Alex B. (aka Alessandra Lopez y Royo) is a London based fashion writer, blogger and occasional model, originally from the Salento region in Italy. She is currently writing a book, to be published by Bloomsbury in early 2023, about Migrants du Monde in Rabat (and its Lecce branch).
“I came across a write up of the Lecce branch in an Italian newspaper announcing a fashion show curated by Migrants du Monde in the city of Lecce,” she says, “and then discovered the Rabat atelier and the work of the Fondation Orient-Occident. I immediately fell in love with the Migrants du Monde project, so unique in the way it combines the social integration of migrant women, fashion and embroidery skills. I went to Lecce to interview Madame Yasmina Antonia Filali and decided I would write a book about Migrants du Monde to bring the project to the attention of the fashion studies community, broadly defined. I proposed it to Bloomsbury, who published my study of contemporary Indonesian fashion as part of the Dress & Fashion Research series, curated by Joanne B. Eicher, Regents’ Professor at the University of Minnesota. Now I am busy completing the research, already writing some chapters”.
Alex used to be a full-time academic, and for many years, she taught art history and visual culture at several British universities. Her forthcoming study of Migrants du Monde will attempt to highlight the dynamics of social integration, focusing on how embroidery fits in the larger social context and is turned into sustainable fashion.
“I am a storyteller at heart”, says Alex. “The book will provide in-depth analysis and examine contextual issues, but it will also focus on the human angle, narrating the stories and interactions of the women and men who are part of Migrants du Monde. Ultimately, I want this book to reach a varied readership, ranging from university and college students on fashion studies courses, students in a range of humanities disciplines and fashion professionals. But it is my dearest hope that the general public will also find it of interest. Migration is a prominent issue in our contemporary world, and everyone should know about and be supportive of social integration projects for migrants, among which Migrants du Monde is exemplary”.
