New York mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife Rama Duwaji wave as they arrive at his public inauguration ceremony followed by a block party at City Hall in New York on Jan. 1, 2026. (Credit: Angela Weiss/AFP)
We first knew Cynthia Merhej as an illustrator, a field in which she competed in the 2016 Génération Orient talent contest. She was only 27 years old at the time and described her work as organic art, "hands steeped in ink." Up to that point, with a degree in graphic design from Central St Martins, a master's in visual communication from the Royal College of Arts, and experience illustrating children's books, nothing in her background foreshadowed her brilliant shift to fashion. Yet, that very year when L’Orient-Le Jour put the spotlight on her budding artistic career, she founded her clothing brand, Renaissance Renaissance. A third-generation woman to launch her own studio, following in the footsteps of her great-grandmother and mother, her vision is strongly influenced by her childhood in a sewing-focused and...
We first knew Cynthia Merhej as an illustrator, a field in which she competed in the 2016 Génération Orient talent contest. She was only 27 years old at the time and described her work as organic art, "hands steeped in ink." Up to that point, with a degree in graphic design from Central St Martins, a master's in visual communication from the Royal College of Arts, and experience illustrating children's books, nothing in her background foreshadowed her brilliant shift to fashion. Yet, that very year when L’Orient-Le Jour put the spotlight on her budding artistic career, she founded her clothing brand, Renaissance Renaissance. A third-generation woman to launch her own studio, following in the footsteps of her great-grandmother and mother, her vision is strongly influenced by her childhood in a sewing-focused and...
