Thobes
By Misk, Year 10
Black embroidered fabric. Red jewels hand-sewn. Chiffon sleeves. Olive green trim and orange embroidered flowers. My aunties sit on floor cushions, surrounded by Turkish tea cups and ka’ak. Their hands buoyed up, their mouths full. Gossip and chatter, chai and biscuits. Needles and satin fabrics flood the living room as they sit and cross-stitch their hearts into the black sleeves. Each Palestinian thobe conveys where we come from, our favourite fruits, and how old we are. Maifa, Raha, Gaza. Juicy olives and citrusy oranges. Five, 17, 25, 60. I stand proud, wearing my heart on my sleeve and my land on my back. Each thread on this dress weaves the web of my confidence. You cannot undermine my thobe. You cannot undermine this power.
An excerpt from Free to Fashion.
Sewing the fabric of their own identity, the students of Birrong Girls High School and Bossley Park High School took a deep dive into what it means to be Free to Fashion.
The Social Outfit, a fashion label with a difference and Story Factory, a not-for-profit creative writing organisation, ran storytelling, writing and art workshops with these creative young women. They were free to write, draw and craft their own unique ideas about what fashion means to them. These became the inspiration for a bespoke fabric collection and one-of-a kind outfit produced by The Social Outfit. The thoughtful stories the young women wrote, and images of their artworks, are collected here, alongside brief self-portraits.
The culmination of this work was proudly displayed at Carriageworks on Gadigal Land during The Social Outfit’s 10th birthday celebration.