A young Palestinian girl twirls across the floor of a dressmaker’s shop, her white dress billowing around her as a shy smile spreads across her face.
Trimmed with delicate tulle and topped with a soft veil, the dress looks fit for a celebration.
Few would guess that parts of it are from discarded fabric or an old gown salvaged from the ruins of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
The dress is the work of 24-year-old tailor Amir al-Rantisi, who has made it his mission to provide elegant dresses for special occasions for young girls and women in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis area.
He does this by recycling used fabrics and old dresses.
“When I go to Gaza (City) to get the fabric, I take it from a place that’s been destroyed, from old fabric that’s available, which was probably damaged by shrapnel or burnt,” Amir told AFP.
“I select pieces from it, and I make dresses from those pieces. I also take old dresses and recycle them.”
Outside the shop, his colourful creations in satin, organza and tulle hang from makeshift mannequins fashioned from iron poles, vivid splashes of colour against a backdrop of grey concrete and blackened buildings.
Several elegant long gowns are displayed on cement mannequins outside the shop, while colourful frocks sway gently from a clothesline stretched across the storefront, allowing customers to inspect the garments with ease.
Inside the workshop, neat rows of ready-to-wear dresses line the walls. Nearby, a customer dressed in a black abaya carefully examines a small dress, considering its intricate details.
Joy despite hardship
The workshop itself hums with activity. On a table beside a collapsed wall, piles of old dresses sit waiting to be given new life as festive creations.
Amir’s mother, Nisreen al-Rantisi, works alongside him in the workshop, while another assistant tailor attentively takes the measurements of a young girl.
As Nisreen sorts through the colourful fabrics, selecting the perfect materials for the next creation, the assistant tailor deftly guides his scissors through a length of cloth, skillfully shaping it into what will soon become a beautifully crafted dress.
