The Moroccan-American Designer creating XXL Sleeves
New York-based designer Hanan Sharifa has found her niche with her plucked-from-the-renaissance creations—but you’d find them in an Instagram post rather than an oil painting. Take her signature piece: detachable sleeves. The puffy, baroque pieces come in a rich color rotation of bronze, royal blue, and mint. Also in the mix are Sharifa’s XXL floral-print floppy hats that are reminiscent of Little Bo Peep with a saucy Y2K glaze. In late June, Sharifa hosted a virtual charity raffle to win one of her hats and raised over $1,000 for Black and Black-trans organizations.
While the 28-year-old is currently churning out catchy statement accessories and clothes, she had originally gone to school for painting with a focus on textural painting. Her interest in clothing design occurred when she went to do a screen printing residency in Philadelphia. To support herself, she’d screen print on thrifted clothes, as well as repurposed denim. She began making mesh shirts with her name in Arabic printed on them, a nod to her Moroccan culture. “‘Hanan’ means ‘compassionate’ and ‘tender,’” says Sharifa. “I put them on my clothes on the denim and on the tags as a way to push against the English language as the global standard and solidity in Muslim expression.”
From there, Sharifa began to develop other eye-catching garb, such as the sleeves and the floppy hats. The wide-brim hats were born out of bonnets that Sharifa had been creating but hadn’t quite caught on. “I liked them but no one liked them,” says Sharifa. “I was like, ‘What if I made these so much more dramatic than the bonnets?’ I made them much longer and then the right person wore it and people just loved it. I made it for me; to protect my face from the sun, sitting in the yard during COVID. I wanted to make something really dramatic that was useful.” As for the sleeves, which can be bought as a pair or as one, Sharifa looked to ancient art and architecture. “I draw a lot of inspiration from statues and depictions of women lounging. I know most of those are problematic so I like to take them and repurpose them for what I want them to be,” she says.
To show off her clothes, Sharifa models them herself, and sometimes tapping a close group of friends to participate. “Our voices are important and what we make together is important,” says Sharifa. Another point to note? Sharifa’s currently selling her must-have pieces with 50 percent of the profits going to Black and Black trans-led organizations.
