"Capturing the Colors of Palestine Through Fashion" is a show of cultural pride

Middle Eastern fashion designer Intisar Farekh-Khalifeh, a modern fashion maven who has dressed everyone from Jordan's Queen Noor to the first-class flight attendants at Royal Jordanian Airlines, will hold a fashion show today in Bellevue.

The two-hour event marks the first runway show in the United States for the designer, who helped reinvent the traditional embroidered Palestinian dress.

But it's a show that almost didn't happen.

Given the current fighting in the Gaza Strip, the Arab Center of Washington considered canceling the fashion show, given the somber mood of the Arab community. But late this week organizers opted to go ahead with the show, which had been two months in the planning and serves as a major fundraising event for the Arab Festival 2009, a biannual art and culture celebration.

"It's important to continue with the show because art tells the truth and touches humanity. It connects with the heart where politics can't reach it," said Arab Center spokeswoman Rhenda Meiser.

Organizers, though, did move the event, "Capturing the Colors of Palestine Through Fashion," now taking place at 3 p.m. to allow patrons to also attend a demonstration at noon today at Seattle's Westlake Center, an event organized by Voices of Palestine and other Arab groups.

Farekh-Khalifeh, 70, a Palestinian-born designer who lives in Jordan, turned the traditional ankle-length Palestinian dress into a hip garb that the younger Arab generations have embraced in the last two decades.

The Palestinian signature cross-stitched dress, usually in dark blue with red embroidery of flower, geometric figures or village motifs, had been the traditional design for much of the 20th Century. Farekh-Khalifeh's reinterpretation featured bright colors (orange, pink, yellow) and lighter fabric (silk, velvet) instead of the traditional heavy cotton.

Speaking through an interpreter over the telephone in Bellevue, where she was visiting her daughter, Farekh-Khalifeh said she had initially been concerned the older generation would frown upon her makeover of the traditional dress.

But in 1987, her fashion show at the Jerash Festival of Culture and Arts in Jordan caught the attention of Queen Noor, the former queen of Jordan. The queen later wore Farekh-Khalifeh's line at public functions around the world.

Queen Noor loves the color turquoise, the designer said.

Soon, princesses and Arab high society from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt and Lebanon inquired about her designs.

"They all heard that Queen Noor wore her dress," said Oraib Kabbani of Bellevue, daughter of the fashion designer, who interpreted for her mother during the interview.

Today's fashion show will feature 18 traditional, modern and wedding dresses, as well as Farekh-Khalifeh's children's line. Her dresses, all one-of-a-kind, range from $600 to $1,500, and will be sold at the two-hour fundraising event.

Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com