T-shirt designed by Kazna Asker.The blog below was written by Kazna Asker, a young designer from Sheffield in the UK with deep roots in Yemen, who was trained in Manchester at the Metropolitan University and in 2019 spent three months as an intern at the TRC.
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When viewing the Yemeni collection at the TRC, I was amazed at the wide array of garments that were worn all over Yemen and not just in the village where my family originated. It allowed me to look at Yemeni culture through a much wider perspective, from a distance. I was also able to separate myself from Yemeni clothing traditions and be inspired by the textiles in the large TRC Collection.
Detail of a T-shirt designed by Kazna Asger (TRC 2021.2654).
When I returned to my Yemeni community in Sheffield, I was deeply inspired as I could see beauty in how we have adapted our Yemeni culture to modern life in Britain. We are the next generation! I used this theme as a source of inspiration for my final collection. My final BA collection linked cultural and religious silhouettes to Western garments. It was later showcased at the Graduate Fashion Week in London and the International Youth Design Competition in Beijing, where it came second place.
Various T-shirts designed by Kazna Asker.I have designed several graphically embellished and embroidered T-shirts, of which I have donated 100% of the profits to charity. I was initially inspired to combine Fashion and Charity when I was fundraising for Restless Development Nepal. This is a youth-led charity which helped me to work in the community of Tikabhairab, Nepal, to educate young people on a range of subjects, including social enterprise, saving and education.
In order to raise more money, I later designed three T-shirts with a focus on the theme of community. The graphics refer to my family, culture and faith alongside the embroidered text ‘COMMUNITY’ on the top of the T-shirt.
When I went back to Yemen, the situation had deteriorated drastically. I met many families that were severely affected by the pandemic, alongside the terrible civil war. As a result, I continued to sell the T-Shirts, but decided to donate the money to Yemen – including independent British Yemeni charities that work directly on site in Yemen, such as Isra UK and Saba Relief UK.
Model wearing a T-shirt designed by Kazna Asker.As the designs continued to sell out, I added other forms of graphics and embroidery to my T-shirt range and included embroidered caps and printed tote bags.
My largest supporters have been the Yemeni community in Sheffield and my friends and family! My dad would take a pile of T-shirts and sell them to his friends and I would continue to sell them online via Instagram, Etsy, Facebook and at local community and charity events. We have managed to sell over 500 T-shirts and raised over £5000 profits for charity.
This initiative has been my most rewarding project and I plan on continuing the journey of combining Community, Charity and Fashion for my next projects! I have made a film about my community where you can see directly where my references and inspiration come from. The film focuses on the Muslim diaspora in the UK, in order to change narrative and break stereotypes!
For the film, click here.
You can buy a T-Shirt from my Etsy page and you can view my work on Instagram or Facebook.
Kazna Asker, 11 October 2021
