subject: Meet Anam Naseer And Her Chic Office-to-bar Styles
[print this page] New designers are appearing almost daily, but every now and then one will come along whose styles are that little bit more special than the rest and who still manages to bring something fresh and new to an ever-changing industry. Anam Naseer, Pakistan-born graduate of Liverpool John Moores University, is one such designer. For her, fashion is about more than just having some fun "clothing has a purpose. You have to wear it. You need be artistic but commercial at the same time" which is whatever led her to come up with the thought for a fashion label where products could be modified and interchanged to suit the wearer's taste.
Naseer states the main characteristic of her work as being "to transform simplicity into unique clothing, by creating pieces that are detachable to add definition to garments". Take for example removable cuffs that can be transferred to another piece from her range, or a simple dress that can be worn to the office and then transformed in seconds with a neck-piece to take it straight to the bar for post-work drinks.
Even without this unique clothing twist, her styles are already breathtaking and different. She is inspired by everything around her, from street culture to broken glass, of which the latter seems to be a starting point for her Autumn/Winter 2011 range that characteristics shards' on granite-coloured satin, built up in layers to form a beautiful, haute-couture alternative to the traditional ruffle. My personal favorite is a satin skirt made using this technique that looks enjoy something you might catch a glamorous forest fairy wearing!
So how did she receive here? Whilst studying for her degree, Anam volunteered as a stylist and closet assistant for shows such as London Fashion 7 days which, a few years later, she returned to not as an assistant but as a designer running her own runway performance and took work placements within well-known design houses "to see how the real designers work out there". Whether she was marketing, designing or learning production techniques, everything she did gave her valuable insight into how to start her own label, not that it was without its hurdles. "The hardest thing about launching your own brand," she says, "is having patience. One day the fashion is in and the next day it is out. Not everyone will like your styles. I aspiration I knew that it not going to be as easy as I plan!
If you're starting out in the fashion motif industry, Anam's opinion to you is to receive as several work placements as you can and to do a variety of jobs, for example styling or journalism, rather than just sticking to the one you know finest you might find that design is not your passion after all! "Just work hard and go for it and don't provide up", she recommends, as well as following fashion shows and websites to stay on top of the latest trends. This is a very commercially-minded young designer undeniably, and I wouldn't be surprised if her combination of pure design talent and business savvy turn the Anam Naseer label into one of the hottest ones to watch' of this year.
Currently, she's working on a new collection that's staying with the design of surface detail and intercut styles, but with some Swarovski crystal beading, more sculptured shapes and more ethnic patterns to reflect her Pakistani background. Her thought is to expand the brand nation-wide.
