The recent London Fashion Week (15-19 September 2023) included various young designers that caught the attention of the press. One of them was Kazna Asker from Sheffield, who has a Yemeni background and whose parents migrated to Britain many years ago.
Last week the BBC published an article about her work called: "London Fashion Week: The British Muslim designer trying to be the future."
Detail of a T-shirt designed by Kazna Asker, UK, 2021 (TRC 2021.2654).And what is the link with the TRC in Leiden? Well, in 2019 Kazna was one of two young fashion design students from the Metropolitan University, Manchester, who spent three months at the TRC. In particular Kazna worked on our extensive collection of Yemeni dress, which inspired her to look deeper and deeper into her own and her family’s cultural heritage. Here is a link to Kazna’s blog about her internship at the TRC.
One of Kazna’s designs for a t-shirt is now in the TRC Collection (TRC 2021.2654). Kazna’s success goes to show how important it is to see, touch and look closely at textiles and garments in order to get a better understanding of how they work. A photograph or looking at an object behind glass is simply not enough!
Well done Kazna!
Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, 30 September 2023
