif from her hometown of Ramallah, on the suit’s shoulders, arms, and legs.
Aftab expressed her deep emotional connection to the collaboration on Instagram, describing the outfit as a manifestation of the troubled history and sorrow of a precious land intricately woven into the fabric of raw silk. The colour of resistance and hope chose for the ensemble resonated with her performance of Love In Exile at the Barbican Centre in London, where she vowed to carry the shades of pain with power until the world underwent a transformative change.
When Mjalli contemplated the creation of Aftab, she was inspired by the artist’s ability to effortlessly embody strong and commanding looks. Aftab’s affinity for blazers and capes with bold shoulders influenced Mjalli’s vision for the Barbican performance and the subsequent tour. Mjalli aimed to provide Aftab with a powerful presence on stage, which she achieved through the design of the ensemble.
In March 2021, Mjalli founded Nöl Collective, deriving its name from the Arabic word for “loom.” She embarked on a journey to convey her desired message through the brand, eventually discovering groups of Palestinian women embroidering in their homes, employing techniques passed down through generations from mother to daughter.
Through word of mouth and online platforms like Facebook, Mjalli gradually built an extensive network of Palestinian craftspeople. However, it was during her visit to Nablus that she encountered the perfect tailors for the suit and blazer. Khalid, Amin, and Hamdi, three brothers from the Askar refugee camp, became the tailors responsible for bringing Aftab’s outfit to life for her Barbican Hall performance.
In an interview, Mjalli shed light on the fascinating and challenging process behind the creation of Aftab’s suit. The most significant obstacle they faced was the shipment of materials between tailors, weavers, and artisans. Due to restrictions, Mjalli often had to rely on taxi drivers who charged an additional fee to transport Nöl’s materials across territories. In the absence of such services, she took on the role of a driver herself, dedicating hours to transporting their products back and forth. Shipping products out of Palestine could only be done from Ramallah.
The same shipping challenges impacted Aftab’s outfit. Mjalli’s mother took it upon herself to transport the selected fabric from Ramallah to the tailors in the Askar refugee camp and back to Ramallah for shipping to London weeks before Aftab’s performance. However, the garment failed to arrive the day before Mjalli’s fitting with Aftab. It turned out that the Tel Aviv post office had prevented the shipment of Aftab’s tailored suit, withholding the reasons from Mjalli.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/27-Mar-2023/grammy-winner-arooj-aftab-drops-latest-album-love-in-exile
