British-Japanese Artist Hana Tajima Wears Palestine, Sudan Inspired Dress to Buckingham Palace Banquet

Well-known British-Japanese visual artist Hana Tajima has gained attention on social media for her Palestinian and Sudanese themed dress, which she wore recently to a banquet at Buckingham Palace, the royal residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the UK.

The artist wore a white dress, with black and green sleeves, along with a red fan that represented the colors of the Palestinian and Sudanese flag.

Revealing her dress to her more than 80,000 followers on Instagram only four days ago, Hana said, ‘I was invited to the state banquet for the Emperor and Empress of Japan held at Buckingham Palace. It was my honor to wear the colors of 🇵🇸 Palestine and 🇸🇩 Sudan…It took me a couple of weeks and a lot of hand sewing to make this dress, but with every stitch I thought of what I was representing and what it meant to me. The white and green fabrics are vintage kimono silk. I added a Sarah Musa scarf to the back sash. Purse by @boutiquedenana; gloves by @_tlabel.

Don’t stop talking about Palestine ❤️
Don’t stop talking about Sudan ❤️’

As Hana stated, her purse is by Boutique De Nana (BDN), which is a multi-award-winning luxury fashion brand that specialises in unique and trendy modest clothing founded by British-Sudanese designer Yousra Elsadig.

Hana has been vocal about her support for Palestine and Palestinian resistance on her social media.

Hana herself is known for her modest clothing designs, and has designed clothing for the Japanese casual wear chain Uniqlo.

King Charles hosts the lavish state banquet on 26 June 2024 for Japan’s Emperor Naruhito during his three-day state visit to the UK. Attendees included the King, Queen, Prince William and the Japanese royal couple, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and more. Golden cutlery and a menu including poached Scottish langoustines and Cornish turbot welcomed guests in the ballroom. Dessert was ice cream with a peach sorbet insert on compressed peaches. A string quartet from the Royal College of Music also performed.

Why are the Palestinian and Sudanese flags similar?

The Palestinian and Sudanese flags represent the using the Arab Liberation colours, a subset of the Pan-Arab colours, which are black, white, green and red, each representing a certain aspect of the Arab people and their history.

Although majority of the flags of Arab countries represent the same colours in their flags, such as the UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan and Syria, the Palestinian and Sudanese flags are the closest. The Sudanese flag consists of a horizontal red-white-black tricolour with a green triangle at the hoist. The Palestinian flag consists of a horizontal black-white-green tricolour with a red triangle at the hoist.

Sudan adopted its present flag with the Pan-Arab colours in 1970, replacing the flag of blue, yellow and green adopted on its independence in 1956, which was designed by the poet Macki Sufi and represented the River Nile (blue), the Sahara (yellow) and farmlands (green). They were chosen as they were neutral between ethnic groups and political parties.

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