BOHEMIAN

Words by REBECCA ANNE PROCTOR

RHAPSODY
Emirati fashion designer, LATIFA AL GURG weaves her love for travel to far-flung abodes and
diverse cultures into her collections, specially for the jet-setting Arab woman,
writes PRIYANKA PRADHAN
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STYLE

From China to Antartica and from Denmark to London,

Latifa Al Gurgs designs tell stories of her journey across
the world. The engineer-turned-fashion designers own
Scandinivian-Emirati background is sometimes reected in
her label, Twisted Roots a name that resonates with her
mixed heritage and outlook on travel.
But shes not your average Instagram lter- friendly
traveler, as her passion for travel goes well beyond just
sight-seeing and taking pictures. Al Gurg applies her deep
love for architecture and design and an unrelenting thirst
for research on history to her travels and eventually, into
her collections.
Culture and tradition is something very important to
me. Ive always liked to read about the history and evolution
of costumes across the world. I approach fashion from an
intellectual perspective and Im trying to bring that into my
collections, she says.
For example, Ive always loved everything about Chinathe architecture, the culture and fabrics so Ive created an
adaptation of the iconic Chinese roofs into the shoulder
details of some of my pieces and also created a reference to
the incredible terracotta warriors into some of my other
pieces from my Green Tea collection, she adds.
Her love for in-depth research was what led her to launch
her own label, when she realized that theres a gap in the
local market for modest clothing for Arab women.
As a family, we travel a lot. When I travel, I dress
modestly even though I dont wear an abaya so I kept
struggling to nd appropriate clothing for my travels. I
wondered why there were no brands that do this because its
quite a tedious task to put everything together. So I decided
to research this further and realized theres denitely an
opportunity here.
Born out of this need for a one-stop shop for the jetsetting Arab woman, Twisted Roots caters to qualityconscious modest dressers who appreciate ne
craftsmanship.

RIGHT: Latifa Al Gurg

BELOW: Some of the
latest looks from the
designers Twisted Roots
label

Most of our fabrics are custom dyed for us and our silks
are woven especially for us- we work with the mills to
develop this from scratch, she says, Even in the making of
a simple shirt for example, sometimes the fabric is sourced
from turkey, the buttons from Italy, thread from Taiwan and
we bring it all together at our atelier in Dubai.
We put a lot of effort and attention to detail so that the
nal product is something that a customer would cherish
for life- its meant to be something that stays with you for a
very long time, not just for a season or two, she adds.
While her rst collection was a tribute to her own mixed
culture with the silks and embroidery being very typically
Emirati and the color palette being predominantly Danish,
her latest collection is inspired by the sights, colors and
textures of London- greys, blues and structured tailoring
that reference the architecture an aesthetic she hopes will
appeal to the local cognoscenti.
I think as Arabs, we travel more widely and tend to
absorb more cultures - curious and interested, open to
explore. So the Middle Eastern customer is so much more
aware of quality, craftsmanship and our worldview is so
broad. This makes the customer tough to please but also, a
pleasure to work with. We are also a part of the shopping
culture across the world and that makes the Arab customer
so unique because we bring back and wear what weve
experienced, says Al Gurg.
Going forward, Al Gurg is keen on exploring new journeys
for Twisted Roots, well beyond the UAE. As she puts it, The
journey is what makes the story worthwhile. Its all about
evolving and learning in entrepreneurship, in travel and in
life itself!

CULTURE AND TRADITION IS

SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT TO
ME. IVE ALWAYS LIKED TO READ
ABOUT THE HISTORY AND EVOLUTION
OF COSTUMES AROUND THE WORLD
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