The Tailor from Aleppo

Jo Du had a malfunction with her dress, but Ibrahim Halil Dudu, a master tailor from Aleppo, had just moved in next door Hours before her wedding ceremony, Jo Du suffered a wardrobe malfunction – the zip on her wedding dress broke and none of her bridesmaids knew how to fix it or where to find a tailor on a Sunday. The wedding photographer, Lindsay Coulter, noticed that the man next door to the house they had rented in Guelph, Ontario, for the wedding had his garage door open and suggested that a bridesmaid run over to ask for a pair of pliers. In a serendipitous turn of events, it emerged that the neighbour, David Hobson, had been hosting a family of Syrian refugees for the past four days and that the father, Ibrahim Halil Dudu, had worked as a tailor in Aleppo for 28 years. [Read more].

• Nadia Khomami, Syrian refugee comes to the rescue of Canadian bride’s wedding dress, The Guardian, September 29, 2016

Ibrahim Halil Dudu fixing the zip on Jo Du’s wedding dress. The Syrian tailor and his family were being hosted by neighbour David Hobson and had only moved in four days previously. Photo: Lindsay Coulter Photography.