“It's a bit cliché to say, but I try to be as nomadic as possible in my lifestyle. I like to move around, discovering new landscapes and new lights but especially new people,” says Dünya Boukhers, founder of the ethical label Isisdünya.

Born in France to an Algerian mother and Turkish father, the 26-year-old’s first foray into designing was as a teenager. “I started sewing in high school, before I got kicked out. I then started working in fashion stores before I decided to leave everything in 2018 to move to Lebanon.” And it was in Beirut where Isisdünya – bold, graphic and crafted from a tapestry of cultures and identities – began to take shape.

The young talent is now back in Paris and the city is fuelling her upcycled approach. “The people I meet inspire me a lot, Paris and its working-class neighbourhoods,” she explains. But Boukhers finds inspiration from ancient civilisations, too. “I'm passionate about history thanks to my brother - I love to see how the Maya, Amazonian, Indian or even Egyptian people lived before. Way before all this technology and globalisation in times when a textile could have several meanings and was loaded with symbols.”

Sustainability has become a buzzword in fashion but it’s not a case of bandwagon hopping for Boukhers; it’s something that’s happened naturally and was born, in part, out of necessity. “My last two collections were created from recycled fabrics and the initial idea was to get rid of all these clothes and fabrics that I had accumulated over the years. The trick was not to surf on trends but to make room in my workshop,” she explains. “I grew up in a modest family and we don't throw things away like that. Throughout my childhood I was always happy to receive bags of clothes from my relatives.”

These hand-me-downs are, for her, all the more precious for having been pre-owned. “Now it's still the same, my aunt will leave me her long 90s coats. A garment has a soul and I'm so glad she left the best of her energy in it, I feel protected when I wear it,” she adds. “Sometimes I look at the family albums, and I come across stylish pieces that my grandmother or my mother owned, and I'm too sad that they didn't put them aside for me because they were really the queens of style and elegance in Algiers in the 70s.”

Fusing wool, leather and even cycling tops gives this designer’s work “a rather graphic DNA” but the ideas behind her current project are sweet and soft. Titled AHNA 3AYLA, at first she cast her friends and their mothers in a bid to celebrate not only their love but also France’s all-too-often-vilified migrant communities. Since then, she’s also shot her own kith and kin. "I started it two years ago with my friend Calixte and her mother Bambi, who are very close. Having had a complicated relationship with my mother when I was young, I found it interesting to highlight their bond. But really, this project is a tribute to all these immigrant families, who often lived through difficult times in their exile and in their adaptation to a country where they did not know the language.”

For Boukhers, Isisdünya is clearly more than clothes, more than nostalgia. It speaks to her heritage in ways that she hopes can heal her familial bonds, and those of others. “Family photos are memories of the good and bad times, the strength that flows in our veins, the Algerian war, my missing uncles who were killed in front of their wives and children, my aunts' traditional outfits, the pride of my country - so many things. The project serves as a way to get these family members to unite again, fuelled by the desire to create a new memory.”

As for the future, in addition to her forthcoming homeware and children’s ranges, Boukhers plans to collaborate on a monthly basis with different artists. But true to her free-spirited nature, she probably won’t be in Paris for too much longer. “Artistically, I find it too closed, and with everything currently happening with racism and Islamophobia, we no longer feel secure here. I’ve fallen in love with Marseille - it reminds me so much Algeria, people are so open and so nice. I need so much sun in my life and the lights of Marseille are just magical.”

Photography Dünya Boukhers
Make-up Inès Ould Kaci
Main model Mélissandre Guimondo
Assistance Chaima El Abed

Words Miriam Bouteba

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Published on 18/03/2021