Pakistani star Arooj Aftab presently on tour for her album Love in Exile paid tribute to Palestinian history during a live performance in London.
The Grammy winner stated that she is committed to having her live performances represent her music and principles.
Yasmeen Mjalli, the founder and creative director of Nöl Collective, an intersectional fashion business rooted in the Palestinian territories, was the ideal collaborator for Aftab’s London performance at the Barbican Hall on June 2. The final look, a tarnished amber silk suit, combined motifs from Pakistan and Palestine. The jacket was embellished with elaborate tatreez embroidery displaying elements from both cultures around the lapels, cuffs and hem. The embroidery offered a story of resilience and shared heritage, connecting Aftab’s and the Palestinian people’s stories. Aftab donned identical high-waisted silk trousers embellished with delicate gold thread work, reminiscent of traditional Pakistani workmanship.
Aftab took to Instagram to post a photo of her attire and a remark about the special cooperation. ‘This cooperation is so near to my little shattered heart. “This collaboration is so close to my broken little heart. Yasmeen Mjalli of Nöl Collective created this fire outfit with the troubling history and sorrow of a land so precious deeply woven into a raw silk fabric, in a colour of resistance and hope,” wrote Yasmeen Mjalli of Nöl Collective. “I wore it in London on stage performing Love in Exile. I will hold our shades of pain in power until we see the world change.”
The Mohabbat singer’s relationship with Nöl Collective began when her management sent her a Nöl jacket with a Palestinian children’s poetry embroidered on the back, which she wore at her first NPR Tiny Desk event in December 2021. Mjalli was drawn to the video, and the two musicians soon worked on Aftab’s 2023 international tour. “When I started thinking about what I wanted to create for Arooj, I was drawn to how effortlessly she embraces strong, powerful looks. She wears blazers and capes with big shoulders and is commanding in her aesthetic,” Mjalli told Vogue. “I wanted to emulate that in this piece for Barbican and her tour and give her a powerful presence on stage.”
When asked about her work with Nöl Collective, Aftab told the outlet that she ‘absolutely admires’ the design house’s commitment to sustainability and cultural preservation. ‘I like to be styled with a sense of royalty,’ Aftab explained. ‘It’s influenced by my album Vulture Prince, but it’s also a style that preserves the feminine in some ways while embodying a brave person in others.’ I see it in angles, broad shoulders and straight lines. The flowy sh*t doesn’t work for me and Yasmeen completely understands.’
Mjalli’s outfits and blazers are entirely handmade in the Askar refugee camp. ‘I’m very proud to be wearing garments made by Palestinian refugees.’ Often, there isn’t much optimism, and you’re left wondering what you can do that will genuinely make a difference…’Wearing these clothes is a powerful symbol of support and adds a new dimension to my performance,’ Aftab explained.
With a strong emphasis on slow fashion, Mjalli felt compelled to be involved in every stage of garment manufacturing, employing Palestinian artisans and restoring ancestral skills like as tatreez, a difficult cross-stitch embroidery traditionally passed down from mother to daughter. ‘For centuries before Palestine was colonised, you could look at a woman and tell exactly where she was from by the motifs, colours and tatreez on her dress because the design was so hyper-specific to her village or region.’ Mjalli described it as ‘almost like a visual autobiography.’
However, Mjalli shared that following the Palestinian Nakba in 1948, tatreez took on an even deeper meaning. ‘It was during this period that Palestinians were uprooted and their villages were destroyed.’ ‘Village memories were kept alive through embroidery and dresses that were passed down,’ she explained. ‘These women’s clothes really became maps of their own, a reminder of what Palestine once was.’ However, living under Israeli occupation complicates Nöl Collective’s work. Shipping and transportation are constantly hampered by the limited movement of persons and products between Palestinian territory. Despite detentions and delays at checkpoints, Mjalli perseveres, sometimes driving for hours to transport her textiles between places, according to the publication.
Aftab’s theatre group confronted its own set of challenges. The Tel Aviv post office unexpectedly halted Mjalli’s parcel carrying the fitted suit, jeopardizing the timely delivery. Mjalli, however, would not give up and diverted the package through Jordan and Saudi Arabia to arrive in London in time for Aftab’s performance.