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styleThe
hen asked by a Western journalist to describe
Umm Kulthum, Virginia Danielson, the
author of a book on the Egyptian legend
responded, “Imagine a singer with the
virtuosity of Ella Fitzgerald, the public
persona of Eleanor Roosevelt and the
audience of Elvis, and you have Umm
Kulthum.” It is a description that resonates
around New York’s Lincoln Centre, the
location for contemporary American label
Tome’s autumn/winter 2014 show, held last
February. As Umm Kulthum’s expressive
voice rises from the sound system, out come
models with upswept hairdos and kohl-
rimmed eyes wearing oversized blanket
coats, rich jacquard skirts, gold lamé shirts
and sheer lace overlays.
Tome’s designers Ryan Lobo and Ramon Martin style
some of their glamorous looks with mink stoles and pink
satin opera gloves that slither up models’ arms,
reminiscent of the Middle East’s premiere diva.
Sitting in the front row is the collection’s muse, Iranian
visual artist Shirin Neshat, who is currently working on
a film about Umm Kulthum. “She was a woman who is
today considered the most significant Middle Eastern
artists of the 20th century,” says Shirin after the show.
“I find her story particularly important to tell to
a Western audience whose image of Muslim women is
often that of a victim. Umm Kulthum not only surpassed
her male counterparts in Egypt, but also remained strong
as a public figure, when compared to iconic Western
female singers of her era who experienced tragic endings,
such as Billie Holiday and Edith Piaf,” observes the artist,
whose passion for the mid-century Egyptian soprano
rubbed off on Tome’s designers.
“We began listening to Umm Kulthum’s music after
Shirin introduced us to her work. We didn’t realise what
a legend she was in the Arab World until we took a trip
“ S h e d r e s s e d c o n s e r v a t i v e l y
c o m p a r e d t o h e r c o u n t e r p a r t s , a n d
l o o k e d m o r e l i k e a r e s p e c t a b l e
E g y p t i a n w o m a n w h o w a s a p u b l i c
f i g u r e r a t h e r t h a n a n e n t e r t a i n e r ”
V i r g i n i a D a n i e l s o n , s c h o l a r
to Morocco late last year, where we found
beautiful images of her everywhere on
vintage postcards and posters,” says Ryan
Lobo at Tome’s showroom a few days
later, recalling an experience that would
play a part in shaping their collection.
“The height of her fame in the 1950s and
’60s was a point of inspiration for us...
particularly in the way she dressed.
She frequented Balenciaga and Dior
where she would adapt their collections,
requesting more conservative versions of
their shapely designs. We were fascinated
by how she wore looser and softer
variations of structured couture
tailoring,” adds Ramon Martin of the
singer’s influence, which can be felt in a number of next
season’s collections.
A few weeks later in Paris, one can hear the Egyptian
diva’s distinctive voice yet again, this time echoing
through Rabih Kayrouz’s show at the Palais de Tokyo.
The Lebanese designer sends out his signature draped
dresses; for autumn/winter fluid and generous in their
proportions as they graze the body. They come topped
with oversized jackets and relaxed robe-like coats made
from the softest bouclé and wool cashmere. Among the
stand-out looks is a roomy structured evening dress cut
from a luxurious gilded jacquard print of faded roses.
It would have pleased a 21st century Umm Kulthum
who was known for appearing on stage in opulent
columns of brocade, embroidery and lace. Back at his
airy showroom on the Boulevard Raspail, Rabih
demonstrates some of the looks from his collection.
“This is a custom quilted jacquard we had made specially
for the collection which is incredibly light. It allows us to
create more relaxed cuts that accentuate the body without
clinging to it,” explains the designer, hinting at the
emerging autumn/winter trend for covered-up oversized
silhouettes, intricate embellishments and rich fabrics that
were a defining feature of Umm Kulthum’s style. It is a
trend which could also be seen at Alessandro Dell’Acqua’s
debut for Rochas as well as Maria Grazia Chiuri and
Pierpaolo Piccioli’s collection for Valentino, where the
design duo have been cultivating a similar aesthetic for
the last few seasons.
For almost 40 years, Umm Kulthum’s monthly
Thursday-night concerts developed a cult-like following,
with fans flying into Cairo from as far away as Kuwait
and Riyadh to attend her performances at the Ezbekiya
Theatre. Broadcast live across the region’s radio waves
(and later on television), her concerts became pan-Arab
events and an occasion for family and friends to gather at
cafés and living rooms from North Africa to
the Arabian Peninsula. Her performances
were known to stretch into the early hours
of the morning, as she stood a few feet
away from the microphone gently swaying to
the orchestra’s melody with her signature scarf
flowing in her hand. It was a memory the Paris-
based designer Azzedine Alaïa would cherish from
his childhood in Tunisia.
