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It seems these days, social media are buzzing with the most interesting discoveries and a few weeks ago Facebook introduced me to Raw by Sara.
Lebanese designers have been thriving on the fashion scene and more young talents are venturing in this industry on their own, armed only with a gift for creation and an entrepreneurial drive that would turn even the toughest businessmen red with envy.
They come from all walks of life, with or without a background or an education in fashion and they are slowly but surely injecting new blood in an art that has the potential of carrying values, dreams and hopes of a younger generation of artists eager to express themselves any way they can and through any medium they can get their hands on.
That is exactly what emanates from Raw by Sara, a unique label created by designer Sara Nassar, a straightforward and genuine Lebanese artist who directed her talent towards converting her very own visual concepts into innovative wearable statements.
So who is Sara?
I am a 19 year old Lebanese young woman with a little brother and two amazing parents. I was previously an IC student and I am currently studying Studio Arts at AUB. I am also blessed to be surrounded by a lovely circle of friends of various ages that guide me and strengthen me.
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| Photo Credit: Sara Nassar |
What inspired you to get into fashion?
I have always had an acute sense of style and had the chance to visit a lot of countries in my life hence, shop a lot and be a fashion connoisseur. I have also the chance to be a very close friend of Zina Mufarrij (founder of Zina Comics) that saw my drawings and encouraged me to take them a step further. I didn’t want to keep them laid on a web page, so I thought to myself: What is the best way for me to touch people, to try to touch them deeply with empowering ideas and unique designs? So I came up with a clothing line that would carry part of my texts and my drawings for both men and women in different and innovative trendy cuts that would touch both teenagers and older people.
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| Photo Credit: Sara Nassar |
What are you biggest strengths as a designer?
My biggest strengths as a designer is my honesty, my boldness, and my ability to dare doing something new, innovative that may or may not be welcomed by others.
Your weaknesses?
My weaknesses can be qualified as my strengths but taken to the extreme.
Who is your favorite fashion designer and why?
I am very fond of the work of Alexander McQueen. I love the emotional power and raw energy of his provocative designs and shows.
If you had not been a designer, what would you have turned into?
If I hadn’t been a designer today, I would have been in a different sphere of the domain of Art. I like to think that I will take my art eventually one day to a new level of design involving more than a clothing line.
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Your label is called Raw by Sara. Where does the name come from?
Since I started my project with the hope that my clothing would be conveyers of truth, I thought to myself that nothing is as sharp, bold and untouched as the word Raw. It’s the strong and undisguised, exactly the image I want to share with people. In addition to that, Raw is War once spelled in reverse. Why is it important for me to carry the word “war” although implicitly in my label’s identity? Not only because of the political wars between countries that are going on continuously around us but more to point at what I like to call our inner wars, our own inner battles. We’ve all faced and are all constantly facing turmoil and inner struggles in order to conform to the world we’re living in or even to just build our own identity and to, in a way promote the growth of “The Self”. In one word, I believe that some of us are in war with themselves and with others in order to be raw, in order to be themselves.
What does it mean to be a designer in Lebanon? How does it affect your thinking and creative process?
To be honest, being a designer doesn’t mean much in Lebanon since anyone can practically become a designer whether they have new, innovative products or are simply copying a fellow designer. It doesn’t affect me much, my ideas, my clothing designs originate essentially from my deepest insides and no one can reach that spot in me.
How do you select colors, shapes, themes and fabrics when designing a collection?
As you may have noticed, the fabric I used in this collection is very simple, it’s a regular T-shirt fabric that comes in black and white that is very soft and comfortable to wear. I opted for this fabric because I wanted the T-shirt to be mainly about the cut and the message I chose to lay on it. I chose to limit myself to black and white to express duality that is for me the essence of everything. I may later expand my collections to more colorful pieces.
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| Photo Credit: Raw by Sara |
What is the creative process you go through? Do you get inspired by life around you? Music? Movies? Exhibitions? Or books you have read?
“What’s under my feet, what I eat, whom I meet - all that influences my art.” Chiharu Shiota
This quote describes perfectly the creative process I go through. Everything that reaches my senses can be used in a drawing, in a painting. All can be turned to art and eventually into clothing.
How long does it take to come up with a new vision and ultimately a new collection?
It usually doesn’t require a lot of time. Once I have a pack of drawings, a theme I am craving to convey, and a trendy and unique cut I want to share, I like to think that the structure of the collection is done which is the most challenging part.
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| Photo Credit: Raw by Sara |
Tell us a little about Raw by Sara. What is the label's identity and particularities?
Raw by Sara is not a clothing line.
It’s a maze of ideas that I chose to start mending into T-shirt fabric!
It’s pieces of my own drawings, paintings that I am sharing with you.
It’s a combination of what is wild, raw, and daring.
It’s the unsaid, the words that are too heavy for the tongue to bare, too sharp for the lips to deliver.
It’s a conveyer of Truth.
It’s stripping your mind away.
It’s for the misfits, the rebels.
It’s for those who are born to be a revolutionary.
It’s for those who can’t stand the rules.
It’s for you, for me, and definitely not for them.
It’s only because it’s so raw and real.
Where are the clothes manufactured?
The clothes are manufactured in Lebanon.
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| Photo Credit: Raw by Sara |
What does the future hold for Raw by Sara?
A lot or nothing. I am currently loving every moment of it. The longer it’ll last, the better.
Where are our points of sale?
Can customers outside of Lebanon purchase your designs?
I am currently establishing an online store. Customers all over the world will be able to purchase my designs.
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| Photo Credit: Sara Nassar |
A few words, just for fun...
Glory, majesty, unity.
If you were a color, which would you be?
Green.
If you were a fabric?
Plain white cotton.
If you were a movie?
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| Photo Credit: Sara Nassar |
If you were a song?
If you were a fruit or a flower?
Avocado and a rose.
If you were a famous character (real or fictional), which would you be?
Maestria (Bravura in English) the feminist character of the Asterix comic books serie that rocks the legendary Gaul village upside down.
Bookmarks:
- Raw by Sara on Facebook
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