London College of Fashion’s Professor Reina Lewis took Faith and Fashion on the road to Beirut as part of a the Fashion, Design, Identity symposium organised in collaboration with Lebanese American University (LAU) for Beirut Design Week.  Our own Fashion Programme Manager, Kendall Robbins, joined one of the panels to give her perspective on the topic in relation to the global fashion industry. 

The podcast of the event, which took place in Beirut on 26 May 2016, is now available to listen or download from the Faith and Fashion web page.

Panel 1: Fashion Mediation: cultural translation of fashion and dress identities within and beyond the region

Chaired by Dr Yasmine Taan, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Design at the Lebanese American University, our first panel evaluated local fashion/arts education and the role of social enterprises in grafting a regional fashion culture attuned to social and environmental sustainability.

Joining Yasmine to explore the potential of the fashion community to preserve regional artisan skills by creating work ready to promote on the world stage were:

• Ritu Upadhyay, Middle East correspondent for Women’s Wear Daily;
• Johnny Farah, Founder and Designer of Johnny Farah;
• Sarah Beydoun, Founder and Creative Director of social enterprise Sarah’s Bags.

Panel 2: FAITH AND FASHION: Fashion Politics: religious and regional taste cultures on the international market

Professor Reina Lewis brought the focus of Faith and Fashion to Beirut to explore dress politics for designers, entrepreneurs, journalists, and retailers in the local and regional fashionscape.

Joining Reina to investigate how local gender, religious, and ethnic considerations influence retail practice in the context of the global fashion industry’s recent construction of Muslims as a global consumer segment were:

•      Shelina Janmohamed, Vice President of Ogilvy Noor, an Islamic branding practice, and author of Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World;
•      Cynthia Chamat, Creative Director of Urban Sense retailer, Boutique Hub, Beirut;
•      Kendall Robbins, Fashion Programme Manager at British Council and regional expert.