As a young boy, his grandfather would send him to
the local café to reserve a seat for him next to the only
radio in the village. When it came time for Umm
Kulthum’s performance to be broadcast from Cairo,
the budding designer watched as his grandfather sat
there transfixed by her voice, whose unequalled
emotional range could make audiences laugh or
bring them to tears. Not surprisingly, the Egyptian
songstress’ spirit is alive and kicking in the
couturier’s cramped Marais studio on the Rue de
Moussy. Sitting behind his sturdy work table, Mr.
Alaïa will stay up late into the night meticulously
cutting and sewing under the gaze of a youthful
Umm Kulthum taped to a brick column above; her
melodic voice a constant presence in the space. She
would eventually find her way into his spring/
summer 1992 collection, when the Tunisian designer
paid homage with a series of curvaceous knit dresses
sporting vertical stripes and arabesque stencilling.
For an artist whose work and life have been carefully
researched and dissected by scholars of Middle Eastern
history and musicologists alike, very little is known of
Umm Kulthum’s sartorial choices. Shortly after she
passed away in 1975, her modernist Cairo villa on the
island of Zamalek was demolished to make way for a
high-rise. What is certain is that Umm Kulthum was
famously attentive when it came to crafting her public
image, having honed it as early as 1923, when she moved
from the tiny village of Tammay al-Zahayrah with her
family to Cairo; at the time a cosmopolitan city where
East and West converged. It was while giving private
performances at the royal court and in the opulent
mansions of pashas, that Umm Kulthum received her
first lessons in fashionable dress. Emulating the manners
and Paris gowns of the wealthy Muslim women she
performed for, she soon developed an elegant persona;
wearing stylish yet conservative dresses sporting sleeves
and hemlines that dropped below the knee. By 1928, her
singular voice and sophisticated demeanor allowed her to
rise up the ranks of Cairo’s professional singers.
Sensing, as she got older, that she could not compete
on physical beauty with some of her younger female
counterparts, she soon adopted her trademark look of
high necklines, long sleeves, diamond chandelier
earrings and an upswept raven chignon. In later years
she would refine her signature style with the addition
of a handkerchief and dark sunglasses, which served
to shield her hypersensitive eyes from the light. Her
fans often referred to her as al-Sitt, the Lady, an
image she had carefully cultivated over the decades.
“She dressed relatively conservatively compared
to her counterparts, and looked more like
a respectable Egyptian woman who was a public
figure rather than an entertainer. All these things
helped a great deal in producing a persona that
could occupy a public space comfortably,” says
scholar Virginia Danielson of the icon who became
known as the Ambassadress of Arab Arts for her ability to
transform cultural perceptions about the region, while
acquiring an international fan base that included Bob
Dylan, Maria Callas, Jean-Paul
Sartre and Bono.
Today, Umm Kulthum
continues to inspire a new
generation in the Middle East,
her likeness immortalised on
canvas by artists such as Huda
Lufti, Essam Marouf, Ibrahim
El Dessouki and Youssef Nabil.
It was one such portrait of
the singer by the Egyptian-
Armenian artist Chant
Avedissian, which inspired
Lebanese designer Sarah
Beydoun of the socially-
responsible label Sarah’s Bag to
create one of her most iconic
styles. “We designed our first
Umm Kulthum bag in 2006, and it continues to be one
of our best-sellers today, in large part because she remains
such a strong symbol. She was a figure that came to
represent an entire region and was proud of her Arab
roots,” says the Lebanese designer.
Next season, as the silhouette made iconic by Kawkab
al Sharq, the Star of the East, takes centre stage in fashion,
you can almost hear the strains of Al Atal rise again.
W
“ U m m K u l t h u m n o t o n l y s u r p a s s e d
h e r m a l e c o u n t e r p a r t s i n E g y p t , b u t
a l s o r e m a i n e d s t r o n g a s a p u b l i c
f i g u r e , w h e n c o m p a r e d t o i c o n i c
W e s t e r n f e m a l e s i n g e r s o f h e r e r a
w h o e x p e r i e n c e d t r a g i c e n d i n g s ”
S h i r i n N e s h a t , f i l m m a k e r
Sarah’s Bag ‘Classic Umm
Kulthum’ clutches remain one
of the brand’s bestsellers
■
Umm Kulthum photographed
in Cairo in 1945 (right).
Naomi Campbell in a dress
from Azzedine Alaïa’s S/S92
collection inspired by the
Egyptian singer (below)
Collections including Rochas,
Valentino and Tome autumn/
winter 2014 nod to the refined
style of Umm Kulthum
tomea/w14
tomea/w14
valentinoa/w14
rochasa/w14
Lebanese designer Rabih
Kayrouz demonstrates next
season’s oversized silhouette on
a fit model (inset right)
