Fez - Fashion Day 2013

Fez is making its name as a place for contemporary design with an historical twist. This week features not one but three significant events. Friday May 24 is the opening of Michel Biehn's exhibition Veils and Turbans and on Saturday May 25 is Fez Fashion Day; a fashion show followed by the opening of the Fez Fabrik design exhibition. 

A selection of turbans from Michel Biehn's extensive collection

Veils and Turbans - Friday May 24 at 7 PM at Dar Batha

Renowned designer and author Michel Biehn will be exhibiting around 50 veils and 50 turbans from the Islamic world from his extraordinary collection at the French Institute's Dar Batha until June 3.

 He points out that while both veils and turbans are "nothing but a rectangle of fabric", they have a deeper symbolic significance.

 "Veils are an issue in France," Michel says, referring to their being outlawed in 2010. "But I find it quite irrelevant. It's up to the individual - I don't see why the law should interfere. However, I am not making a political point, just showing a selection of costumes."

 "As a whole, a veil protects the mystery of a woman. Whereas a turban is worn very differently. It symbolises potency...Everyone is now hooked on veils, and no one talks about turbans. If we want the world to work, we need both those energies."

Designer and author Michel Biehn

Fez Fashion Day - Saturday May 25 at 5.30 PM at Jardin des Biehn

Fashion styled by Alfred Berlin

Fez Fashion Day kicks off this Saturday with the showing of the work of two international designers - Alfred Berlin and Moi Anan. Sponsored by the French Institute, their clothing and accessories will grace the long, tiled runways of Jardin des Biehn.

This is followed by the opening of the Fez Fabrik exhibition. Fez Fabrik is a newly created association which aims to encourage liaisons between international designers and local artisans. Six designers will contribute pieces to the exhibition, ranging from textiles and unique accessories through to unusual jewellery.

 Alfred Berlin's section of the fashion show will be "a funky mix of past and present," according to the designer. "Inspirations came from how, in the old Medina of Fez, people mix traditional Moroccan clothes, such as kaftans, jellabas and babouches with contemporary street-style looks like Nike and Adidas." Accessories will feature strongly. "I'm trying to establish my brand based on recycling left over leather from Italian factories. It is about using hand made products, done by the young artisan generation."

Fashion styled by Alfred Berlin

Alfred's design background includes studies of theatre and costume at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma where he won a scholarship to continue his studies in sculpture and textile design at the Royal College of Fine Art in Belgium, which led to him being accepted at the Royal Academy of Arts in Antwerp. He has collaborated with numerous internationally recognised designers, including Antonio Marras and Kenzo, Giafranco Ferre and Studio Pollini. Moi Anan's vibrant and beautifully tailored designs were a stand-out at last year's Fez Fashion Day. His carefully tailored styling spans Thai tradition and Western modernity and has been shown at Paris Fashion Week. This new collection consists of more of thirty pieces, offering a sophisticated approach where traditional fabrics are given a new and unusual treatment.

  Fez Fabrik exhibition - Saturday May 25 at 7.30 PM at Jardin des Biehn

Talisman jewellery by Michel Biehn

Following the fashion show will be the opening of the Fez Fabrik exhibition, featuring the work of six international designers - Nina Galbert; Catherine Gailliard; Lilou, Michel Biehn, Moi Anan and Alfred Berlin. This is also the inaugural event for Fez Fabrik, a new non-profit association dedicated to increasing opportunities for international designers and local artisans to create work together.

Striped hand-loomed throws by Nina Galbert

Through her business the Artisan Project, Nina Galbert has been sourcing and collaborating with local artisans for the past two years. The pieces in this exhibition are traditional, hand-loomed weaves and throws, with an emphasis on stripes.

Catherine Gaillard will be showing leather bags, which feature mixed colours and prints, while the jewellery of Lilou has a very contemporary approach, using materials like neoprene and silk. Michel Biehn will include a leather bag he has personally embroidered.  "It's got elements of the old world and the new world put together," he says. He will also offer a collection of talismans.


 
What: Veils and Turbans
When: Friday May 24 at 7 PM until June 3 
Where: French Institute, Dar Batha
What: Fez Fashion Day
When: Saturday May 25 at 5.30 PM
Where: Jardin des Biehn
What: Fez Fabrik exhibition
When: Saturday May 25 at 7 PM until June 16
Where: Gallery at Jardin des Biehn

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Working With Moroccan Artisans

Claude Le Roux is a French businessman with a vision. His love affair with the Fez Medina prompted him to find a way of giving something back to the community and has resulted in a unique project. Working with a Moroccan family he has developed a programme that brings artisans and travellers together. 

