MATRIARCH - a social system in which females hold the primary power positions in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property.

An editorial aimed at creating conversation, raising awareness and expressing the role of feminism in fashion.

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Earlier this year we embarked on a new project exploring the essence of womanhood — “La Femme” and how we could capture the diversity of womanhood through imagery and spark a conversation addressing and disrupting the narrative of womanhood while still holding fast and true to our nature. Our

first project titled, MATRIARCH explores the role of women in society as leaders, as action takers where they posses, in equal parts, strength and vulnerability, femininity and fierceness and everything in between.

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Arraei partnered with 4 other ethical + sustainable brands to create concept imagery that speaks to the idea of the Matriarch while raising awareness of elephant poaching in Africa. Matriarch is significant as elephants are one of the few mammals that organise themselves in a female-led society with the dominant role being that of the Matriarch.

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Elephants have been at the mercy of poachers for countless years in Africa, not only is this detrimental to the elephant communities but it also greatly impacts the lives and welfare of the rangers who protect them. It is estimated that 10-15 000 elephants are killed each year in Africa (thats an average

of 34 a day). The rangers that patrol the national parks are often forced into extreme encounters and live incredibly challenging lives, often walking for days to patrol huge expanses of land in order to protect our wildlife from poachers. Raabia Hawa saw how this lifestyle was impacting the welfare of these rangers and began her journey as an advocate for Ranger Welfare and raising awareness for poaching in Kenya and Africa.

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Our images aim to evoke a sense of resilience and determination aligned with that of Raabia Hawa the founder of Walk With Rangers (WWR) and Honorary Game Warden with the Kenya Wildlife Service. You can find out more about her here and the foundation here

The Matriarch, a passionate and powerful leader, hunter and gatherer, feminine and fierce, simple and complex. The dichotomy that the matriarch reflects in her role is often expressed in fashion through imagery relating to power. Our mission was to challenge this role of power and express it as a form of femininity, grace, community and vulnerability.

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A tribute to divine sisterhood and empowered women — Bold, feminine, delicate, fierce, complex, determined, patient, free, wild.

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