By Shahd Alhamdan
SAUDI GAZETTE
Yemeni Fashion Designer, Dalal Alhasan, has decided to shift into menswear design, launching her first collection in September in what is being described as a dramatic shift in her fashion career.
Alhasan, born and raised in Saudi Arabia and in her late 20s, said the collection was inspired by Mijas, a town in Andalucía in Spain.
For the second time, Alhasan has participated in the Málaga Fashion Week, introducing nine pieces at the show held on the city’s emblematic Larios Street.
The collection included different selections of white cotton shirts with ruffle details paired with lose fitting khaki linen pants.
For the show, Alhasan included a traditional Thobe with hand painting on hemline depicting some of the popular spots in Mijas.
“I participated last year in the same show, however this year was special because I transformed my brand into menswear, and showed my first collection,” Alhasan said.
She described presenting her menswear collection as a golden step, and that she was taking pre-orders online for the collection.
Alhasan said she was already working on a second, follow-up collection for next year.
“At the moment I don’t have a plan to open a shop, but instead for some pop-up locations and online selling. However, I am always open to anything new. Once I decided to open a store, the gulf area will be the location. I am glad to be one of a few, or perhaps the first, female Arabian designers to have her name on a ready to wear men’s brand.”
The fashion designer has a master’s degree in fashion and luxury brand management from the Institute Marangoni in London.
She opted for purple as her brand’s main color, as she said: “it is a color that I have always believed in, a spiritual color, royal, mysterious, sexy, and it is the color that best describes the brand.”
