M E N D E D C o l l e c t i o n
The MENDED Collection, commissioned by renowned Lebanese concept store IF Beirut, is a transformation of the designer garments destroyed at the store during the Beirut Port Explosion on August 4 2020.
The Lebanese photographer Myriam Boulos (Magnum & Hayya Magazine) photographed the collection on Rym and Maguy who were both at IF at the time of the explosion and suffered severe, life-threatening injuries. The images honour their huge recovery journeys and their strength.
The British-French photographer Theo Zeal documented each garment before any alterations were made to commemorate the original designs of such greats as Junya Watanabe and Rick Owens, and also to show in detail the ‘injuries’ the pieces suffered. These detail shots commemorate the brutal violence of this moment in history and are metaphors for the innumerable, enduring injuries and tragedies suffered by Beirutis on that day.
IF Beirut is at the core of the important creative scene in Beirut. The shop opened in 1973, bringing the first Japanese designers to Lebanon and subsequently to its sister store in Soho, New York, which opened in 1978. IF Beirut remained open for business throughout the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) and was immediately rebuilt after the explosion. The store remains a bastion and haven for avant-garde designers and clients during the country’s current economic free fall. It is a testament to the strength of the Farah siblings Johnny, Jeanette and Soha who have been running the store together since it opened.
Larissa met Johnny right after the explosion as she visited the destroyed IF store to find out what had happened to her friend Rym, who had been in the store with her boyfriend at the time of the blast. Rym was the reason Larissa first visited Beirut in 2015, for an internship at Super Yaya, Rym’s label. This long friendship began at Central Saint Martins and runs through the core of the MENDED collection.
