July 12- November 25, 2007
Arab American National Museum
13624 Michigan Ave.
Dearborn, MI 48126
(313) 582-2266

Have you looked in your closet lately? What do your clothes say about you? About your marital status? About where you live?

How much of what you wear was made by you or your family members? Do your clothes reflect your own creative talent? Do you embellish the surface of your clothing yourself?

We live in a consumer culture that focuses its attention on mass-produced clothing and accessories that carry “brand name” designer labels because we aspire to fame by association. We even support the counter-culture of “knockoffs” of Burberry, Gucci, Yves St. Laurent, etc. thinking we are beating the designers at their own game by purchasing these “copies” for a deep discount. What does this say about us as individuals, as people?

Threads of Pride: Palestinian Traditional Costumes speaks volumes about the pride taken in cultural identity as demonstrated in the creative handwork of Palestinian women from over a century ago. It also celebrates their ingenuity, self-confidence, self-expression within traditional boundaries, adaptability, and survival.

Walk into the exhibition gallery at the Arab American National Museum and you will be stunned by the number of female manikins dressed in traditional finery and grouped by region along the walls. Additional dresses are placed on display mounts adjacent to the groupings. Headscarves are mounted on the walls behind the manikins. Separate panels provide close up views of embroidery motifs that can be found in the clothing. Small display cases contain accessories such as shoes and jewelry.

Your modern, untrained, and culturally jaundiced eyes will automatically sweep across the scene taking in the colors of fabric and thread in a kaleidoscopic blur. You will see the similarity of texture from a distance and be tempted to dismiss the work as looking all the same. Not surprisingly, however, the vibrancy of the colors compared to your own quotidian clothing will excite you and draw you in to pay closer attention to the details, the differences, that define each of the seven regions represented. In short, you will be amazed.

Gradually you will come to understand that approximately 100 years ago, Palestinian women from Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jaffa, El Khalil (Hebron,) Ramallah, Majdal and Gaza as well as the nomadic Bedouin of the southern desert region developed their own embroidery designs borrowing from architectural motifs, local plants, and spiritual symbols. A vertical line of chevrons known as “tall palms” echoes the bark of a palm tree. The eight-pointed star is a “moon” motif. The bold S, sometimes reversed, is a “leech” symbolizing longevity. The style of embroidered panels, types of fabrics, set them apart from one another to such a degree that their region of origin could be identified from a distance. Women in Jerusalem used a couching stitch for curvilinear designs used to embellish jackets. Bethlehem women became so skilled in their embroidery that they were able to sell their work. Their chest panels, densely embroidered with a pattern of five circles (flower blossoms) forming a very stylized representation of the “tree of life,”can be found on dresses from other towns.

Headdresses indicated whether women were married or unmarried. An unmarried woman would have very few coins, if any, on her headdress, whereas a married woman would display and carry her wealth on her head.

Embroidery was used on everyday dresses as well as wedding dresses and dresses for special occasions. Women were as distinctive working in the fields as they were visiting their husband’s family. These dresses were part of their identity. Work done by their own hands demonstrated their skill and imagination. As a dress wore out the embroidery panels might be cut off and stitched onto another dress or made into a pillow cover or if badly worn used as a hot pad. Work that took thousands of hours to create was not thoughtlessly discarded.

With the industrialization of fashion, the same cannot be said of women’s ready-to-wear clothing today. Likewise these traditional dresses and embroidery patterns that were passed down through families for centuries have been replaced by westernized clothing styles. Thus this collection is not only of stylistic but also of historical importance.

A booklet by Hanan Munayyer who together with her husband, Farah, began collecting the Palestinian clothing in this collection in 1987, provides historical background, as well as information useful in identifying the distinct regional patterns. Hanan has been researching the clothing and embroidery patterns for 20 years by looking at examples in museum collections, historical photographic collections, as well as reading museum publications on textile history. In her lecture on the evening of the opening of the exhibition, she traced the style of clothing and hand-woven fabric with distinct patterns to Canaanite times as portrayed on Egyptian tomb paintings. The style of the A-shaped, long tunic/dress dates to the 2-4th c. C. E. Cross-stitch embroidery using a strong, fine needle required the same technology that gave rise to steel sword blades in the 9th c. C. E. Furthermore, Arabic dress influenced medieval European fashion from heraldry to headwear to embroidery patterns. The invention of the printing press disseminated these patterns throughout Europe and subsequently to the Americas, helping them return, modified, to Palestine with DMC embroidery threads in the 19th century.

War in the Middle East has destroyed the cohesiveness of many cultures, especially the Palestinians. Palestinian women refugees have formed embroidery cooperatives in other countries as a means of supporting themselves and their families. Using traditional patterns, these modern embroiderers produce contemporary items carrying ancient symbols of identity and pride to Palestinians in the diaspora as well as to a wider audience.

This small portion of the Munayyer collection will require many visits to be appreciated fully. Looking at the colors and fabrics used in making the long, loose-fitting, simple dresses as well as looking at the stitches and motifs used in the embroidered panels on the chest, sleeves and skirt will require time and concentration. This is a visual feast, especially for fiber enthusiasts of all cultures, so spread the word! It will be on view until November 25, 2007.

Illustrations courtesy of the Arab American National Museum: Devon Akmon, photographer.

Dolores S. Slowinski, member, Michigan Surface Design Association