Fez Fashion Day

Fez is making its name as a place for contemporary design with an historical twist. This week features not one but three significant events. Friday May 24 is the opening of Michel Biehn's exhibition Veils and Turbans and on Saturday May 25 is Fez Fashion Day; a fashion show followed by the opening of the Fez Fabrik design exhibition. 

A selection of turbans from Michel Biehn's extensive collection

Veils and Turbans - Friday May 24 at 7 PM at Dar Batha

Renowned designer and author Michel Biehn will be exhibiting around 50 veils and 50 turbans from the Islamic world from his extraordinary collection at the French Institute's Dar Batha until June 3.

He points out that while both veils and turbans are "nothing but a rectangle of fabric", they have a deeper symbolic significance.

"Veils are an issue in France," Michel says, referring to their being outlawed in 2010. "But I find it quite irrelevant. It's up to the individual - I don't see why the law should interfere. However, I am not making a political point, just showing a selection of costumes."

"As a whole, a veil protects the mystery of a woman. Whereas a turban is worn very differently. It symbolises potency...Everyone is now hooked on veils, and no one talks about turbans. If we want the world to work, we need both those energies."

Designer and author Michel Biehn

Fez Fashion Day - Saturday May 25 at 5.30 PM at Jardin des Biehn

Fashion styled by Alfred Berlin

Fez Fashion Day kicks off this Saturday with the showing of the work of two international designers - Alfred Berlin and Moi Anan. Sponsored by the French Institute, their clothing and accessories will grace the long, tiled runways of Jardin des Biehn. This is followed by the opening of the Fez Fabrik exhibition. Fez Fabrik is a newly created association which aims to encourage liaisons between international designers and local artisans. Six designers will contribute pieces to the exhibition, ranging from textiles and unique accessories through to unusual jewellery.

Alfred Berlin's section of the fashion show will be "a funky mix of past and present," according to the designer. "Inspirations came from how, in the old Medina of Fez, people mix traditional Moroccan clothes, such as kaftans, jellabas and babouches with contemporary street-style looks like Nike and Adidas." Accessories will feature strongly. "I'm trying to establish my brand based on recycling left over leather from Italian factories. It is about using hand made products, done by the young artisan generation."

Fashion styled by Alfred Berlin

Alfred's design background includes studies of theatre and costume at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma where he won a scholarship to continue his studies in sculpture and textile design at the Royal College of Fine Art in Belgium, which led to him being accepted at the Royal Academy of Arts in Antwerp. He has collaborated with numerous internationally recognised designers, including Antonio Marras and Kenzo, Giafranco Ferre and Studio Pollini.

Moi Anan's vibrant and beautifully tailored designs were a stand-out at last year's Fez Fashion Day. His carefully tailored styling spans Thai tradition and Western modernity and has been shown at Paris Fashion Week. This new collection consists of more of thirty pieces, offering a sophisticated approach where traditional fabrics are given a new and unusual treatment.

Fez Fabrik exhibition - Saturday May 25 at 7.30 PM at Jardin des Biehn

Talisman jewellery by Michel Biehn

Following the fashion show will be the opening of the Fez Fabrik exhibition, featuring the work of six international designers - Nina Galbert; Catherine Gailliard; Lilou, Michel Biehn, Moi Anan and Alfred Berlin. This is also the inaugural event for Fez Fabrik, a new non-profit association dedicated to increasing opportunities for international designers and local artisans to create work together.

Striped hand-loomed throws by Nina Galbert

Through her business the Artisan Project, Nina Galbert has been sourcing and collaborating with local artisans for the past two years. The pieces in this exhibition are traditional, hand-loomed weaves and throws, with an emphasis on stripes.

Catherine Gaillard will be showing leather bags, which feature mixed colours and prints, while the jewellery of Lilou has a very contemporary approach, using materials like neoprene and silk. Michel Biehn will include a leather bag he has personally embroidered.  "It's got elements of the old world and the new world put together," he says. He will also offer a collection of talismans.

