Middle Eastern and North African fashion designers are expanding globally, captivating celebrities and Gen Z alike with their unique culturally-blended styles. Fashion and design events throughout the region, from Riyadh Fashion Week to Fashion Trust Arabia, are platforming emerging creatives who continue to push what sustainability, identity, and activism can mean in fashion.
While you may already know famed designers such as Amina Muaddi, Elie Saab, or the legendary Azzedine Alaïa, the emerging creatives of the Middle East and North Africa and its diaspora are breaking the boundaries and borders of design and creation.
With summer just around the corner, look to the following Middle Eastern and North African fashion designers to inspire a new summer look full of tradition and culture.
Amir Taghi
Recently spotted on the Golden Globes red carpet, Amir Taghi is a ready-to-wear luxury clothing brand led by its namesake. As creative director, Taghi draws inspiration from his Texan upbringing and Iranian heritage to create classic designs with modern touches.
Boutique De Nana
Founded by creative director Yousra Elsadig, Boutique De Nana is an ode to culture and sustainability through the lens of fashion. Using recycled materials from both of Elsadig’s roots, Sudan and Wales, the brand offers modest fashion with fun, unique designs.
Claudette the Brand
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Imagined and created by Kuwaiti designer Layan Al-Dabbous, Claudette the Brand is all about self love. With motivational slogans and cloud-like puffy letters on staple pieces, Claudette — named after the brand’s figure Al-Dabbous drew during classes at the New School in New York — hosts pop ups across the world to build a community emphasizing the importance of mental health, culture, and connection.
DORIAN WHO
Iranian-Canadian designer DORIAN WHO began her namesake brand in 2019. Inspired by the freedom of creativity, her forte is avant-garde streetwear as exemplified by imaginative silhouettes, eye-catching fabrics, and bold accessories. In 2022, she was recognized in the Canadian Arts & Fashion Awards as a nominee for the Emerging Talent, Fashion Award.
Emergency Room Beirut
Founded by Eric Mathieu Ritter with the belief that clothes are real, made by real people, and worn by real people, Emergency Room Beirut creates collections of upcycled pieces made in collaboration with garment workers and engineers across Lebanon.
Kazna Asker
Sheffield-based designer Kazna Asker has made a brand surrounding activism and charity to contribute to her hometown community of Sheffield, home country of Yemen, and to Palestine. Asker won the Debut Talent prize at Fashion Trust Arabia, is a British Fashion Council NEWGEN member, and was the first designer to showcase a hijabi collection at the Central Saint Martin’s MA fashion show at London Fashion Week.
Lebas
Based in New York City, Lebas (which directly translates to clothes in Persian) has a modern take on fashion and culture. With multi-functional gear, airbrushed apparel, and quippy vintage-style tees, Lebas is a youthful fusion of Western styles and Middle Eastern heritage.
Les Benjamins
With a brand motto of “represents a vision of the contemporary East,” Turkish luxury streetwear brand Les Benjamins and creative director Bunyamin Aydin explores the meanings of Middle Eastern identity. The brand’s SS24 collection, Kismet Voyage East to West, pays homage to Sadun Boro, the first Turkish amateur sailor to circumnavigate the globe in a sailing vessel, through futuristic yet simultaneously traditional patterns and cuts.
Marmar Halim
Worn by celebrities around the world, from Becky G to Huda Kattan, this Dubai-based eponymous brand is led by Egyptian designer Marmar Halim. Her popular evening gowns feature picturesque fabrics with unique silhouettes and intricate draping for an ethereal romantic feel.
Medina
Designed by Libya-born, London-based creative Mabruk Ali, Medina mixes streetwear and luxury fashion through staple pieces embellished with colors and textures of the Libyan and Saharan landscape. With the brand name aiming to explore cities throughout the Middle East, Medina creates timeless garments with an asymmetrical edge.
Nafsika Skourti
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Together, sisters Nafsika and Stephanie Skourti, used their combined experiences in fashion and business to launch Nafsika Skourti. The brand creates versatile contemporary designs with each collection, but some signature elements include corsets, embellishments, and elegant fabrics.
Nöl Collective
Yasmeen Mjalli founded Nöl Collective, a fashion brand preserving traditional Palestinian craft. The label works with local artisans to sustainably produce clothes using cultural and eco-friendly techniques such as plant-based dyes and hand-weaving. Their latest collection for spring is adorned by hand-embroidered hearts in rich, colorful hues.
NÜR
Named after the Arabic word for light to represent “the light between the heavens and Earth,” NÜR is a hypoallergenic jewelry brand. Inspired by her grandmother’s love for gold jewelry, Afghan-American founder Nilo sought out to create an affordable line that would make the outfit staple more accessible.
Roni Helou
Lebanese designer Roni Helou created his namesake brand to explore methods of sustainability and local action through deadstock, vintage, and organic materials. Winning the inaugural Fashion Trust Arabia prize in 2019, Helou relocated to Doha and collaborates with creatives throughout Qatar.
Sayran
Taking inspiration from Kurdish roots, the eponymous jewelry label Sayran specializes in giving traditional styles a twist. Symbols like the evil eye, pomegranates, and seven eyes combined with Y2K, indie, and futuristic aesthetics give Sayran its unique charm. The most recent collection dropped on Nowruz and is named Azadî, meaning freedom in Kurdish.
Shabab International
Shabab International creates unisex capsule collections that incorporate Arab identity and visuals with edgy and classic streetwear styles. Co-founded by Mohamed and Zainab Hasoon and Omani Mohammed Al-Kindy, Shabab – the Arabic word for youth – blends futurism and nostalgia in one of the region’s first streetwear brands.
Tala Barbotin Khalidy
As the head of a small-batch, slow fashion brand, Tala Barbotin Khalidy splits her time between New York City and Beirut. Going straight to the source of her inspiration, Khalidy collaborates with artisans in Lebanon and Syria to support local craft and preserve tradition. Though Khalidy has dropped several unique collections influenced by different cultural traditions like truck paintings, courtyards, and ice cream, some of her signature styles include crochet, patchwork, and intricate patterns in rich colors.
Yousef Al-Jasmi
Yousef Al-Jasmi is responsible for making some of the biggest stars in the world glow even brighter. The Kuwaiti designer has dressed Beyoncé, Chloe x Halle, Kylie Jenner, and more in his beaded and diamond-covered dresses.
Yuzefi
Created by Iranian designer Naza Yousefi, London-based fashion brand Yuzefi has been recognized by fashion royalty around the world. You may know Yuzefi for its uniquely shaped handbags named after foods like “Pretzel,” “Dinner Roll,” and “Mochi,” but the brand also carries apparel, all inspired by Yousefi’s childhood and work experiences.
Zoubida
Colorful and playful describes the unique world of French-Moroccan designer Sophia Kacimi, who started Zoubida to explore the rich textile histories of Morocco. Working with upcycled sofa covers and curtains, Kacimi makes bold patterned jackets, fun accessories, and home decorations in collaboration with talented artisans throughout Morocco.
1309 Studios
Qatari designer Ghada Al Subaey created 1309 Studios to center Qatari design motifs in sustainable modest fashion. Signature prints made in collaboration with Arab artists grace 1309 Studios’ flowy and structured pieces.
