MUSEUM OF FOLK DRESSES
About the Museum of Folk Dresses
Since the beginnings of the work of the General Union, the Kuwait branch, we have been interested in heritage and collecting it, but in a very light way until a committee for heritage and embroidery was formed, and it became part of its work to preserve and develop heritage with all our capabilities, including obtaining ancient folk clothes that include the various regions of Palestine, studying and protecting them, and transferring What can be done as specific embroideries for the different regions of Palestine, some of which were collected during the first ten years of the committee’s work, that is, we were able to obtain one of the entire presented collections through Mrs. Widad Kawar. So we have an almost complete collection of Palestinian folk costumes from many villages and regions.
And we started studies for it and making replica models to be used in the Palestinian dress that we used to make at national evenings in order to present it and give information about it, its meanings and what it represents, and the aesthetic accuracy of its manufacture.
Unfortunately, in 1990, during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, a large group of these dresses was stolen, along with all the embroideries, materials and tools that the Union headquarters had that we collected during our long period of work, and we thank God that we were able to get some of them out.
This remaining group, to which we added during the beginning of our work in the Palestinian Heritage Center many old and less ancient dresses that we were able to obtain from the embroidered ladies with us in the center, this whole group, trying to protect and preserve them, photograph them, and then produce a catalog of what we have for students in The future of the Palestinian material heritage is one of our many interests, in addition to continuing our mission to display these dresses, and as much as possible to make replicas of them, to be used in our fashion shows, in order to continue working to define the cultural identity of this generous people, whose existence Zionism is trying to abolish by denying it. Claiming to be part of her identity.