DUBAI: Qatar’s Fashion Trust Arabia Awards have become something of a powering force in the regional fashion scene, with winning designers often looking back on the grant as the catalyst that shifted their careers up a gear. That is something that this year’s finalists are hoping for, including Palestinian Jordanian designer Sylwia Nazzal, whose story so far is one of overcoming hurdles. The 23-year-old Parsons Paris graduate is a finalist for the Franca Sozzani Debut Talent Award, alongside Iraqi Mahmood Al-Safi and Lebanese Mira Maktabi.
She may be a fashion scene fledgling, but Nazzal has the sort of confident resilience that would impress even the most steely industry mogul, having faced heavy pushback from peers and professors over her politically inspired final collection, “What Should Have Been Home.” The collection is a statement on Palestinian strength, according to the designer, who was inspired by archival images of the harsh treatment of children and adults by Israeli armed forces. “When I was coming up with the name, it came to me because I was sitting with a group of people and they were talking to me about how they want to do their thesis about their home .
.. I’m like, ‘mine is what should have been,’” she said.
“I had huge backlash from my university for choosing to do a political thesis collection and also doing a collection that’s political in a way that is not approved ...
If I was talking about feminism or if I was talking about the w.