These nine iconic ducks sported shirts from BU alum Ameera Hammouda’s fashion brand, Ameera. Photo by Anne P., School of Fashion Design (SFD)

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The Quack-tastic Collaboration That Ended in Mystery

Boston Public Garden’s iconic Make Way for Ducklings sculptures were dressed by BU alum Ameera Hammouda’s clothing brand

In a recent quack-tastic collaboration, Ameera Hammouda, founder of clothing brand Ameera, partnered with students from the School of Fashion Design to dress the historic Make Way for Ducklings sculptures in the Boston Public Garden. 

The beloved sculptures are based on the 1941 children’s classic Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey and have been a Boston Public Garden staple since 1987. Hammouda (Questrom’18) dressed the mother duck and her eight ducklings in rugby shirts that are exact replicas of those in her New England maritime-inspired clothing collection “Ardelle.” 

Then, just five days into the display, scandal struck: Mama Duck’s rugby shirt was stolen. A call to action was put out by Hammouda, who offered a reward: a free human edition rugby shirt. 

The display ran from September 16 to 26 and was extended an additional three days in the hope that Mama Duck’s outfit would be returned. But no one has yet come forward, Hammouda says. 

“So many questions, no hard feelings,” she says. “If anything, we’re a little bit flattered and excited.”

After the disappearance, Mama Duck covered herself with a sign that read, “Dear soul who stole my rugby shirt, I ask that you kindly return it. I prefer my birthday suit on a balmy 80° day in private.” 

Hammouda has her theories: “You never know, it could have been an animal, but if it was a human, did they take it for themselves? A pet? Or a baby?”

She says she would still like to see the outfit returned because all the ducks’ clothing was handmade by Mina Hirzel and Dylan Braun, students at the School of Fashion Design, under the supervision of faculty member Lisa Taranto. 

“It was really important to have someone with the technical skill set, but also someone who was present in Boston and could go measure the ducks and then go make the patterns locally,” Hammouda says of her decision to collaborate with students at the School of Fashion Design, which is in the Back Bay. 

The eight ducklings—Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack—are regularly dressed, by mostly anonymous fans, throughout the seasons in anything from Halloween outfits to Boston Bruins uniforms.

Hammouda says that her business management degree and entrepreneurial track gave her the tools she needed to launch her own clothing line in 2021. “I felt like business was a bit more versatile, and I loved that BU had this exposure to all these other majors and career pathways,” Hammouda says. “There’s a lot I get to apply from my education.” 

A Bostonian for over a decade, she says she’d been ruminating about the idea of dressing up the ducks for years. Everything aligned two weeks before the display launched, when she connected with the School of Fashion Design and shared her idea with them.

They met the idea with enthusiasm, and students and faculty members immediately became involved. The production was pulled together in just two weeks. 

“I thought it’d be a really cool partnership,” Hammouda says. “Everything happened at the right time.” 

The “Ardelle” collection the ducks were dressed in is a nautical aesthetic that captures the classic coastal New England style. With its flowing silhouettes and crisp patterns, Hammouda says, the collection is perfectly Bostonian. 

“There’s no better models to sport the outfits than the ducks,” Hammouda says. 

One other fun BU connection? The ducks were sculpted by Nancy Schön (DGE’48).

“In 1987, when I installed the bronze sculpture of Mrs. Mallard and her eight baby ducklings,” Schön told Bostonia magazine in a 2021 interview, “never in my wildest dreams did I think that they would become an iconic landmark of Boston.”