Claude Le Roux and Haj Abid Belkaid

Four times a week visitors to Fez now have the opportunity to work with a malam - a master of the craft - in producing an object that they have made themselves. But, as Claude points out, it is not so much about the object, as joining in and "experiencing the spirit of Moroccan artisans".  "The idea is to organise workshops for travellers rather than tourists," says Le Roux. "In three hours they have the opportunity to really get in touch with the people they are learning from".

 The workshops are held in the historic Palais Glaoui which Claude Le Roux chose because of "the spirit of the place". Instruction is in French. but plans are underway to offer them in English 

The first of the traditional crafts the workshops are presenting is that of plaster carving or stucco work. For this part of the project he teamed up with local malam Hafid Belkaid, who last week ran the first of the workshops. They turned out to be a great success.  Two of the participants, a French couple, were thrilled by the process and very pleased that at the end of the workshop they not only had a better understanding of the work, but had also created a small carved plaster piece to take home with them.

"All my own work!" - stucco carving of "Fez" in Arabic

Project manager, Haj Abid Belkaid says that in the future the project aims to include other artisan crafts such as zellij (tile) work, decorative wood painting and tadlacht (polished plaster). Each will be run by a malam who loves his craft and with an assistant to ensure the participants "discover and love Morocco in a new way".

As Le Roux says. "It is about people, culture, and the spirit of the country.  Visitors who do not understand the culture now have a door or window into the culture." Participants in each workshop are limited to eight so as to make certain they have a very personal experience. Haj Abid adds that he wants to "shed a light on the craft and to share what we have in common".

 Price: 250 Dirhams per person Contact details: Haj Abid Belkaid   Mobile  0674743091 Home 0535633113

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Vinyl Record Shops in Casablanca

The View from Fez was intrigued by a recent Guardian Weekly reader's letter about the old record stores of Casablanca. A year ago we went on a simmilar search and found what was probably the same shop. 

Vinyl records are a rarity these days and many are collectors' items. The shop we discovered held a treasure trove of recordings from the golden age of Egyptian music. Artists such as Umm Kulthum, Abd al-Halim Hafiz, Farid al-Atrash, etc., as well as some of the foundational Moroccan musicians from the mid-twentieth century, artists like Nass al-Ghiwane, Jil Jilala, Hamid al-Zahir, and many other folk, shaabi, Malhun, and Andalusian musicians. Most of the stock here has never been played!

The records are pristine, some with slightly faded covers or a bit of mold from siting untouched for thirty plus years. The beautiful dark hardwood displays give this place the feel of a museum, while accentuating the vivid and colourful artwork of these rare gems. The prices are extremely reasonable, however if you are a collector be warned it is easy to spend money here.

This is what Guardian Weekly reader, Helena Cantone, had to say...

 Walking through the decaying streets of Casablanca with my head held high to admire the colonial architecture, I stumble upon a dusty record shop on the corner of Boulevard de Paris and Abderrahman Sehraoui.

At the back of the shop sits an old man. I greet him with salam aleikum and begin to browse the stacks of vinyl records bursting out of the glass cabinets and hanging from the ceiling on strings. 

My eye catches a few favourites: The Isaac Hayes Movement released in 1970; Uprising by Bob Marley and the Wailers (1980); Michael Jackson's Thriller (1982), For Once in my Life by Stevie Wonder (1968); Fela Kuti; Italian pop singers Mina and Lucio Battisti, which surprised me; and many of Egypt's very best including Umm Kulthum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Abdel Halim Hafez and Sayed Darwish.

 At a loss for what to pick, I ask the owner for his advice and Monsieur Gam begins to tell me his life story. Of Berber origin, Gam was born in Agadir in the 1940s and migrated to Casablanca with his family at the age of six. His love of comics and the cinema introduced him to music. He began selling things on the street then worked as a bus driver until he saved enough money to open up a record shop in 1970, going on to produce records under his label Disques Gam.

 He shows me a black-and-white picture taken in 1966 of a handsome young black man with dark sunglasses and a leather jacket and says with a laugh: "Marlon Brando!" I say he looks more like Clark Gable with his striking yet elegant features. He takes this as a compliment and tells me how he knows all the great films and actors of the golden age of cinema, and reels off a list of famous stars, directors and films. Now aged 70, Gam has lived a full life.

His four children have done well and his eldest is a doctor in Canada. I ask him how business is today. Gam says Moroccans no longer buy vinyl and he relies mainly on foreigners. "First there were lots of record shops and cinemas in Casa, but now many have closed down. My shop is one of the very few record shops left in the city ... Life passes by so quickly," he says with a smile as we say goodbye.

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