When Alia AlBlooshi and Dhabya Alfalasi from NYUAD Class of 2024 were presenting course work during Associate Professor Practice of Art History Salwa Mikdadi’s Museum, Art, and Society class, a team from Louvre Abu Dhabi were invited to attend the students’ presentation. Impressed with the students’ work, the museum invited the class to come up with hosting workshops for their summer art lab program.
As legal studies major students, AlBlooshi and Alfalasi knew having the chance to host a workshop with Louvre Abu Dhabi is a prestigious opportunity. Interested in exploring the different ways art and fashion could intersect, the two students who minor in art history began brainstorming workshop ideas.
Inspirations were taken from one of Alfalasi’s high school projects where she created a dress inspired by one of her favorite pieces by artist Claude Monet. When the duo wandered the museum grounds of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, they also noticed pieces of art that have specific aspects that could be incorporated into a fashion piece. “With that, we came up with a workshop idea that blends the worlds of fashion and art,” AlBlooshi said.
Participants were taken through a guided tour in the galleries where they analyzed an artifact through the lens of fashion and art before roaming freely to pick an art piece that caught their attention. They were then guided by AlBlooshi and Alfalasi to create a mood board to narrow down their ideas before creating a fashion illustration inspired by their chosen artwork.
The workshop not only allowed AlBlooshi and Alfalasi to express their love for art, but it was also a learning opportunity to see the different perspectives of art and fashion through the interpretations of the participants. “It (also) gave us the chance to explicitly explore our passions in a non-academic setting,” AlBlooshi added.
