Syrian designer Rami Al Ali to make history at Paris Couture Week

As well as being optimistic about the future of his war-ravaged country, Rami Al Ali has other reasons to be upbeat: he is about to become the first Syrian fashion designer to show his work at Paris Haute Couture Week.

The invitation to appear on the world's most prestigious fashion stage is a huge endorsement for the 53-year-old from the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor who turned to design after a childhood admiring his architect father's drawings.

Now, following years of dressing A-listers from Oscar winner Helen Mirren to Beyonce as well as Middle Eastern royals, Ali is rubbing shoulders with the biggest names in the industry.

"Nervous, excited, tired, happy," he told AFP when asked how he felt as he prepared models for his debut Paris Couture show on Thursday. "It's a mix of very overwhelming feelings."

After studying in Damascus, Al Ali left for Dubai as a young man in search of opportunities in the fashion industry, working initially for two regional brands.

He branched out on his own in 2001, building a regional fanbase for his eponymous brand from the United Arab Emirates before creating a following in Europe, including via shows in Paris outside the official Fashion Week calendar from 2012.

The invitation this year from France's prestigious Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode places him in a new elite category that is increasingly diverse.

Syrian traditions

"It's a definitely big credit... to be acknowledged, to be authenticated, to be endorsed," he explained.

Other non-Western designers such as Imane Ayissi, the sole sub-Saharan African at Couture Week, have hailed the French federation's openness.

"It shows that things are changing, that things are moving forward," former model Ayissi told AFP this week.

Al Ali's new collection of couture dresses -- he also produces two lines of ready-to-wear per year -- has been inspired like most of his work by his Syrian heritage and includes input from the country's Craft Council.

"I built from my heritage, from my background, from where I was based, also in the Middle East, in Dubai, all of those combined together created the form and the DNA of the brand," he explained.

Given an appreciation of tradition from his historian mother, Al Ali draws on the design aesthetics of Damascus, Aleppo and Palmyra in particular.

"You don't see them anywhere else, and those are the ones that I'm trying as much as I can every time to bring back to life," he added.

One of his dresses in Thursday's collection features elaborate sculptural patterns made from rolled off-white crepe fabric that has been stitched by hand in a process that took an estimated 300 hours of work.

Creative freedom

Beyond the catwalks and glitz of the fashion world, Al Ali also attempted to support Syrian artists through the country's nearly 14-year civil war via a charity initiative called Ard Dyar.

The fall of former president Bashar al-Assad in December, which led to the rise of rebel-turned-transitional leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, has given Ali cause for optimism about his homeland's future.

Several Western governments have lifted sanctions on Syria as Sharaa, a formerly Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist, attempts to fully pacify the country and rebuild.

"We called the collection the 'Guardian of Light', and it came also at a time that is very hopeful, very promising," Al Ali told AFP. "I think many great things will come to light very soon."

After decades of Syria being a byword for violence and political oppression, Ali hopes that artists will now help highlight the country's rich history and design culture.

"I think now we have much more freedom in expressing ourselves in all different aspects, political, humanitarian, creative. We have a lot to say, and definitely we are bolder, braver in the way we express it," he said.(AFP)