Saudi designer Azhar Moustafa Balool was born and raised in Madinah until she got married and moved to Jeddah. Her fashion sense developed when she was exposed to the different styles of the two great cities. She studied business administration, which came in handy to her when she started her business of designing abayas. To her, traditional Saudi abayas were very dull. She started by experimenting with it by adding stylish elements to match her fashion sense. Later, friends and family members fell in love with her trendy abayas and asked her to produce more and that’s when Balool decided to make a business out of it. “I have always been interested in fashion, I used it to show my personality and character. I love everything about fashion, from the colors and textures to shapes and presentations,” she said. “I started my business as soon as I graduated; designing for my friends and family was a huge motivation to expand my circle of clients,” she added. According to Balool, abayas are more difficult to design than any other clothing item. “Designers cannot be very creative with abayas because of its limited structure, it has to be long, covering the whole body. So you have very limited space to be creative when it come to cuts and shapes,” she said. “I work in the best market of abayas because it is essential for women in the Kingdom to wear them and at times they look for unique and limited designs and that’s where my brand comes in,” she added.
Azhar Abayas are inspired by anything that is beautiful. “I don’t search for inspiration, it comes to me from anything that is attractive such as nature, people, fabrics and more. I always like to follow the latest trends and fashion lines to get ideas for trendy abayas,” she said. “I don’t always follow trends, I only chose what matches my fashion sense and my brand’s style,” she added. Balool wants her clients to feel comfortable and stylish wearing her designs. “When I start designing a new line I always want it to be feminine and soft to represent women in the best way. I also see my designs as comfortable, chic, stylish and unique,” she added. Unique is one of the important features Balool looks to establish in her brand. “I use different fabrics and materials in my designs. My favorite fabrics are light crepe which I used for my summer 2014 collection as well as pure silk and cotton because Saudi Arabia is very hot during the summer; I like to choose fabrics that are breathable and easy to wash,” she said. “I designed 20 different abayas in my collection and named it Ronza, which are the different kinds of flowers that grow in the desert,” she added. Social media plays a big role in marketing Azhar Abayas. “I don’t have a boutique yet and I only take orders from online followers. I have an account on Facebook and Instagram where my followers can see my work and place their orders,” she said. “Social media has helped me so much in promoting my new collections and expanding my data base when I started selling my abayas outside the region,” she added. Balool participated in many local bazaars in both Jeddah and Madinah to help promote her brand and expand her client list. “There aren’t many designers in Madinah, this gives me the opportunity to shine even more there. You can always see me selling in big and famous bazaars there,” she said. “In Jeddah, the competition is very high and it’s hard sometimes to compete with Jeddah’s designers but I have managed to establish a good reputation and sell to a great deal of women here as well,” she added. Balool is currently working on promoting her Ramadan and Eid collections in Ramadan bazaars and has started work on her next collection.
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