YASMINE CERBAH
BA Fashion and Textiles: Print Collection called ‘Amazigh x Animal Print’.
My collection called ‘Amazigh x Animal Print’ is a personal project which focuses on the concept of my heritage and identity. The collection consists of the exploration of the North African nomadic Amazigh tribe, combined with my personal love for animal print. This Fashion and Textiles: Print collection is inspired by the Amazigh tribes’ textiles techniques, specifically focusing on tie-dyeing. The garments are influenced by the traditional prints of the North African tribes, including tartan print, circular motifs and stripes.
The clothing of the Amazigh tribe tends to consist of styles that involve layering. The idea of layering has inspired my design of placing garments on top of each other to create each outfit. The theme of layering also allowed me to come up with the idea of combining animal striped prints over previously tie-dyed fabrics through both digital and screen-printing methods.
My personal love for animal print has been mixed with the heritage concept and merged into my collection by connecting some of the similarities between the two themes, such as the use of stripes. The thought process behind my collection was to have a modern take on a traditional concept and allow my love for animal print to be incorporated into the traditional designs.
This heritage and identity project expresses the importance of creativity. Through researching the North African Imazighen tribe, it allowed me to generate a greater understanding of my identity and background. Learning more about my Algerian descent through the curation of this collection was an important aspect of this project. I wanted to explore further into my identity through my textiles practice, I did this through exploration of textiles techniques completed by the Amazigh people, as well as researching their traditional garments and styles. Creativity was key to this project because I was able to be hands on, creating prints and making designs in a traditional style which allowed me to connect with the way the techniques that are practised by the Imazighen tribes. The ‘Amazigh x Animal Print’ project is the exploration of my own heritage and identity, when curating this concept, I wanted to share my journey with others through a creative approach.
When exploring my North African/Algerian heritage, I was able to add in concepts of diversity by further researching other Amazigh tribes in many countries within North Africa from the Imazighen nation. It allowed me to be more open minded when using different art and textiles techniques and develop a great understanding of the differences between each tribe. It was interesting to gather this information and develop an understanding of the different and signature practices of each tribe.
I researched and included social and cultural aspects of the Amazigh lifestyle, I used these themes within my practice through use of colours, patterns and shapes of garments. Creativity is so important with the practice of fashion and textiles.
CREDITS
Designer: Yasmine Cerbah (University for The Creative Arts: Rochester)
Models: Larina Blackman and Aisha Cerbah
Photographer: Camila Bañol Montoya