Young fashion designers from the collective Creative Jordan, set up in the framework of the EU-funded project Creative Mediterranean (Development of Clusters in Cultural and Creative Industries in the Southern Mediterranean), have presented their collection “JO!” at the Pitti-Super expo in Milan, during the Fashion Week.

“JO!” is the first spring/summer prêt-à-porter line created by a group of young female Jordanian designers who revive the Bedouin embroidery tradition through contemporary garments, and transform creativity into an instrument of resistance and resilience against daily struggles. This first line from the brand Creative Jordan also combines traditional influences with contemporary designs. It was conceived within the Creative Mediterranean project, implemented by the United Nations Organisations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and funded by the European Union and Italy.

The brand is the result of the collaboration among the designers Dina Maqdah and Zein H Mango, the embroidery specialist Aida Ghanem, the industrial designer Tallaat Hadad and the project designer Ibrahim Al Badareen. The group worked with design workshops, institutions and local fashion schools under the guidance of Caterina Filice, designer and expert from UNIDO, and the creative advice of Antonella Di Pietro, Global Creative Director for Tommy Hilfiger.

The line, which proposes 50 garments for a total run of 29 different looks, revolves around a simple idea: to defy the conventional ideas of Middle-Eastern fashion and to allow women reinventing their role and expressing themselves through their creativity. The Design Coordinator of the initiative Giulio Vinaccia, Golden Compass-laureate in 2016 by the Italian Association for Industrial Design (ADI), explained: “The idea was to provide young female designers the means to rediscover their traditions, and therefore their own history, and to reinterpret these through contemporary garments. The young designers involved had to reinvent themselves and claim back their confidence by creating their first collection.”

 The objective of the Creative Mediterranean project (Development of Clusters in Cultural and Creative Industries in the Southern Mediterranean), implemented in the framework of the Private sector Development in the Southern Mediterranean Programme, is to foster entrepreneurial co-operation in the cultural and creative industry notably through the promotion of promising pilot initiatives demonstrating contribution to inclusive growth. The project then aims at demonstrating the potential for the national and regional development of cultural and creative industries in the Southern Mediterranean, thus opening the possibility through adequate replication and larger scale support from financial institutions to promote new employment opportunities and inclusive growth in the region.

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Press release

Collection catalogue

Creative Mediterranean – website and Facebook page