Fashion Maverick Ziad Ghanem to Close the Nour Festival with ‘The First Time I
Cried in a Turkish Bath’

• Date: Saturday 26 November 2011 at 7pm.
• Admission is strictly ticketed.
• Leighton House Museum, 12 Holland Park Road, W14 8LZ
• Images: http://bit.ly/qcZI0h
  

Ziad Ghanem, the internationally-acclaimed fashion designer and winner of ‘Best in Show’ at London Fashion Week 2010, will close this year’s Nour Festival of contemporary Middle Eastern culture with a unique preview of previously unseen designs.

The two-month Nour Festival, run by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Culture Service and held at Leighton House Museum - a remarkable symbol of East meets West – provides a rare opportunity to become immersed in the rich and often surprising world of contemporary arts and culture from across the Middle East and North Africa.

Ghanem’s show ‘The First Time I Cried in a Turkish Bath’ is inspired by his extensive travels in Turkey, Syria and his homeland of Lebanon while also referencing the opulence and intricacy of Islamic, Baroque and Victorian art.

Ghanem’s designs for this preview were created over three years and will be presented as a catwalk show threading through the elegant rooms of Leighton House Museum. The home of the leading Victorian artist Frederic, Lord Leighton, the building is renowned for its iconic Arab Hall, a soaring room at the heart of the house featuring gold mosaics and displaying Leighton's priceless collection of over a thousand Islamic tiles, sourced during his many travels across the Middle East.

‘The First Time I Cried in a Turkish Bath’ is the title of a traditional Turkish folk song Hamamda ilk gözyaşları, a powerful story of love and redemption. Ghanem was so moved by the story that he chose to use it as the theme for his show. Ghanem’s models will pose and drape themselves around the space to create a visual feast of colour, texture and decadence in an echoing tribute to the paintings and the women featured in Leighton’s work. ‘The First Time I Cried in a Turkish Bath’ offers a unique blend of fashion, art, performance and drama.

Ziad Ghanem said: “I have been inspired by the talents of the craftspeople of the Middle East, the fabrics and cloths they create and the opulence and intricacies of Arab costume. Leighton House Museum provides a perfect venue for my creations; the building and my designs are a melting and meeting of Arabic, Eastern and Western influences - a heady mix of cultures and evocative artwork.”

Cllr Nicholas Paget-Brown, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Transport, Environment, and Leisure Services said: “The Nour Festival is about unpicking preconceptions and providing a window on contemporary culture from the Middle East. We are delighted Ziad Ghanem is involved. His distinct designs blend both East and West with a drama and style that would have impressed Lord Leighton. His show is a fitting end to a festival that has played to sell out crowds.

“Ziad’s show also continues the Royal Borough’s long and colourful history of high fashion and cult couture. Vivienne Westwood, Malcolm McLaren, Zandra Rhodes and Wayne Hemingway all began in the Borough. From the King’s Road to Portobello Market, we recognise the importance fashion-design plays in making this such a unique place to live and work.

I am delighted to see new work being created at this unique location, part of the rich cultural heritage of the borough. The artist in residence scheme is a fitting way to honour this heritage, in that it celebrates Lord Leighton’s magnificent house and simultaneously provides a platform for nurturing cutting-edge artistic talent."

Daniel Robbins said: ‘We immediately wanted to collaborate with Clare, impressed by her particular sensitivity to the environment and context in which she works. Through her residency she has forged exciting new connections between contemporary and historic artwork and prompted us look in new and different ways at the examples of Leighton’s work that surround us."

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Notes to editors
Nour Festival – Public booking information
Location: Leighton House Museum, 12 Holland Park Road, London W14 8LZ.
Booking and further information: www.nourfestival.co.uk

Press Information and Images: Kallaway PR
• William Kallaway, william.kallaway@kallaway.com 020 7221 7883
• Susannah Glynn, susannah.glynn@kallaway.com, 020 7221 7883
• IMAGES: http://bit.ly/qcZI0h

The Nour Festival of Arts
The Nour Festival is a unique opportunity to become immersed in the rich and often surprising world of contemporary arts and culture from across the Middle East and North Africa, through mediums as diverse as fashion, literature, film, cookery, poetry, photography and hip hop.

Arabic is the second most common language spoken in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Nour means light or illumination in many Middle Eastern languages and. The two month Nour Festival is run by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s Culture Service and takes place every year at Leighton House Museum, showcasing international works and artists and also building connections between local people and the Middle East.

Highlights of the Nour Festival 2011 included five UK film premiers, Moroccan rapper Master Mimz and her unique brand of politically charged Arab inspired Hip-Hop; an exploration into Unspeakable Love: Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East; Shadia and Raja Alem on being chosen to represent Saudi Arabia at the Venice Art Biennale in 2011 and Messages from Tahrir, photographer Karima Khalil on her astonishing and deeply moving images which capture the protests that brought down Mubarak.

About Ziad Ghanem
Ziad Ghanem has become synonymous with his ‘cult couturier’ tag ever since he launched in London a decade ago. He successfully merges modern silhouettes with haute couture craftsmanship while openly embracing age-old techniques keeping them alive and relevant for today. A global magpie Ziad readily soaks in inspiration while simultaneously collecting rare vintage fabrics and gems that give his designs historical depth as well as aesthetic appeal. Each and every piece Ziad creates is truly original and it’s on this basis he works with his clients providing a personal and unique service.

Ziad’s shows have rapidly become the hottest ticket in Fashion Week providing theatre, drama and a bold injection of creativity. His innovative vision has led to many collaborations with a diverse range of businesses, publications and artists. While Ziad’s models too, are selected for their unique attributes and personalities and arrive in a multitude of shapes and sizes. Ziad’s unique signature style is hopelessly romantic and yet elaborately modern at the same time. His more intricate pieces have been likened to works of art and it’s this distinctive style that has gained the cult couturier a client base that spans the world.

About the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s Culture Service
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is home to a vibrant community of creative people; from large cultural institutions to independent producers, performers, artists and creative businesses. The Culture Service is building on the uniqueness and identity of the Royal Borough to drive major creative ventures, fresh ideas, talent, creative exchanges and nurturing networks that benefit all who visit, live and work in the Royal Borough.

Website: www.rbkc.gov.uk/culture
Twitter: @RBKCculture

About Leighton House Museum
Located on the edge of Holland Park in Kensington, the house is one of the most remarkable buildings of the 19th century.

The house was the former home and studio of the leading Victorian artist, Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830-1896). The Arab Hall is the centerpiece of the house. Designed to display Leighton's priceless collection of over a thousand Islamic tiles, mostly brought back from Damascus in Syria, the interior with its gold mosaics, marble columns and golden dome evokes a compelling vision of the Orient.

The opulence continues through the other richly decorated interiors, with elaborate mosaic floors and walls lined with peacock blue tiles by the ceramic artist William De Morgan. On the first floor is the Silk Room with its display of paintings by Leighton’s friends and contemporaries and the grand painting studio with its great north window, dome and apse – the room in which all Leighton’s important later works were produced including the celebrated Flaming June.

Leighton rose to become the President of the Royal Academy in 1878 and the pre-eminent classical painter of his age. He remains the only British artist to have been raised to the peerage, becoming Baron Leighton of Stretton just before he died. He was buried in St Paul’s cathedral amidst great ceremony.

The house was restored to great acclaim in 2009 and contains a number of the paintings and objects that originally belonged to Leighton.

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