Young fashion designers create their own pieces at Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival

Children became young fashion designers during a workshop on the fourth day of the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival, which runs until April 28 at Expo Centre Sharjah.

From dresses and trousers, to tops and skirts, the children, aged eight and above, followed their instructor carefully as they drew their own mannequin with garments.

They were then told to use colourful pieces of felt to stick on their mannequin, along with marker pens and colour pencils to create their own designs, with different patterns and colours.

“For young girls and boys who are interested in dressing up, the interest builds up right now, where they don’t only want to dress themselves up but they want to dress other people up too,” said Diyali Sen Bhalla, a fashion teacher at the Dubai International Art Centre. “If they really want to be a designer or anything that is creative, it starts from now. So if they are taught the right way, then it goes a long way. Even if it’s not a perfect dress, the creative design comes into play.”

The workshop has been one of the most popular ones, with a full class on almost every session. “It drives their creativity and imagination,” said Samah Hakmi, a coordinator at the workshop. “If you see what they make, you’ll see many amazing and wonderful designs.”

The festival’s events span several programmes, under the main themes of Kids Activities, Cultural Programmes, Cultural Café, Kids' Creative Café, Social Media Café and Cookery Corner. SCRF 2018 also features a series of international theatrical performances like ‘Tuta and Monkey Cheetah’, and the ‘Island of Kids’ Area’ that combine education, fun and entertainment to highlight the values of honesty to young visitors. 

A prime highlight of the festival this year is its first ever 3D Book Exhibition, featuring 250 pop-up books from the 3D Book Centre in Forli, Italy. The books have been handpicked by the exhibition curators to represent eight different periods of time. One of SCRF’s mainstays, the Sharjah Exhibition for Children’s Books Illustrations, is featuring 355 artworks by 104 illustrators from 32 countries this year.