DUBAI: Kuwait-based Bazza Alzouman, who designs red-carpet evening wear for real women, is a designer every Arab fashion girl should have her eyes on. She started her eponymous label in 2014 and has completed three trunk shows with Moda Operandi, the online luxury retailer known for discovering new labels.
Alzouman has dressed Maya Diab, Mai Omar and Huda Kuttan, who have very different body types yet were able to find a red-carpet dress that works for them.
“It's so important to me that evening wear is wearable,” the designer said. “I always design with the client in mind and consider their comfort just as much as I consider the actual design. Clothes are meant to be worn by real people, and inclusivity … is really a core value of ours.”
Alzouman finds clever ways to flatter – be it through illusion sleeves, ruching around the tummy area or the clever placement of a ruffle. Born in South Carolina, the 35-year-old Alzouman worked for the New York-based evening wear designer Naeem Khan before starting her studio in Kuwait City’s Shamiya.
It’s the combination of these two cultures that has resulted in her signature style. “I think the colors and simplicity and minimalism comes from my US background in design and the time I spent there growing up,” the designer explained. “The experimenting and asymmetry and volume have a lot to do with my Arab side.”
Her Fall/Winter 2019 collection will soon be available in Riyadh’s Blank Boutique and directly through her showroom in Kuwait City. The 27-piece collection includes floor-grazing dresses that flare out with dramatic tulle trains. And every piece uses the finest of fabrics, be it silk, crepe, chiffon or tulle. “The fabrics are all sourced international, primarily from New York, Paris, and Italy,” Alzouman said.
Despite this, it is still very much a “Made in the Middle East” brand. “We design, sample and produce all in-house in our studio located in Kuwait City,” Alzouman said.
Her Autumn/Winter 2019 collection is based on the duality of women. Flamboyant yet effortless, it is her own dual approach to design that has made this Kuwaiti designer one to watch.
