Costume designing in Egypt - a passion

Nermine Said, costume designer, talks on her experience in the field of the heavenly marriage of fashion and theatre in Egypt

Nermine Said, a theatre major at the American University in Cairo, became fascinated with the magical world of fashion and how it ties the knot with theatre. Costume designing, she realised, was her path. From the time she was an undergraduate, she participated in professional theatre productions, designed regularly at AUC and graduated with all the experience needed to launch her career path as a professional theatre costume designer.
Where can you study costume design in Cairo or abroad?
Here in Egypt you can study costume designing at FDC (Fashion Design Centre). Region-wide, there's also the Italian Institute in Milan, and, of course, the famed Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. London also has great programmes, since it is well-known that the calibre of their theatre is high.
Generally, what's the state in Egypt of fashion, costume design and "stylists" in Egypt's buzzing film/media industry?
The streets in Cairo are not really bold, nor up-to-date with eccentric fashion. You only find it in night outings or parties. People are too shy to go to the extreme.
As far as designers: there are some very good designers and there are some poor designers. The important thing is to do your research!
Explain what happens right after you read a play.
Well I start analyzing the characters, I sit with the director discuss his/her vision and brainstorm with him/her, I then start researching the era I will be working. If it's a historical play, I draw my sketches accordingly, get back to the director and so forth. I also like to attend the play rehearsals to know if my work will need any adjustments. I execute my work and start fitting the characters. One week before the main performance (dress rehearsal week) actors start rehearing, wearing their costumes so that during this week I finish my work, sort out any problem and get anything missing before the performance night.
Give an example of one of your interesting plays.
In Holland: Oedipus in Egypt directed by Sabri El-Hamus. Half the cast was Egyptian and the other half Dutch. The director in this play wanted to mix the oriental galabeya (tunic that goes over clothes) with modern European style.
How did you manage to mix the Middle Eastern galabeya style with modern European?
I was working with two lines of creative thought, first, I took the Egyptian galabeya and made minor alterations, like making it shorter, or tighter, playing with different colours and so forth. Through the second line of creation, I worked with traditional Egyptian fabric and made modern clothing.
How do you manage to present the development of a character in terms of style?
I manage to play with style and colour, especially colour, as it reflects the psychology and mood of a character on stage. I will give you two examples: in one of my plays, called El-Maghmatis, there was a passive and introverted character, so I used colours to express that: I dressed him in pale colours, like grey and baby blue. Another character was so uptight and tense so I played with style; I dressed him a formal suit with an uptight tie. By the end of the play he loosened up, so I dressed him a polo shirt and jeans. I can also use both style and colour, together, to present a character development on stage.
In another play Al Less by Tawfik El-Hakim, the costumes and setting were in a variation of black: white and grey to give the effect of an old, black-and-white Egyptian movie. I presented the development of characters using patterns. For example, a character that was depressed at the beginning of the play because her stepfather used to harass her I dressed very conservatively. She wore high-neck dresses, long sleeves, striped, dark patterns. When she fell in love and got married, she started to dress femininely, in a white, floral dress for example.
How do you manage to stick to the budget?
I gave a workshop at Studio Emad Eddin and part of it was about managing to work as a costume designer with low or no budget. I told my students if they're working with low budget then they can buy second-hand cloth and/or cheap fabrics and in case of no budget, then they need to bring the clothes from the actor's wardrobe in accordance with the play.
When asked about her experience, she recounts:
I've worked with troupes from abroad, like the Swedish director, Eva Bergman. The crew was a mix of different nationalities performing Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream in Arabic in Alexandria, Jesuit Theatre. I also worked for the AUC theatre with Dr Mahmoud Elozy. Internationally, I've worked in a play in Romania; comedy theatre in Bucharest.
Nermine Said, a talented artist that loves the romantic intertwining of fashion and theatre, respects her art by staying true to her passion. The result is a superb audience indulgence through quality work.
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The author/interviewer, Sara Imam is currently studying fashion design at the Italian Fashion Academy, specialising for the past two years fashion design diploma including fashion design and pattern-making for women's, men's and children's fashion. Imam presented her own cocktail dress designs in a fashion show organised by the Italian Fashion Academy at JW Marriott in December 2011.
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