Founder of Dough, women’s ready to wear
Beirut
• It’s interesting that you first started designing caftans. Can you explain?
I was living in Morocco at the time. The caftans there were colour-rich and heavy in embroidery, I wanted to create minimalist versions in muted colours like navies and blacks. So I modified them, using lace for the sleeves but the silhouettes and volumes still made them caftans.
• What’s your fascination with neutral colours about?
I don’t like trends. I think the most sophisticated colours are black and white - they are timeless and work on any age group. I hardly stray away from muted tones. Before Morocco, my family lived in Algeria, which was very bare – there weren’t even any international fashion magazines around. Dad would travel and bring back dresses. My first memory is of a beautiful Givenchy dress he bought for mum. It was a grey, button-down, so simple and elegant. I thought it was incredibly beautiful.
• How did you get into fashion?
It was something I always wanted to do. I liked to accessorise outfits and make them my own. I was working in finance in Morocco and I realised it wasn’t my calling, when I was designing caftans in parallel. After banking, I decided to study fashion at Central Saint Martin’s in London.
• Why did you decide to launch your own label, Dough, in Beirut in 2012?
It’s really the place to be in the region, fashion-wise. It was either here or back in Morocco.
• Why the name Dough?
The concept of Dough makes me think of something malleable that can be styled and moulded to a woman’s body in different ways.
• How big is your team?
I have one person here who heads the pattern-making and was trained in Paris, five local seamstresses, a sales head here and a press agent in Paris, as well as an intern.
• How do you spend your days at work?
I start by making samples at the atelier, working on the prototypes, which might change a couple of times before I source the fabric and go through the fittings to develop a collection, which takes about 5 months to develop. My work may look very simple and minimalistic but it’s all couture finishing.
• What’s your everyday wardrobe like?
I’m a jeans-tshirt-flats kind of girl during the day. At night, if I’m out, then I’ll pair a structured dress with statement shoes and accessories, to really make an entrance. I wear a lot of my own designs.
• What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job?
To see it all come to fruition from a single sketch.
• What do you find most challenging?
The fashion industry is highly competitive. You need to push yourself each season to deliver something new, for every collection to speak for itself.
• How do you do that with such an understated, coherent aesthetic?
Before I come up with a concept, I’m always buying fashion books and reading about the designers who came before and laid the foundations, looking at what Dior did in the 50s or YSL in the 60s. I also have a different muse each season, often someone I know. The latest collection for example, is more tomboy-cool. Last year’s spring/summer was more romantic, all in pastels.
