Walk into Pacific Palisades Tailoring Shop on Sunset and you’ll see two pictures of its amiable owner, Khaled Al-Qaisi, with two of his former clients: the King and Queen of Jordan.
“We started working with Princess Muna Al Hussein, the mother of King Abduallah II of Jordan,” says Al-Qaisi. “She is so nice and friendly. I made clothing for her and her two daughters, Princesses Zein and Aisha, and for Queen Rania. They wear simple and elegant clothes, colors and models that are upscale. Queen Rania cares for elegance and appearance, and most of her dresses and clothes are international fashion such as Dior. For every one of their occasions, public or private, they wear matching clothing. “
Al-Qaisi, who opened his shop across from Ralphs in May, says, “I like the people here—it feels like a village. I will hopefully live in the Palisades in the future.” Currently, he lives with his wife and three children in Venice.
Born in Jordan, Al-Qaisi worked there as a tailor before moving to France in 2001. Unfortunately, he says, “It was hard in France; the people had a hard attitude and I couldn’t become famous there.” Then he visited America. “I liked it here. I like Jordan too, but in America I can have a dream. The government is good with people and I can do anything. I can become famous.”
Al-Qaisi, who came to California because he’d heard good things about the state, first lived in Riverside. “Then I had patrons who kept telling me to come out to Hollywood, so I opened a shop in Venice but I didn’t like to use my time in Venice—it didn’t feel safe.”
He also worked at Nordstrom’s in Santa Monica before locating space in the Palisades with the help of Coldwell Banker.
“I was looking on the Internet maps and I made a search of this area,” Al-Qaisi said. “I found only a few tailor shops but many cleaners. I thought that Pacific Palisades needed a professional dressmaker and a person to do alterations for bridal gowns.”
He continued, “All repairs can be addressed, especially the difficult ones, because I sewed and designed clothes and am aware of what is flawed.”
Of the future, Al-Qaisi says, “Every year in America things change. I do everything in my life and have to change too.”
Contact: (310) 999-2209, or by e-mail: qaisi2u@yahoo.com. The address is 15113 Sunset (No. 5), close to Party Pizzazz.
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