Flair Magazine From an early age on, Dina Jsr wanted to be a stylist, sketching silhouettes, relooking her friends or her own wardrobe. From an international background, Dina Jsr is of Lebanese origin, but was brought up in Saudi Arabia. In a very short period, she finalized her first collection, one that “allows one to approach the inner feeling of fabulousness, as if the unique piece were to exhilarate oneself.” Flair gets up-close and personal with Dina, introducing you to one of the freshest talents–and definitely a rising star–in the world of fashion design.
By Hend Seif El Din
Tell me about yourself.
I am Lebanese born in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. We are a family of six I have three siblings, an older brother and sister and a younger brother. I attended French school till I was 13 and then moved to an American school. At 17 I travelled to London to start my university studies at Central Saint Martins. After testing several creative subjects, I finally chose jewelry I was fascinated by the precision of handcraft. I felt I needed to occupy my hands, to use them creatively. I then enrolled at the Gemology Institute of America (GIA). A year later, I graduated with a diploma in diamonds and semi-precious gems.
I enjoy the beach and anything that has to do with the sea as it relaxes me; I love the sun, laying on the sand, fishing, scuba diving even though I did it long time ago, snorkeling, jet ski. In winter I love the mountains though I’m not a big fan of the Cold so I go up sometimes on weekends. I also, love to cook and my specialties are French and Asian dishes. I do cook Lebanese food as well but I am lucky to the best cook in the world, my mom, she is so good at it that I’d rather leave her cook
I’m in love with animals, I had 15 cats when I was younger, and now I have the cutest little dog, she’s an angry little one but I love her.
My biggest weakness is my family.
When did you know you were meant to be a fashion designer?
I always wanted to be a fashion designer, but once I went to London and attended Central Saint Martin and did my foundation course in jewellery I got really fascinated by it and working with rough materials so that lead me to continue my studies in jewelry design.
You have a diploma in diamonds & semi precious stones, as well as a degree in jewelry designer…do you find that the knowledge you have obtained helped/helps you with your fashion designing?
I believe that whatever you study in art they all relate to one another. What I learned in jewelry design has helped me in doing research for every collection, coming up with a concept and then studying that concept till I come up with the final design and piece. Also in jewelry I learned how to use different materials like metals and colored stones to see what works on what design and this is very similar to fashion. I’ll have to choose my own fabrics and test, which fabrics hold well for every dress. I also tend to design dresses with pieces that are like jewelry pieces on them.
Did you ever consider working as an architect and/or interior designer?
Honestly, not at all. I’m happy doing what I love, which is fashion design. Architects inspire me, I love their work and design but I’m not sure I’d be good at it at all! In my family, each one has their own unique taste in interior design for their homes and I’m the only one that is confused and don’t even know how I would like to design my own room. I think every profession has its beauty; you can’t do everything, that’s why we each have different professions.
Who do you look up to in the fashion world?
I look up to the Lebanese designer Rabih Keyrouz and the French Designer Stephan Roland.
How would you describe the style of your designs, generally?
My brand is for those “different” women; a fashionable, an elegant or a trendy woman, specially a woman that loves to live life to the fullest and that is daring sometimes to wear an original dress
What makes you different from other fashion designers?
Every designer stands out differently depending on their originality, we all have one thing in common and it is that our collections represent our personality, our moods, and our daily life so I try to aim that by creating dresses with its simplicity and elegancy mixed with originality and creativity.
Tell me about your experience at Rabih Kayrouz.
My experience at Rabih Keyrouz was amazing, I loved every minute of it, he is an amazing designer that I look up to and I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to be part his team and experience. From how a collection starts to how it ends and having him and the whole team as my tutors and mentors were very helpful.
Talk to me about the architecture of your clothing…why is the latter so important to you and your designs? In other words, why is it your prime focus?
I was always impressed with the art of architecture and its beauty so I found combining fashion with architecture would be quite interesting because the dresses that I design are quite structured, detailed and geometric.
How would you describe your latest collection?
Mario Botta,’s creative structures inspired my Fall-Winter 2012 collection along with his geometric patterns. In this collection you’ll see a lot of rectangular and squared designs, which were taken from his architectural work. The colors are burgundy, silver, navy blues, green, turquoise mixed with lots of lace where the lace represents the transparency of glass that Mario Botta uses in his work.
What inspired your latest collection?
The Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava inspired my latest collection Spring-summer 2013. I found his work so fascinating and really inspiring. He had a lot work of arches, which inspired me to use these arches and create it into this collection.
Why did you choose to create a Mario Botta tribute collection?
For the Fall-Winter 2012/3 my muse was the Swiss architect Mario Botta. I choose him because I was looking at an architect that had detailed geometric and rectangular work and he had all of that. I fell in love with all his work and right away inspiration started flowing all around and without realizing the collection was finished and I still felt I could do so much and that’s why you see the Fall-Winter collection is around 47 dresses, I really couldn’t stop being inspired J
I’ve noticed you use a lot of layering in your designs…do you do the latter for pure aesthetic reasons…or is there something else you’d like to share?
It really depends of every collection and inspiration, but what I love about layering is that I use one type of fabric and with the same fabric I make my own handwork design on the designs and so I mix the simplicity of the fabric.
Which types of fabrics do you enjoy working with the most?
Well to be honest it changes in every collection, because I always discover something new and different. In this collection I’m in love with Gazar, which is a thick fabric but at the same time you could twist it in amazing ways and it holds really well together. I simply find it stunning as a fabric. One fabric that will always be in my collections is lace. I love to mix lace with fabric; it brings out a beauty and elegance in a dress. And I’m also a big fan of satin.
Define “the perfect dress.”
The perfect dress is a one that fits your body perfectly, a dress that fits your personality, a dress that makes you look and feel beautiful and gives you the confidence when you wear it. Basically to me a the perfect dress is the one that calls your name when you first lay eyes on it and tells you wear me J
How do you manage to create sharp silhouettes, with architectural cuts, while keeping your designs so feminine?
When I design, always the first thing on my mind is that a dress needs to be elegant then when I get inspired by an architect for the collection and see his work I use this inspiration while keeping in mind the silhouette of the woman and how to use those sharp designs without taking over femininity and the beauty of a woman. A dress needs to make you look beautiful but not to take over your own beauty.
What do you build your designs around? In other words, which elements are key when it comes to your design process?
Well first, I think of the colors for my next collection, and then I choose the fabrics, then I come up with the concept and study that concept and at last I start designing. When I feel I found the motif that I will be using for the collection, I start thinking what techniques can I use to create and develop this motif, then I choose the fabrics for every dress and see what fabric work to give me this look that I was looking for, keeping in mind that it has to be comfortable. . Then I study which dress needs a corset. That’s basically how I work on my collections.
When it comes to your designs, what do you strive to achieve?
I strive to achieve a collection in which all these woman can enjoy wearing a DINA JSR dress and for the dress to make them feel fabulous and give them all the confidence.
Any upcoming plans you’d like to share with FLAIR?
I hope I’ll be able to develop DINA JSR and always to be able to impress and keep women excited to see my new collection. Also to be able to fulfill what you all expect from DINA JSR by always trying to use new techniques in the future. I also hope in the future to be able to add a line of jewelry.
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