What: Veils and Turbans
When: Friday May 24 at 7 PM until June 3 
Where: French Institute, Dar Batha

What: Fez Fashion Day
When: Saturday May 25 at 5.30 PM
Where: Jardin des Biehn

What: Fez Fabrik exhibition
When: Saturday May 25 at 7 PM until June 16
Where: Gallery at Jardin des Biehn

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Travel Writing About Morocco ~ The UK Independent almost gets it right

Over the years The View from Fez has run an occasional series on travel writing about Morocco. We have given bouquets to the best and brickbats to the worst. It's been a while since our last travel writing story as a majority of travel stories lately have been well researched and written. 

A small part of the massive Fez Medina

However, this week we came across a piece on Fez by Stephen Bayley from the UK Independent. It is certainly well written, however, at times pedantic. Stephen's piece has all the hallmarks of an embedded journalist. His reflections, while sitting with a "large glass of Celliers de Meknes syrah and a view of the kasbah" - are amusing, if not always accurate. He starts off with a bold assertion about the name of the city...

It's Fès, not Fez. The latter is a hat of Turkish production, a dark red truncated cone with a tassel, not much favoured by the locals, despite what some guidebooks tell you. And Fassi is what the citizens of Morocco's fifth city call themselves. The confusion with the name is one of several misunderstandings about this astonishing place. Nineteenth-century orientalists, French expeditionary soldiers, drugged-up Americans of the Beat Generation (who enjoyed a cannabis jam known as majoun, taken internally) all knew Fès, but it has not secured a place in popular imagination in the same way as Marrakech.

For the record, the name of the city is Fes or Fez (Arabic: فاس‎ Moroccan Arabic: [fɛs], Berber: Fas,). If you are French you can write it Fès. The point is that as a transliteration from the Arabic, you can take your pick. As a local photographer put it, "Fes, Fez or Fas, we don't mind - jeeb laz ou l'caz - come for something good, or just leave!"

Access was always a problem: the erratic rail link from Tangier and Casablanca was an impediment to all but the intrepid, then British Airways failed to make a service from Gatwick work. Now a twice-weekly flight by Ryanair from Stansted gives us all the chance to be an explorer.

It is obviously a long time since the intrepid Stephen Bayley travelled by train to Fez. The services between Tangier and Casablanca are inexpensive and go almost hourly. There are also good (CTM) bus services and if you feel like a treat, a trip from Casa to Fez by car is available for around 1,500 dirhams. Ryanair is not the only airline and flights from a number of European cities make coming to Fez, either directly, or via Casablanca a low cost trip.

Part of the huge slipper souk in Fez

This is not a city abandoned to the fey pleasures of frivolous European travellers. Instead, it teems and squirms: urgent but polite, and elegant while often rough. The souk combines filth and mystery with the medieval sense which only a sweating Satanic blacksmith in a carbonised vault and a man next door specialising in severed goats' hoofs can bring. Even lawyers sit in cubbyholes in the souk.

It is this orientalist view where the writing gets carried away. For a start the Medina of Fez contains many souks (markets) - slipper souks, vegetable souks, ceramic souks, leather souks and so on - and "filth and mystery" are in the eye of the beholder. Rubbish collection in Fez is on a daily basis, which few cities in Britain or Europe can claim. And few of the lawyers I know would appreciate their offices being described as "cubbyholes"!

Fès food is an anomaly. There is a weird mismatch between what's abundantly available in the souk and what appears on menus. The souk teems with sellers of herbs, spices, fried fish, lemons, escargots, goat, tripe and artichokes, but restaurant menus are repetitive. Boiled salads – including nerveless cauliflower – are served in miniature tagines they were evidently not cooked in. Insipid grey "chicken in sauce" appears everywhere. I looked in vain for harira (the ethnic soup) or méchoui (a whole cooked lamb) or any sense of freshness and precision in the cooking. Solemnly, our guide said, summoning-up unhappy memories of things ill-digested past: "In Fès, one does not eat fish." Still, smells memorably define the souk. Lemon verbena is an insistent presence, but so too is donkey.

