UNLEARNING
Doors open at 7:30 PM
We inherit ways of seeing, making, and understanding ourselves long before we learn to question them. Family expectations, class, gender, economic inequality, exclusion from education, and the effects of war or exile can shape what feels possible, sometimes writing parts of our futures before we have a say. Unlearning is not erasing the past. It is seeing what was inherited, questioning what no longer fits, and choosing what to carry forward.
Seven graduating designers presented the thesis collections they had spent three years working toward. They draw on family histories, familiar objects, craft traditions, and experiences held in the body, and treat each one as material for transformation. A father's fishing shop glows in the dark. A grandmother's craft becomes a new way of building fabric. A body long defined by other people's images is revealed on its own terms. Through cutting, painting, binding, melting, and reshaping, each designer decides what to keep and what to change.
These collections do not erase the stories that shaped their designers. They reclaim authorship of them.
The evening opened with food, drinks, and time to gather in the welcome area. Guests were asked to complete check-in and be seated by 8:25 PM. Late arrivals were admitted at an appropriate break in the show.
Seven thesis collections were presented, each through its own sound, lighting, art direction, and choreography, followed by a finale that brought all seven designers together.
- Sonia Melkisetian, Is She Me?
- Joe Al Daccache, Joe's Whale
- Reeta El Khoury, In-Between
- Sally Zouia, Mutation11
- Miled Chahla, Mother Tongue
- Karim Karam, Mise à Nu
- Mahdi Fakih, Memento Vivere
After the finale, the main hall became a live exhibition, where guests could see the graduating collections up close and meet the designers. In the welcome area, 20 looks by first- and second-year students were on display. Drinks and conversation continued throughout.
The Graduating Designers
Named after her late grandmother, a hairdresser, Sonia explores what it means to inherit a name, a craft, and ways of caring for others. Is She Me? approaches hairdressing as an art form, translating its repeated gestures into textile construction. Ribbons are folded, looped, and stitched into new fabrics, then shaped through pattern-making into sculptural garments. Beading and layered materials evoke the intricacy, texture, and volume of styled hair. Moving from black and brown into pale pink, lilac, and blue, the collection evokes nostalgia and the familiarity of home, giving an inherited practice a form of Sonia’s own.
Joe’s Whale begins with a childhood memory of a power cut in Joe’s father’s fishing shop, when colorful clutter disappeared and glowing fishing lures came into view. A play on the parable of Jonah’s Whale, the title evokes the feeling of being swallowed by the vast shop, its interior becoming the belly of a whale. Fishing clothes inform structured, comfortable pieces, developed through moulage and draping into cocoon-like forms. Waterproof nylon, upcycled knits, and lightweight denim recall protective layers and workwear. Real fishing lures, phosphorescent beading, glowing piping, and luminous prints transform how the garments appear in darkness. The garments remain unchanged; darkness reveals another way of seeing them, inviting Joe to reconsider a familiar place and the memories it holds.
In-Between gives form to emotions Reeta found difficult to express while living with bipolar disorder. The sun and sunflower evoke the energy and brightness she associates with mania, while the moon and lotus suggest stillness, emotional weight, and growth through difficult conditions. Quilting allows a garment’s unseen interior to shape its surface, while pin tucks create lines of tension. Embroidery, beading, and digital prints bring contrasting feelings together; ice dyeing introduces reactions beyond her control. Through structured mikado, voluminous taffeta, and weighted denim, the collection makes room for shifting emotional states without allowing any one of them to define the person within.
Drawing on Sally’s experience of thalassemia major, Mutation11 traces three emotional phases shaped by dread, fear, grief and acceptance. Moving from three interwoven paintings into volume, texture, and fabric, Sally gives physical form to feelings she found difficult to put into words, extending the collection’s focus beyond illness itself. Familiar streetwear materials undergo processes that alter their character: draping gives emotion scale, heat melting distorts nylon into scarred surfaces, and embroidery carries painted textures into clothing. Crochet honors her mother’s care through hospital visits and difficult moments. The altered surfaces remain visible, expressing change as an ongoing part of living.
Taking Rawi Hage’s novel De Niro’s Game as its starting point, Mother Tongue explores motherhood, womanhood, religion, and masculinity through observations of everyday life. Over four months, Miled photographed his surroundings between Achrafieh and his family’s ancestral house in Zgharta, gathering objects and revisiting the religious traditions of his upbringing. These encounters became collages and experiments with painted fabric. Hand-painted feather motifs extend into tailed shapes suggesting birds in flight, while intricate tailoring, plastic boning, and corsage techniques shape the silhouettes. Painting became a turning point, loosening his pursuit of perfection and allowing color to redirect the collection.
Mise à Nu explores how the male body is seen, desired, and valued through two contrasting figures: the vulnerable, almost divine Saint Sebastian and Tom of Finland’s unapologetic, erotic masculinity. Drawing on art history, queer imagery, military uniforms, and Renaissance drapery, Karim asks why tenderness and desire are so often treated as opposites. Structured silhouettes contain the body while expansive draping offers softness and protection. Silver jersey threaded through metal rings recalls Saint Sebastian’s bindings; gold beading turns openings and wounds into ornament. The collection questions inherited codes of masculinity and imagines the body as sacred, erotic, vulnerable, and free.
