Harper's Bazaar News
Ruwaida Abela Northen On The Importance Of Becoming Your Own Icon
Ruwaida Abela Northen’s journey to becoming her own icon began with embracing the heritage she once rejected
It took an hour and a half to drape the fabric – which was pure silk woven in genuine silver thread – and layer the jewellery, piece by piece, in a very specific order. An older woman I had never met before did it, because this is an art, and not everyone can. The gold belonged to my mum – real and heavy, but I had never felt lighter.
It was my brother’s wedding earlier this year, and the dress I wore was a traditionally Libyan one. As she worked, I felt something I never expected to feel: a connection. To my country, and to the women who came before me, women whose lives are stitched into mine.
The photograph from that evening is one of my favourites. Not because I look glamorous – I know I do. But because the last time someone tried to put me in that dress, I cried. It was my first wedding 20 years ago, also in Libya, and I refused. To my younger self the dress looked old-fashioned and hopelessly uncool. I wanted something modern, international, that belonged in a magazine rather than to...