Laila Aziz slays with her collection at Arab Fashi
saman@khaleejtimes.com
Recognised as one
among the world’s five most important fashion events, the Arab Fashion Week returned this year for its ninth edition to host more than 40 regional and international labels. Held at 1422, the designer platform at City Walk Dubai from October 9 to 14, the annual event saw a new generation of designers set the ramp on fire with their latest collections across fashion shows, pop-ups and presentations.
Celebrating her Summer-spring collection 2020, was Los Angelesbased Moroccan designer Laila Aziz, who wowed the crowd at the Kayat Couture show with not only the vibrancy of colours in her collection but also with her intricate sequins, cuts, bead work and designs that made the models sizzle on the ramp.
A qualified lawyer, Laila made her debut in the fashion industry a decade ago after getting married. Although she had the talent, skill and passion for fashion, her journey was an uphill battle as no one supported it at home.
Growing up, she would draw and sketch clothes on models. Speaking about her in-built fashion sense from a young age, Laila said: “Without really knowing what a fashion designer was, I would try using different designs and patterns on my clothes. It came so naturally to me that my parents thought it was just a hobby, but somehow I never got bored of it.”
“I have been designing my whole life for myself. But my mother was against me studying fashion and taking it up as a full time career and told me in no uncertain terms to ‘finish your studies in law and then maybe you can take up fashion as a hobby,’” she added.
Laila’s parents were more focused on her education, and art in any form, especially fashion, was never something they saw as a “serious career.”
Career move
Originally from Morocco, but born and raised in Holland, Laila finished her degree in law and got married to Nadir Khayat, more popularly known by his stage name Redone, a Moroccan record producer, singer, songwriter and record executive, who has worked with high-profile recording artists such as Lady Gaga, Akon, Michael Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Scherzinger, Pitbull, Enrique Iglesias, Shakira and Mariah Carey, among many others.
“After getting married, I moved to New York and I had time to think and explore my options in terms of having a career. This is when I decided to pursue my passion and studied fashion for a year and started my career just like a stylist. But the whole idea about starting my own brand actually came due to a small incident that took place at one of the award functions where my husband was being awarded,” Laila said.
Redone was nominated for 10 Grammys and he won three. During one of the awards night in 2008, where she was present wearing a self-styled dress, it garnered a lot of attention not only from the media, but also other celebrities who asked her to design similar dresses for them.
The appreciation Laila received that night was so overwhelming and encouraging that she decided to build up her own brand. “I started with creating a small collection initially, but it was only from 2013 that I launched my own collections formally twice a year and then there was no looking back.”
Starting from scratch
Laila loves to work hard and see her products shape up into what she has always imagined it to be. “I like to