Fashion label Dice Kayek bags Jameel Prize 3

Martin Roth, Director of the V&A and Fady Jameel, President of Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives International (ALJCI) presented Ece and Ayse Ege with the prize at a ceremony at the V&A on Tuesday 10 December.

The judges felt that Dice Kayek’s work demonstrates how vibrant and creative Islamic traditions continue to be today, matching the aims of the Jameel Prize. Their translation of architectural ideas into fashion shows how Islamic traditions can still transfer from one art form to another, as they did in the past.

Martin Roth, Director of the V&A and chair of the panel of judges said, “The selection of the winner was as difficult as ever, given the very high standard of the shortlisted work.

We were struck by the way that Dice Kayek’s work uses Islamic inspiration in a completely secular context, taking it into a new world, that of contemporary fashion. Their interpretation of Islamic traditions in the three garments displayed makes them truly deserving winners of the Jameel Prize 3.”

Dice Kayek is showing three of the 26 designs from Istanbul Contrast in the Jameel Prize 3 exhibition. In Caftan, made of hand-woven lamé brocade, the sisters reworked the robes worn by the city’s former Ottoman rulers.

In Dome 2, light-weight cotton organdy was folded to echo the ribs of lead-covered domes of the city’s mosques and palaces. In Hagia Sophia, they were inspired by Byzantine mosaics, creating a white satin coat with complex, hand-stitched embroidery that incorporates ancient glass beads. The Ege sisters were born in Bursa, Turkey, and they live and work between Istanbul and Paris.

Awarded every two years, the Jameel Prize is an international art prize for contemporary artists and designers inspired by Islamic traditions of art, craft and design. The prize aims to raise awareness of the thriving interaction between contemporary practice and this great historical heritage and to broaden understanding of Islamic culture and its place in the world.

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