The late King of Morocco Hassan II had a stylistic audacity equaled by no monarch and was just as eloquent with metaphors. He wore all the colours of the rainbow and used to compare his country to a tree whose roots fed within the depth of Africa and whose leaves fluttered in European air. The words of pole positioned Fashion Prize 2015 Finalist, thirty year old Amine Bendriouich incarnate that statement perfectly when he says of himself “I have very strong roots in the Arab culture and all the cultural influences from my country, Morocco: Arab, Berber, Tuareg, and African. I’m also growing leaves all over the world: Berlin, London, Paris, and L.A.”
Morocco is an exceptional country. It is a kingdom older than that of Great Britain. It has a variety of landscapes and vistas only paralleled by the Americas. It has two seas and a tiny straight separating it from mainland Europe. It has been an abundant source of inspiration for major painters, poets, musicians and designers who were dazzled by its authenticity, ethnic diversity, timeless traditions, endless oddities, history and moving beauty. As the proud son of such a land , it is that unfathomed creative freedom and magnitude that that Bendriouich has harnessed into his designs. When asked which designer most inspired him, he answered: “God, nature, the universe—you can’t do better and they inspire us all.”
Yves Saint Laurent chose to make Marrakech, the city where Bendriouich was born, his final resting place. Henri Matisse’s creative inspiration took off in Tangiers, the same place where in 2008 Bendriouich set up ABCD: Amine Bendriouich Couture & Bullshit, the tongue in cheek manifesto-like label that now distributes a range of funky urban sexy t-shirts in a store called Las Chicas. Fellow London-based Marrakchi artist Hassan Hajjaj photographed him as part of his Rock star show with fluffly afro hair. Now he wears his short with a sleek Dali moustache. Bendriouich lives the kind of magic some authors create through fantasies. Carroll’s Alice is his fairy god mother & Dragon Ball Z’s Sankugu one of his favorite cartoons. When asked by style.com Arabia what he would take on a desert island, he earnestly answered: All my friends!
This young man whose joie de vivre knows no boundaries has found his expressive focus in clothes design & pebble after pebble, item of clothing after item of clothing, event after event, party after party, collaboration after collaboration he has been paving the way to his personal legend. He has scouted old lots of fabrics, toiled with Moroccan artisans to get them to execute his vision with insane precision, reinterpreted Moroccan carpets, produced urban androgynous silhouettes and become an expert on the traditions of clothing of his country.
During one of my visits, he told me that while looking out of the window of his studio in Casa, he spotted a man in a unique yellow jellabah. A texture of fabric and a colour he’d never seen before. He rushed to ask him where it came from and where it was made. When he got down, the man had vanished. It is only a year later that he was to bump into him again. The man confided that he had been the golf ball collector of Hassan II. And with pride said that only he had the right to wear that robe, that it had been woven and died for him, that it was the mark of his trade.
As Bendriouich was telling this story, his eyes twinkled, he smiled the happy smile of a mischievous child sharing the treasure he’d uncovered. He is one of these rare storytellers who brings things to a more intimate perspective when he starts telling his stories. With his tongue he weaves a world of possibilities based on what he knows, what he has discovered & where he wants to go. No wonder he is placed first in the top three of the online fashion prize vote. The amount of support and backing he has benefited from on social media testifies of the love he is surrounded with and the inspiration he distributes around him like star dust.
His curiosity knows no limits & he will sniff out whatever’s best wherever he is, take it, shred it, transform it & feed it into the clothes he makes or the events he throws. And it’s all done with the trepidation of a child, and a magician’s face. It is a thin line he is treading for it is not easy to create comfortable wearable versatile clothing that says something while not turning its wearer into a farce. His silhouettes are androgynous, ample yet structured. They are wearable, timeless statement pieces.
When he comes to Dubai to present his capsule collection to snatch the $250 000 prize, he sure will bring his chameleon-like cool composure and humour to the city which has emerged as a sound support platform for Arab design talent.
Félicitation amin je suis fière de toi