Moroccan Designer Wins Top Dutch Fashion Competition ’Lichting 2023’

Seven former students of Dutch fashion academies, as well as three former students, were competing in the final of the Lichting fashion competition. At the end of the show, the international jury composed of Tom van der Borght, Gry Nissen, Marlo Saalmink and Ahmad Larnes announced the name of the winner. Her name is Yousra Razine Mahrah. "We can talk about it for a long time or briefly, but Yousra is the deserved winner," the jury declared under loud applause and a standing ovation. Mahrah won the Lichting prize worth 10,000 euros and legal advice from Van Kaam Advocaten worth 5,000 euros.

The ArtEZ University of the Arts graduate owes her victory to a collection that "reflects her Moroccan upbringing, where she creates an imitated personality to help her navigate various everyday situations," but also to her identity as a Moroccan woman that "weaves through four opposing worlds, from sensual lingerie to parental modesty and from Berber goatskin traditions to stereotypes imposed in the Netherlands," reports the Fashion United website.

Lichting is an initiative of Amsterdam Fashion Week and HTNK International. The competition benefits from the support of the Meester Koetsier Foundation and Van Kaam Advocaten. Lichting evaluates the creative spirit of ten talented graduates from Dutch fashion academies, in order to provide them with a springboard to a viable career. Graduates submit their application following a call for applications. This year, 25 graduates were selected by Lichting. Ten of them reached the final.