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Banat Al-Balad: A Tribute to Saudi Architectural Heritage through Timeless Fashion

Saudi designer Makram Marzuki's fashion collection Banat Al-Balad, on display at Zainal House in Jeddah's famed Al-Balad neighborhood, skillfully blends past and present to recognize the city's rich cultural legacy. Jeddah native Marzuki purposefully used his city as the inspiration for this unique collection, aiming to capture the spirit of Al-Balad's coral stone, and limestone buildings, and elaborately adorned wooden rawashin windows.

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The collection draws its inspiration from the elaborate beauty of Hijazi architecture, particularly focusing on the ornate rawashin and mangour window screen patterns that have long characterized the region's buildings. Rawashin, prominent in Hijazi architecture, refer to intricately carved wooden window frames or latticework screens integral to traditional houses in Jeddah and Makkah. These ornate wooden screens serve both practical and aesthetic functions, with mangour patterns inspiring the design of each textile piece in the collection.

Banat Al-Balad showcases the distinct beauty of Saudi women through 23 gowns worn by models representing the Kingdom's 13 regions. Together, artists Samaher Bashamakh and Ahmed Angawi reworked traditional wooden patterns into textiles, with weaving techniques from renowned mills contributing to the collection's creation.

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