‘From the evidence provided by the monuments, it would seem that the entire history of Egyptian dress might easily be written, but that evidence, abundant as it is and meticulously faithful to detail as it seems to be, does not tell the whole story.’

E. Riefstahl and S.E. Chapman, 'A Note on Ancient Fashions', The Boston Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin, Vol. 68, No. 354 (1970).

Reaya El-Nimr, my friend, the pioneering artist, was not done justice during her lifetime. Her efforts in shedding light on popular dress across Egypt were both unprecedented and unparalleled, and few know of the huge part she played in supporting her life partner Abdel Ghani Abul Enein, who deserves the title of the ‘People's Artist’ and who will always be credited with being the one to unearth the Egyptian people's heritage, raising it to the rank of fine art. Since evidence does not tell the whole story, I will attempt to tell the story of Reaya El-Nimr myself.

I came to know Reaya in the early 1970s. The first time I saw her, she was wearing a Sinai thob (dress) and a fellahi (peasant) shawl. The next time, she was wearing a fellahi galabiyya in matching colours and distinctive patterns. Being the beautiful, intelligent, humorous, one-of-a-kind lady she was, she caught my eye.

Bridging the Class Divide

In his book, Wisdom, Madness and Folly: The Making of a Psychiatrist 1927-1957 (1985), psychiatrist R.D. Laing posits that ‘…there are interfaces in the socio-economic-political structure of our society where communion is impossible or almost impossible. We are ranged on opposite sides. We are enemies, we are against each other before we meet. We are so far apart as not to recognize the other even as a human being’.

This statement is a hard pill to swallow. However, a significant part of Reaya El-Nimr's pioneering work was thanks to her ability to overcome the separation between social interfaces, turning the impossible communion into one that is more than possible: No longer were we enemies or far apart.

Born in the 1930s, Reaya belonged to a bourgeois Egyptian-Turkish family. She graduated from the Institute of Art Education with two colleagues who also became prominent in their respective fields, the artist Shewikar Okasha, the wife of writer Ragi Enayet, and the puppet artist Badr Hamada, the wife of cartoonist Bahgat Othman.

Reaya did not yield to the decisive divide between social classes in spite of her background. On the contrary, she managed to bridge it skilfully, professionally, and smoothly, like the avant-garde intellectual she was, all without much ado. She enjoyed an extraordinary ability to deal with all types of people from all backgrounds. She managed to see and understand the marginalized and was able to bring them to the attention of other classes that at best had not seen them and at worst had ignored their existence.

Being from Sharqiyya, Reaya was fond of the fellahi galabiyya. She reached out to the peasant women of her village and encouraged them to make these galabiyyas after introducing some minor modifications and improvements, such as choosing cheerful fabric colours and complementing them with appropriate patterns. She also introduced a simple modification to the length, making the galabiyya a little shorter. This seemingly minor adjustment made it possible to wear the fellahi galabiyya in a modern and contemporary context without hindering the wearer's movement and helped save this folk art from extinction.

Restyling Tradition

Reaya helped transform the fellahi galabiyya and the thob in its various forms to a modern outfit worn by women and girls of the educated classes. She wore the beautiful outfit on all occasions, drawing attention to folk fashions and placing them within the context of modern elegance. Her efforts elevated the simple folk costumes and placed them on a par with competing Western fashion, testifying to the unique heritage treasures of Egypt. Before Reaya's endeavours, such treasures would have been doomed to oblivion. This wonderful person influenced a large group of friends who worked on developing traditional dress, including Samia Hagras, Shams al-Itribi, and Shahira Mehrez.

Reaya did not stop at just personally promoting the fellahi folk dress; she went on to play a broader and a more vital role. She threw herself into systematically collecting large numbers of thobs from all Egyptian governorates, classifying each one, and explaining the relevant characteristics, features, and raw materials. This was her own initiative with little to no support from the cultural authorities in spite of their far greater capabilities. But Reaya didn’t wait for assistance; she shouldered this responsibility voluntarily along with her husband Abul Enein. Her dream, however, was for the state to adopt the initiative and sponsor her project. She even turned part of her house in the suburb of Harraniyya into a folk-art museum. Her trips were not limited to collecting fashion; she had a holistic approach to folklore, whether manifested in household items or in humans themselves. She collected many folk accessories and placed them in her museum which was small in size but of remarkable depth in terms of scope and impact.