This is perhaps the strangest observation in Stephen's piece. That he couldn't find harira is a mystery as is his failure to find fabulous food. Maybe he needed to escape from his guide and the up-market restaurants and check out the food stalls and street food cafes. While many of the so called "palace restaurants" serve up the kind of tourist fare he mentions for coach loads of package holiday tourists, there are wonderful alternatives both in the Medina and the Ville Nouvelle.

One of the many food souks

That someone actually told him that "In Fès, one does not eat fish", is beyond belief. Not only are the fish markets stocked with wonderful fresh fish, but there are also local treats like the fresh trout from the Atlas mountains, John Dory fillet tagine with saffron and lemon confit, lobster, spider crab and the famous Oualidia oysters.

Fresh fish in Fez

Always there is music half-heard through walls. And the lingering memory of wondering if I have ever felt more clean than after the hammam. We soon learnt that the medina is not as un-navigable as they say. After a day you can find your way and there are no risks, apart from the chance acquisition of a carpet.

But you have doubts. Why, when mint tea is so popular, has no one made a teapot which pours efficiently? Most times, the liquor escapes more readily from the loose-fitting lid than the congested spout. And what is the psychology of a modernising country which insists on making Berber slippers, camel saddles, leather accessories, djellabas and carpets which no one ever willingly buys?

One does feel sorry for Stephen and his loose-fitting teapot, his lack of harira and the fact he didn't understand why people buy djellabas, carpets and slippers. About 90% of the goods produced in the Medina are bought by Moroccans, many of whom (whose teapot lids fit better) do like to wear slippers and djellabas. The Fez Medina is a living, working Medina with thousands of artisans producing goods which are consumed. That a camel saddle might look like an exotic addition to someone's European apartment, does not mean it's not needed on a camel.

You can read the full text of Stephen Bayley's piece here: Keep it under your hat, but Fès is for real

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The Majlis Trio in Fez

France's Majlis Trio hold their first Moroccan concert at Riad Zany

Thibaut Rocheron (percussion) Léo Fabre-Cartier (oud) and Aline Haelberg (violin) 

Friday night in Fez saw a large crowd turn up to Riad Zany for another concert. This time it was the premier performance in Morocco of the Majlis Trio. Rain had been threatened, but thankfully the night remained pleasantly warm and dry.

Provide the music and Moroccans will dance!

The rich repertoire of traditional oriental music from Turkey, Greece, Syria, Egypt, Azerbaïdjan and Arab-Andalusian music from the Maghreb was enthusiastically received by both Moroccans and visitors from France, Australia, America, Poland and The Gambia. It was also pleasing to see several on the ball guest house owners bringing their clients for the evening.

As promised the music was accessible and enthralling with splendid performances by all three musicians. A good sound balance and the near perfect acoustics of the riad ensured that even the most subtle grace notes were crystal clear and not lost beneath the percussion.

Seated on chairs, carpets and cushions, the fifty or so visitors were treated to mint tea and an array of chocolate confections and cakes. As an Australian visitor put it, "To witness such fine music in such a beautiful setting was the highlight of my overseas holiday".  Polish members of the audience had brought along Polish translations of A House in Fez, for Riad Zany's owner, Suzanna Clarke to sign.

A section of the audience enjoying the concert

If you missed the concert, the popularity of the trio is such that a second concert will be held at Fez Cafe on Sunday (May19) with an entry fee of 30 dirhams per person.

Reservation for dining is essential
Le Jardin des Biehn
13 Akbat Sbaa Douh
30110 - Fez Medina - Morocco
Port: 00212 (0) 664647679
mail: contact@jardindesbiehn.com

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