“Holding on to our thobes is holding on to our roots”

Jerusalem24 – You can find this freelance graphic designer, and visual artist, between stacks of old Palestinian traditional dresses (“Thobes”) searching for the ones with the most defects, to bring them back to life by wearing them herself.
Rand Dabboor tells Jerusalem24 that it all started a while ago, reusing old traditional dresses in an attempt to revive and preserve Palestinian heritage.
“Five years ago I bought an old traditional dress from Nablus city, that felt to me like a reflection of our identity. Since then I started buying more old dresses… Each thobe for me represents a story of the woman who wore it.”
“When I find an old thobe, it brings joy to me. I try to look for [defects] in them so I can save them and bring them back to life.”
Dabboor gets inspiration from the patterns on the thobes, re-drawing them and adding them to the design she publishes as posts on her Instagram page, “to revive the thobes in a modern artistic way.”

Dabboor believes that the thobe collection she owns tells a story of how thobes developed over the years. She says, “Holding on to our thobes is holding on to our roots.”
Listen to the full interview on Vibes.
https://soundcloud.com/24fmpalestine/vibes-rand-dabour