Memento Vivere begins with Mahdi imagining his own funeral and the people who would attend, each look becoming an emotional portrait of someone who shaped his life. The imagined scene becomes a way to question how we remember others, honor relationships, and choose to be remembered ourselves. Corsetry and high-tension lacing grip the torso, internal cages evoke the suffocation of shock, and trailing veils suggest attachments not yet released. Wax coatings and silicone create stiffened, altered surfaces, while pleating and embroidery build volume and catch the light. Moving from dense textures toward mesh, tulle, and chiffon, the silhouettes gradually loosen as shock gives way to acceptance.
Credits & Acknowledgments
Production Credits
Production: Creative Space Beirut
Creative Direction: Creative Space Beirut
Show Development & Direction: Ahmed Amer
Choreography & Movement Direction: Marc Achkouty
Assistant Choreography: Sola Kamal
Concept & Visual Direction: Read the Room
Graphic Design & Art Direction: Layane Makhlouf, Creative Space Beirut
Music, Live Sound & Technical Management: Tunefork Studios (Fadi Tabbal)
Sound & Light Design: Wicked Solutions
Head Backstage Manager: Luma Saleh
Model Coordination: Leana Labban
Styling: Yasmine Saliba
Show Teams & Volunteers
Show Direction
Saad Breich · Miled Chahla · Joe Daccache · Raphael Diab · Mahdi Fakih · Ibrahim Jaber · Linda Kassem · Al Hassan Al Zain · Kamal Zeineldeen · Sally Zouia
Content & Media
Zoe Abi Nader · Nina Abou Zeid · Bahaa Mohamad Allouche · Mohammad Kheir Al Assemi · Kristy Ayoub · Rana Baghdadi · Julias Boulos · Sara Maher Ghoson · George Ikmekji · Victor Merhej · Koris Tachjian · Johny Younes · Kamal Zeineldeen · Yoan Zoghbi
Styling Team
Ammoon Abou Akrouche · Tatiana Al Ali · Shady Amro · Saad Breich · Mariebelle Hadjian · Ali Hamzeh · Ibrahim Jaber · Sola Kamal · Kamal Zeineldeen
Hair & Makeup
Hair & Makeup Lead: Moe Rida
Assistant Hairstylist: Gabriel Salwati
Hair Team
Lynn Barakat · Wael Salam · Patile Tachjian
Assistant Makeup Artist: Adam Albaslan
Makeup Team
Jihan Azzam · Hawraa Dakak · Salem Sleiman
Backstage Team
Sabina Al Habr · Yara Ayman Charanek · Mostafa El Sous · Nicolas Harris · Michel Kabbany · Farah Karaki · Raya Kazoun · Ahmad Mohammad · Fatima Nourelddine · Hala Zayat
Dressing Team
Charbel Abdel Sater · Ammoon Abou Akrouche · Tatiana Al Ali · Shady Amro · Sara Baderddine · Rayan Farran · Amin Al Ghosh · Mariebelle Hadjian · Wadih Hadchity · Ali Hamzeh · Marwa Hassan · May Haydar · Abdallah Shehan · Al Hassan Al Zain · Ragheb Zein
Ushers & Front of House
Jana Al Ghali · Omar Al-Kaakour · Zein Alama · Sarkis Assadourian · Jenny Jamal Cherfan · Nassib El Khoury · Maria Khoueiry · Yvano Khoury · Tarek Moukaddem · Reem Richa · Vanessa Sabbagh · Sabine Sweidy · Mohammad Zein
Models
Ali Abbani · Angela Abou Saleh · Yasmin Ain Ra · Chadi Chantoun · Sasha Dagher · Aya Daher · Christelle Dib · Maribelle Dib · Aya El Banna · Dani El Fares · Sasha Elijah · Charbel Ghosn · India Hochar · Sola Kamal · Erika Khaled · Marianne Khoja · Dayana Mahdy · Anas Mahfouz · Anna Maria · Rita Maria · Ghadi Mroueh · Adrian Pepe · Loane Saab · Leticia Safi · Wassim Serhan · Mohamed Shibli · Farah Steitieh · Noureddine Tabbara · Majd Younis · Alma Zgheib · Yoan Zoghbi
Additional Models
Albina · Chelsey · Chloe · Cindy · Clara · Elisabeth · Elvana · Emma · Gabriella · Gaelle · Kade · Kira · Luna · Manal · Milou · Nour · Patricia · Siel · Solita · Suzanne · Vanessa
Sponsors & Supporters
Event Sponsors
The Shelter · Wicked Solutions · Tunefork Studios · Eye See Experience · Faqra Catering · Read the Room · Club Amis · Pernod Ricard · Giscardo · Sukkar Mamas · PepsiCo · Qortoba · Beckford
Legacy Wall
Drosos Foundation · Rimer Foundation · Chalhoub Group · Dalia and Ramzi Rishani Foundation · HOLDAL Group · The Tree House Foundation · Dr Nabil Qaddumi · Sulaiman Abdulrahman Al-Marouf · Magnum Trading & Construction Co. · Velma and Samir Hermez
Special Thanks
Samer Al Ameen · Alex Bitar · Alexandra Chaaya · Elias Hraoui · Ayman Nahle · Solita Tawer · Jad Zgheib · Saleh