As for my personal experience with Reaya and her galabiyyas, it all started with my constant and frequent inquiries about the wonderful fellahi dresses that she adapted from the most beautiful forms of the galabiyya. She worked her magic, introducing lively new colours and turning the galabiyyas into beautiful and unique dresses. For many years, I continued making what Reaya had taught me, the restyled fellahi galabiyya. Reaya recommended numerous skilled seamstresses in the Delta, in Sharqiyya, Tanta, and many other areas, to both Shahira Mehrez and myself. For many years, I made my galabiyyas in Beheira, where we had a plot of land that my brother cultivated. I used to make them for myself and my close friends like Atteyat al-Abnoudy. I even offered them as gifts to my friends and friends of my friends. The fabrics were usually cotton for summer and velvet in winter. Reaya also guided me to a seamstress in Abu Rawash who was famous for her beading. Over time, I acquired a large collection, and this outfit with its carefully selected matching colours and its distinct Egyptian character became my apparel of choice.

As I became closer to Reaya and Abul Enein, I was frequently invited to their home in Harraniyya on holidays and Fridays. There I met the crème de la crème of the Egyptian creative community: intellectuals, painters, poets, and journalists such as Shewikar, the actress; Salah Jaheen, the poet and cartoonist; and Sayed Mekkawi, the celebrated singer and composer. Part of that house was the museum the couple established. It was designed by architect Ramsis Wissa Wassef. I loved visiting it. Every time I went there, I saw something new: A Primus stove along with its cleaning needle; a yashmak; dresses from the desert and the oases, rural teapots and trays, oil lamps. It was aptly called the Museum of Man.

An Exceptional Life

Reaya started her career working in press graphics with her professor, Abdel Salam al-Sharif. She met graphic artist Abul Enein, who became her life partner and soulmate, through her job when he was a trainee at Rose al-Youssef magazine. There he was mentored by its exceptional founder Fatma al-Youssef, as well as by her son, renowned writer Ihsan Abdel Quddous, and by writer Ahmed Bahaa al-Din. The couple worked together at the Radio and Television Magazine and tied the knot in 1963.

Eventually, Reaya shifted her career from the press to folk arts and was appointed to the Folk Arts Centre, headed at the time by her husband, where she oversaw the preparations for the Folk Arts Museum. She then moved to the Mass Culture Authority, which was founded by Saad Kamel, where she became the director of the Giza Culture Palace and the supervisor of the first cultural centre in the village of Kafr al-Shurafa in Qalyubiyya.

Despite her own professional responsibilities, Reaya remained her husband's staunchest supporter, both in his endeavours as a plastic artist and in his work as a folk costume designer for the National Folklore Troupe. His tenure was the first time the dancers were outfitted in costumes that were historically and geographically accurate. Abul Enein’s theatrical development of colours and accessories for the performances was also unprecedented; his talent for fashion design was accentuated by his unique ability to rebuild words, fonts, images, and harness shadow and light on stage; all this meant there was an immense, tangible improvement in the quality of the National Folklore Troupe’s performances.

Reaya and Abul Enein toured most of Egypt: its governorates, cities, villages, and oases, as well as many European and most Arab countries, including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, and Yemen. The craft heritage pieces they acquired in Egypt and throughout their travels formed the nucleus for the Museum of Man. The couple also established the famous House of Siwa Museum with the support of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

As well as costumes, Reaya also collected fellahi kirdans (collars), jewellery, and gold. As with the galabiyya and traditional dress, the kirdan became a fashion statement for women of the educated classes looking for authenticity, uniqueness, and a spirit of heritage.

Abdul Ghani Abul Enein left our world on 15 April 1998. Reaya continued to exert the same effort, adamant on keeping her late husband's memory and ideas alive. At some point, she was forced to sell some of his folk-inspired paintings, something she had always categorically refused to do, even when it came to small sketches, but she had run out of money and was no longer been able to expand or maintain her collection.

Ancient Egyptian temple murals depict Egyptians in the festive apparel they aspired to wear in eternity rather than in their usual dress. The collection of Reaya El-Nimr and Abdel Ghani Abul Enein, on the other hand, consists of 650 pieces of art documenting the details of the lives of millions of real human beings through the loving and sympathetic eyes of the devoted couple. Years later, their dream of state support for their work has finally come true. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina has assigned a permanent exhibition to the couple's donated collection displayed under the names of these two exceptional artists who dedicated their lives to the love of the Egyptian people, their art, and their heritage.