One of her kind designer

Saadia Zahid, a Dubai-based exclusive menswear designer, on the reason behind her designs


She is relatively new in the business, yet the established names ask for her opinion and seek her technical advice. Saadia Zahid is a designer with no frills or tassels attached. What's even surprising is that she never really wanted to be a designer. "I wanted to study psychology," she said. "But time and situation made me opt for a bachelor's course in fine arts with fashion designing as my principal subject."

She was in the first batch of 16 girls enrolled to study fashion designing at the American University of Dubai. But once into the programme, Saadia enjoyed every bit of it.

Within four years she had learnt what the books could teach and exhibited her creativity at the fashion show organised in the university during her third year.

She recalled, "For the very first show that I staged, I had designed a women's line with an evident and loud influence of the menswear designing and cut."

And right on from there she just knew that this is what she wanted to do.

"At my graduation show, Zarina Yousef, owner of Fasateen, saw my collection and proposed to launch my label," she said. It was the first time that Zarina had launched a local designer, said Saadia. "It was an advantage to exhibit what I had to offer at the first fashion show in Burj Al Arab during Dubai Shopping Festival 2000."

This indeed turned out to be an excellent platform for Saadia as this was her very first exposure to the designer community that helped her establish herself as one amongst them. It certainly helped her earn credibility and respect of the established and known designers. It also allowed them to know that "I exist", said Saadia. Her work at Fasateen was well-received. She then moved on to freelance work and gained recognition for her designs by word of mouth.

"It certainly was a state of confusion then," she said. She understood "the demand for designer menswear clothes was quite small, and for a local designer to gain such recognition that it made people buy her clothes seemed even more improbable".

She said the local fashion industry experienced a big gulf in its effort to reach out to the UAE market. "In this region, the fashion panorama is not seen vividly, and instead all one finds is more of an individual effort than an industry making its announcement. It is quite difficult to establish a local label here.

"For young designers passing out of universities here, there are very limited options and they have to independently fend for themselves."

Speaking from her own experience, she feared that such conditions would discourage people from taking up creative designing as an academic choice. According to her, some more universities had taken off designing as a programme.But the irony is some other universities have reposed faith in local talent by initiating courses in fashion technology and design.

"It certainly is a battle to compete with international labels here and get recognition for your own label," she said.

Saadia continues to move ahead with made-to-order clothes for individuals; most of her clients being UAE nationals and Indians.

"I understood that this clientele always wanted something specific and creative in the clothes that they wore and I began to satiate this demand."

She decided that while designing clothes for them she keeps in mind their personality and lifestyle, the places that they go and the people they meet.

This strategy has helped her know exactly what her client is looking for in terms of fabric, cut, design and detail.

Saadia is most busy during the wedding season, Christmas and the New Year. "The market has become even more stringent after the September 11 attacks and people do not travel to the West as frequently as before," she said. "The fashion market needs something big to get back on track."

Always interested in psychology, Saadia's line of clothes are very much inspired by the way she feels and a lot by history. She looks into the early 1900s and 1800s for her line of clothes.

She recalled, "My first line of clothes was very restricted as I always felt that the local men here are as restricted in their wear and so my designs should reflect that." Thus the cuts were restricted and the use of bolts, nuts were more evident, but done in a classic tailored clothing.

"I like to play with details and am very definite about the cut and fabric I use," she said. "I use quite a bit of pleating, cuts, beads, pearls (when doing sherwanis), crystals and embroidery." She is constantly on a lookout for new ways of embellishing, but not too loud. Saadia is excited about doing her own line of kanduras and dishdashas, but with an element of modernism to it.

Ultimately she wants to be known as a exclusive designer for men's swimwear and underwear. "This is an impending market that has not been tapped until now and I see great potential for this line to grow," Saadia forsees. But until the time she moves into this direction, Saadia wants to work with the European or the Far East market. "The men there are more fashionable and open to experimentation."

Nevertheless, Saadia sees hope in market here too which she sees growing slowly but surely. "Men here are more tradition-bound and even a small variation is a big change for them, but I feel the buoyant wave and in time their attitude will change."