01 August 2013

BEIRUT: Earlier this month, Georges Chakra jolted fashion hawks swarming around Paris for Haute Couture Fashion Week by unveiling a sinister black-and-white wedding dress, one that he later said reflected the gloom he felt over Lebanon and the regions deteriorating security situation. Thick, black brush strokes covered the bottom of the long-sleeve winter dress, which Chakra paired with a veil of black tulle. In person, the hand-painted silk skirt would find better company with the dark paintings of post-WWII abstract expressionists than alongside Chakras typically radiant luxury gowns.

Whats more, he caused the hoopla from the privacy of his intimate Paris showroom, as the Lebanese designer opted out of the extravagance of a runway show.

To those that know Chakra, the toned-down colors of black, white and forest green in his winter couture collection were not the only things out of character; its somber inspiration was too. While other artists have seized upon distant human crises to fuel their darker muse, Chakras entire career has been a story of defiance against the demoralizing effects of war and violence that have plagued his homeland for the greater part of his life.

Chakra grew up in east Beiruts Ain al-Rummaneh, a district made notorious for the 1975 Bus Massacre and a series of violent incidents that kicked off the 15-year Civil War and led to the geographical schism between west and east Beirut.

An adolescent in the 1970s and 1980s, Chakra was confined to the house, making do with whatever was lying around to keep him occupied, he said, leaning back comfortably in his Jal al-Dib workshop and dressed head to foot in white linen.

Like always, it was around the war. I was a teenager. I was not allowed to go out go to the cinemas, go to blah, blah, blah, he said. Theres a bombing today you know, the war every day.

In the early 80s, Chakra spent his time flipping through magazines, several of which were copies of Jours du France, a fashion-heavy monthly that his father happened to pick up at the airport for his mother. He flipped through pages of dresses by Christian Lacroix for Jean Patou, or his fashion role model Yves Saint Laurent.

It was really impressive for me. I was sitting looking at these dresses thinking, Oh this is nice. And I always commented on moms dresses: You should put blue, why dont you put that, he recalled. After a year of looking at the same magazine probably two or three issues it gives you the ambition. It was the beginning of Saint Laurent for me.

Chakra returned from his fashion design studies in Canada in the late 80s. In his early 20s and as the Civil War dragged on, Chakra was determined to foster fashion education in a country where the field was just taking hold.

Classes that he expected would attract just two or three students brought in more than a dozen men and women of all ages.

At that time we didnt have this big generator, we had a small generator, so can you imagine at 65 going up to the seventh floor just to have this course of fashion design, he said.

His entry into couture started when one of his older students asked to have one of his many sketches turned into a wedding dress for her daughter.

From then, his circle of couture clientele grew in Lebanon.

And during the years of reconstruction, the Georges Chakra Fashion House flourished, as the designer began selling in the Gulf and then in Europe.

War became an unintentional theme in Chakras stories, which he told with lighthearted exasperation.

For example, the 2006 July War with Israel coincided with one of Chakras hottest summers. After breaking into the American celebrity market through the feisty rapper Eve, Chakra was working on a dress for supermodel Tyra Banks. A closed airport meant that the luxury French fabrics had to be rerouted through Jordan and Syria and then shipped by land.

You can imagine, you wait all this time and then you open the box and its the wrong fabric. It was a catastrophe, he said. It was supposed to be black, but it turned out to be a burgundy color.

That summer was also the debut of The Devil Wears Prada, which featured one of Chakras collections.

I couldnt make it to the premiere in Paris because the airport was closed, he said with equal disdain.

For the past three decades, the sunny Mediterranean climate has somehow overpowered all the darkness that paralleled Chakras career. He built a career from his very first pink wedding dress on brightly colored gowns.

Its because of this, that Chakras black and white wedding dress grabbed so much attention. But the sadness that overcame the designer in his most recent collection will likely remain a fleeting blip in the history of Chakras couture, as the designer seemed to have recovered from the funk that led to it.

No, no, now Im OK. Im OK, he said with a laugh.

Copyright The Daily Star 2013.