BEIRUT: Lebanese fashion designer Hussein Bazaza is known for his edgy, whimsical take on fashion and Arab News caught up with rising star before he sends a clutch of models down the runway at Arab Fashion Week in Dubai on Friday.
The designer graduated from ESMOD Beirut in 2011 and kickstarted his career by interning with iconic Lebanese fashion house Maison Rabih Kayrouz in Paris, before he joined Elie Saab as a junior designer.
Bazaza was also selected to be part of the Starch Foundation in Beirut, a non-profit organization founded by designers Kayrouz and Tala Hajjar that helps launch emerging Lebanese designers. “(It) opened a big door for me. I started selling my pieces to actual customers in the Starch Boutique,” Bazaza told Arab News.
At the tender age of 23, Bazaza opened his first showroom and atelier in Beirut.
“In 2014, I created my professional brand and I was part of Fashion Forward Dubai, where I started showing my collections. The Arab World started to know more about my brand and (about) me as a designer,” Bazaza said.
Bazaza’s label has a unique take on fashion, he believes. “I have a special way in mixing colors, mixing fabrics and textures together. I love to combine between haute-couture and ready-to-wear.”
The designer’s love for haute-couture fashion inspired him to create mash ups of glamorous red-carpet styles and more effortless looks. “I did not know people would love this combination. People started referring to this style as Hussein Bazaza’s style so that was something I am proud of,” he said of his sporty chic aesthetic.
Before studying fashion design, Bazaza wanted to major in film making and it is why the designer loves creating stories with his pieces. “My main inspiration is not fashion, it’s the story I create, the character I create to dress up in this collection that I’m making every season,” he explained.
This desire to tell a story first came to the fore in his Fall/Winter 2018 collection, “Lilly.”
“‘Lilly’ was like a big story and people were so involved with this story. We live in a… digital world with social media and everything and I wanted to show people that we still have feelings, emotions and I wanted to create a story about this.”
