Renaissance Renaissance

FASHION AS A DECLARATION, To get dressed is to make a declaration to the world: of beauty, of culture, of politics, and of the will to live truthfully.

The Beirut-based label Renaissance Renaissance designs for women who meet the world on their own terms. Women who move forward with grace and force. You will want to follow them.

 

First shoe made in Lebanon ⓒ@renaissance_renaissance

OUR NAME IS RENAISSANCE RENAISSANCE

The name is the first thing you notice. Renaissance Renaissance. Not once, but twice. Intentionally.

"Renaissance" means rebirth. The word comes from French, from re- (again) and naissance (birth). But for designer Cynthia Merhej, it means more than a historical period. It means constant reinvention. It means always evolving. That’s how she sees her creative process. It’s about building something new while carrying everything that came before. Though the name sounds classical, the direction it pushes is always forward.

 

©@renaissance_renaissance

 

The women in her images stand upright, magnetic. What she celebrates through design is not a type of woman, but a lifetime of becoming. Her brand draws strength from multiplicity, from women who grow. Renaissance Renaissance was built for them.

 

THIS STORY STARTS WITH FAMILY

Let’s stay with the idea of rebirth for a moment, because it’s also the story of Merhej herself.

 

Renaissance Renaissance designer Cynthia Merhej ©thecut.com

 

If you want to understand her, start with the fashion atelier that spans three generations: from her great-grandmother, to her mother, to herself. After studying at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art, Merhej returned to Beirut in 2016 to launch her own atelier on the very same ground where her mother once made clothes. That’s when she chose the name Renaissance Renaissance.

 

The woman in black is Cynthia Merhej’s mother, Laurice Bouri, photographed with her atelier team at her boutique. (Mid-1990s) ©@renaissance_renaissance

  

Merhej grew up surrounded by fabric and fashion, but also by a family shaped by displacement. Her great-grandmother once made couture and wedding dresses for women across the city. That was until 1948, when she was forced to flee Palestine during the Nakba, the mass displacement following Israel’s founding. She had to give up both her business and her dreams. Years later, Merhej’s mother kept that legacy going by designing clothes of her own. Now Cynthia continues it, with full awareness of everything that came before.

 

What It Means to Be a Woman in Lebanon

You can’t talk about Renaissance Renaissance without talking about Lebanon.

Most of the brand’s collections speak directly to it. As Merhej once put it, “The reason Renaissance Renaissance is so interesting is because of all the zigzagging we’ve done as a people,” as Cynthia says. “It hasn’t been a typical path and us women have grown a thick skin. You need that in fashion. You need to persist.”

Just as the brand was gaining momentum in 2019, Lebanon was hit by one crisis after another: the national currency collapsed by 90 percent, the revolution failed, the pandemic arrived, and then came the Beirut port explosion, one of the most powerful non-nuclear blasts in human history.

Renaissance Renaissance kept going. In a moment when most would have stepped back, Merhej pushed forward. That’s what makes this brand a living portrait of strong women.

 

Lebanese Women as a reference for the Renaissance Renaissance SS24 collection ©@renaissance_renaissance

   

Her Spring/Summer 2025 collection blends romantic aesthetics with political symbols. She looked to old military parachutes and materials as inspiration, transforming them into garments that are delicate and powerful. Some pieces are even made from recycled military jackets, a gesture that also points to the brand’s commitment to sustainability. This, too, comes from her family’s past, her mother, having lived through war, would only buy or make clothes that lasted.

Tank Skirt, inspired by military parachutes Grenade mini skirt ©@renaissance_renaissance

 

And then there’s the “Poppy Skirt.” In the 1970s and 80s, the red poppy became a symbol of Palestinian resistance. Its color palette: red, green, blackmirrors the Palestinian flag, and the flower is still a sign of solidarity. For Merhej, it also represents memory. The first ten years of her life in Beirut were shaped by the aftermath of war. That history is stitched into the garment, turning it into a living artifact.

 

Poppy Skirt ©@renaissance_renaissance

 

Merhej believes even the strongest message can be beautiful.

Life is never simple. And just like a world with both light and shadow, her garments merge the romantic and the political. They speak to the complexity of being alive right now.

 

Romanticism for Strong Women

Cynthia designs for women like herself: strong, grounded, imaginative. Each collection usually features around 20 looks, intended to live alongside a woman throughout the seasons of her life. The signature balloon-sleeve blazer, for example, pays homage to the craftsmanship of both her mother and great-grandmother. The tulle panel skirt, rich in color and detail, has become a house staple.

 

©@renaissance_renaissance

  

The designs hug the body with purpose. They celebrate form. Each silhouette is crafted with couture-level attention, balancing elegance and intention. Classic palettes meet shimmering tulle, feminine, but never fragile.

 

©@renaissance_renaissance

  

Renaissance Renaissance whispers something bold, you can be elegant and unshakably strong at once. These clothes, shaped by three generations of women who survived the wreckage of war, are a declaration of rebirth. There’s a reason they feel timeless. Cynthia doesn’t design with a single muse in mind. As she puts it, “Not having a muse is the muse.” She draws from every memory, every feeling, every version of herself.

This is fashion for women who’ve lived. And who are ready to keep rewriting their story. Renaissance Renaissance is how you dress for your own revolution, with grace, grit, and romance.