MISK

Thesis Project by L. Esposito - Undergraduate course in Fashion Styling and Art Direction - IED Roma

Academic year

2025/2026

An independent editorial project exploring Palestinian identity through fashion, culture and the visual arts, bringing together a print magazine and a digital platform ecosystem.

Fashion can tell stories of identity, culture and collective memory. This idea lies at the heart of MISK, an independent print magazine created by Loreta Esposito to explore Palestinian culture through fashion, research and visual storytelling. Her Thesis Project examines the cultural and symbolic meanings of clothing, looking at how garments, embroidery and adornments can preserve a people's heritage and express a sense of identity and belonging.

Through historical and visual research, Loreta investigates traditional elements such as tatreez embroidery, the keffiyeh and the thōb, exploring their significance in Palestinian identity and their role in cultural resistance and appropriation. Her research also draws on contemporary fashion, visual arts, journalism and music, informed by conversations and collaborations with Palestinian creatives and members of the Italian-Palestinian community, who help shape a shared narrative.

To bring these ideas to life, Loreta draws on her Fashion Styling and Art Direction skills, overseeing the magazine's art direction and the creation of a fashion photoshoot. Her work spans the development of the visual concept, image research, look selection and styling, set organisation and final image selection. She also develops the magazine's visual identity, curates its content and designs its editorial layout. Fashion provides a common thread through photography, personal stories and cultural features, offering a perspective on Palestinian identity that challenges conventional representations.

Alongside the print magazine, Loreta creates a webzine and an Instagram profile to reach wider audiences and keep the conversation going through regularly updated digital content. She brings these platforms together through a consistent editorial identity, adapting the art direction and visual storytelling to each format to create an accessible space for learning, dialogue and representation.