Fashion Spotlight: Amine Bendriouich & Hassan Hajjaj 'Wax Super Deluxe'

The fourth edition of Fashion Week Tunis showcased North Africa's rising fashion stars. One standout collaboration was presented by Amine Bendriouich andHassan Hajjaj, respectively from Tunis and Morocco. Bendriouich and Hajjaj designed a stunning menswear collection called Wax Super Deluxe, which goes way beyond simply using a simple fabric to crafting a wholly unique pattern with pictures.

Known for his photographic work, having left Morocco at an early age to England, Hajjaj draws inspiration from the London hip-hop & reggae scenes and his North African heritage. He's a creative, self-taught artist that juggles the mediums of portraiture, installation, performance, fashion, and interior design, including furniture made from recycled utilitarian objects from North Africa —  upturned Coca-Cola crates as stools and aluminum cans turned into lamps. Amine Bendriouich is from a different generation. Based in 'boiling' Berlin and focused on high-end ready-to-wear clothing and accessories, he founded a label called "A B C B" — Amine Bendriouich Couture and Bullshit. The name might be a bit intense but stands for the timeless aspect of his collections. " This brand doesn't follow trends or seasons. The collections are timeless and the clothes don't go out of style after six months. People are free. They decide when they don't like trousers, a jacket or a color. Trends can be found everywhere: in ourselves, our surroundings, our people, our tribes."

Their collaboration is a clear success and they delivered some stunning pieces with bold jackets featuring powerful messages and portraits. They told Arabia Style, "We are trying to help our local heroes. It is a long-term plan. But we would like to develop our own fabrics and feature our own heroes." Both of them would like to develop and encourage the youth of the Arab world to create while they're already a source of inspiration for them. The pieces present an both artists' interpretation of the Arab world, with inspiration from its people's political and religious habits. "Normally, the prints are used for religious and political propaganda. For example, a politician will make fabrics for his country and distribute it to the people. There are, in Africa and in sub-Saharan countries, a lot of churches. Cardinals promote themselves by printing their faces on the fabrics. It was quite interesting to take all this and translate it into fashion," says Bendriouich. Then, Hajjaj added: "What Amine has done is very clever. He cut the repetitive messages and reassembled them. My favorite jacket has “peace” on the heart, “truth” on the right, and “justice” on the back. The tailoring of the jackets, the detailing on the back, and the research on the pockets are fantastic."

It's truly a stunning collection. Don't miss out on these beautiful prints, have a closer and you'll discover a lot of details, blending perfectly between visual art and fashion. If you want to talk about it, tweet #pretapoundo.