Dezeen School Shows: a clothing line informed by hip-hop music and the work of fashion designer Dapper Dan is among projects from the Lebanese American University.

Also featured are handover pieces designed to reflect Pakistani culture and clothing that takes inspiration from sculptor John Chamberlain's creations.

Lebanese American University

Institution: School of Architecture and Design
Course: B.F.A. in Fashion Design
Tutors: Jurgi Persoons, Jalal Moghraby and Ana Har

School statement:

"This year, the Lebanese American University (LAU) celebrated its 10th graduating cohort in fashion design, marking a decade of cultivating emerging talent through the School of Architecture and Design's Fashion Design Program, developed in collaboration with renowned Lebanese fashion designer Elie Saab.

"Combining rigour with creative exploration and critical inquiry, the program encourages students to engage with fashion as both a global industry and a cultural practice.

"Titled Ten, the 2026 graduate show reflected on a decade of growth while considering what it means to create fashion during a time of uncertainty and transformation.

"In a world driven by data, fashion remains a deeply human industry of measurements and economics, yet equally a space for emotion, identity and memory.

"For this graduating cohort – mentored by Jurgi Persoons, Jalal Moghraby and Ana Har – design became an act of presence. A way of reclaiming hope, agency and the power of imagining what comes next despite months of a raging war in Lebanon and the Levant that left scores of students displaced and homeless.

"Ten marked a milestone achieved against all odds. Ten – a perfect number – may be a threshold, but it certainly is not a limit."

Rogue by Malak Al Ayyash

"Taking home the coveted Prix du Jury, which includes a six-month internship at the Elie Saab studios in Beirut, Lebanon, Ayyash's collection explores the tension between the human body – namely the female body – and the constructed ideals that have historically governed it.

"Satirically fashioned through architectural silhouettes inspired by dolls, both infantile and grotesque, the collection challenges human expectations surrounding representation and conventional perceptions of propriety."

Student: Malak Al Ayyash
Email: malak.alayyash[at]lau.edu

The Fall by Reem Daher

"Winner of the Excellence in Craftsmanship award, Daher meticulously hand-wove an entire collection informed by a reflection on identity, emotion and social structure in Pakistani society.

"Through myth-inspired storytelling based on Adam and Eve, each piece symbolises a creature of feeling, revealing how power, labour and culture define the human experience in the age of AI."

Student: Reem Daher
Email: reem.daher02[at]lau.edu

Manifesto for the Post-Apocalyptic Lover by Myriam Atallah

"Recipient of the Excellence in Concept Development award, Atallah's collection evokes the aftermath of the world, where garments become obsolete relics: costumes performed into the void, severed from function, gender and the gaze of the other.

"Her collection imagines dressing as an act of solitary delirium – a surreal self-entertainment staged for no audience but the self and the ether.

"Amidst ruin, the body adorns itself in absurdity, as if performance persists long after humanity has disappeared."

Student: Myriam Atallah
Email: myriam.atallah[at]lau.edu

Fake Replica by Lea Fares

"Receiving the Excellence in Construction and Technique award, Fares' collection explores how we have all turned into dandies in the age of social media.

"Existing in a state of artificial sublimation, identity is formed behind the screen. The flattened garments become a facade of identity, while the back reveals the hidden reality behind the image."

Student: Lea Fares
Email: lea.fares02[at]lau.edu

Brushing Shoulders by Elias Makhoul

"Winner of the Coup de Coeur award, this collection questions who has the authority to define good taste in the contemporary era.

"Inspired by John Chamberlain's sculptures from discarded car parts, the collection is fashioned around fictitious narratives and imaginings of interactions of strangers in the streets, pushing the idea of individuals exchanging not only feelings but parts of themselves through garments, textures and physique."

Student: Elias Makhoul
Email: elias.makhoul[at]lau.edu

Ctrl C by Reem Hennaoui

"'Man is an imitative creature.' – Aristotle.

"Ctrl C explores the instinct to disappear into the crowd, to imitate, repeat and blend in as a method of survival. Superposing patterns of urban archetypes to create novel and unpredictable realities, where familiar is shielded in the arbitrary."

Student: Reem Hennaoui
Email: reem.hennaoui[at]lau.edu

The Innocent Gaze by Lea Kelechian

"Kelechian's collection explores unlearning, letting go of conventions in fashion to view the world through a child's eyes, as per Jonathan Fineberg.

"The garments were designed intuitively, abandoning traditional techniques in favour of free-form draping inspired by children's drawings that Kelechian had collected with the help of her kindergarten teacher."

Student: Lea Kelechian
Email: lea.kelechian[at]lau.edu

Antithesis by Alex Kassardjian

"Antithesis explores the tension between desire and restraint, questioning the visual codes through which power, masculinity and attraction are constructed

"Drawing on masculine iconography and the language of fetishism, the collection subverts familiar symbols to challenge conventional notions of desirability.

"Rather than celebrating excess, it proposes restraint as a conscious act, examining how societies regulate desire through expectations of propriety, discipline and self-control."

Student: Alex Kassardjian
Email: alex.kassardjian[at]lau.edu

Smells Like Bloomsbury by Hanin Bzeih

"Bzeih's collection traces the recurring struggles experienced by artists across different eras, backgrounds and social contexts, exploring the complex relationship between creativity, vulnerability and psychological turmoil.

"Through references to figures such as Virginia Woolf and Kurt Cobain, it reflects on how vastly different lives can be shaped by shared experiences of isolation, emotional intensity and inner conflict, questioning the pressures placed upon artistic expression and the human condition."

Student: Hanin Bzeih
Email: hanin.bzeih[at]lau.edu

Trap Époque by Farah Alawiye

"Drawing from the bold visual language of hip-hop culture and the pioneering legacy of Dapper Dan, this collection reinterprets streetwear through the lens of classical luxury.

"References to iconic fashion houses are balanced with timeless expressions of feminine elegance, shaped by Alawiye's upbringing and exposure to fashion through her mother, a stylist who instilled in her an appreciation for refined craftsmanship."

Student: Farah Alawiye
Email: farah.alawiye[at]lau.edu

Photography is by Tarek Moukaddem.

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and the Lebanese American University. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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