Emirati Designer Hamda Al Fahim On Finding Inspiration Closer To Home and Fusing Culture With Couture

The Emirati fashion designer has made a name for herself with her couture pieces that meld together the best aspects of Eastern and Western design…

It’s no secret that the United Arab Emirates is home to unparalleled vision, talent and determination, so to celebrate the country’s 51st National Day, we have chosen three inspiring Emirati women — Alia Al Mur, Hamda Al Fahim and Afra Al Dhaheri — from different fields, who represent the nation’s gloriously multifaceted cultural landscape. 

Hamda Al Fahim, whose work has appeared on the red-carpeted steps of the Cannes Film Festival and on the TV series The Voice, is known for her love of feminine, intricately detailed gowns. Hers are effervescent creations that she has designed to be worn during life’s most celebratory moments; she speaks to Bazaar Arabia’s Jessica Michault here…

Your experience growing up here in the UAE has undoubtedly had a profound effect on your work and career. How has it shaped your process as an artist?

Growing up in the UAE I remember going to weddings with my mother and seeing everyone dressed up and looking so beautiful. I feel like the country has a lot of extravagance in the way we celebrate and this kind of de ned my first experiences of fashion and the beautiful side of dressing up and celebrating. I feel, in comparison to other places, it just is a bit more here in the Gulf region, we go bigger with events, so from a young age I was fascinated by this.

It clearly had an impact on you because you launched your own signature couture brand. But we were surprised to discover that you started out studying interior design. How did that influence your work as a fashion designer?

I feel like when you’re creative you can be creative in so many different ways. You don’t just limit yourself to one category or form of creativity. I am fascinated by design in all its elements, architecture, interior design, fashion – everything. Actually, when I was growing up I wanted to study fashion design, but in the UAE we didn’t have any fashion schools at the time and my parents weren’t comfortable with me travelling abroad so I looked at the options I had in front of me and I felt like interior design would give me a kind of structure; the fundamentals of design.

In terms of your fashion designs, what would you say sets your work apart? What do you feel you’re bringing to the fashion conversation?

I think that I always try to focus on the female silhouette. I want to create a design that will complement a woman, give her confidence and make her feel good. I also love to have a theme for every collection that I create, the storytelling elements are a huge part of my creative process. Designing for me is all about what I’m gravitating towards, what I’m feeling at the moment, and then translating those feelings into a collection.

As your collections are bespoke, handmade custom orders, we would imagine that you have a much more personal experience with the different women that you’re working with. Can you talk to us about what that’s like?

I love it so much. Because we get to go into the tiniest details of the embroidery, and the handiwork and explore different techniques, different materials. I like to always come up with something new with every collection in terms of the fabrics, the fabrication, and experimenting with different styles of embroidery to create something that has never been done before. When I am creating a collection, this is the part where I can find myself happily getting lost. I get absorbed in the smallest details.

We also understand that you are very determined that your designs be a fusion of Eastern and Western influences. Is there something that’s specifically Western and something that’s specifically Eastern in your creations?

I would say Western in terms of the silhouette, they just have more of an international kind of silhouette, and then my dresses bring in the Eastern elements through all of the embroideries and the handiwork, these kinds of methods that are more Eastern. So, it’s combining the best of both worlds and trying to create a walking piece of art.

So not very minimalistic…

I have never been a minimal person. I always love more. I love details and I love layering and adding. I am always pushing in the direction of how can we develop this more? How can we push the idea more? You know, more is more to me – more is better. But, of course, I also believe in balance. A dress can have embellishment design details, but I still want to feel that it’s not overwhelming. For me, there always has to be harmony in the design.

Change here in the UAE has happened at a really rapid pace. Looking towards the future, how do you foresee the cultural landscape evolving over the next 15 years?

Oh my goodness, where do we even begin? I’ve never seen any country grow as fast as the UAE. It’s a miracle, its growth. But now what I would like to see is more growth in the eld of fashion. It’s still very young here, with very few designers. I would like for there to be a stronger UAE fashion presence internationally. Because I feel like we are one of the biggest consumers in the world of luxury fashion here in the Gulf, Dubai especially. So we need to have fashion come full circle. That we are not just consumers, but we are creating fashion as well that can compete at an international level.

Photographer: Greg Adamski. Senior Fashion Editor: Nour Bou Ezz. Editor in Chief: Olivia Phillips. Art Director: Oscar Yáñez. Senior Producer: Steff Hawker. Hair and Make-Up: Jazmin Lois Rodriguez. Photographer’s Assistants: Alireza Yahoozadeh and Mark Offemaria. Hair and Make-Up Assistant: Sabiha Perween. Fashion Assistant: Amelie Louisa Klewe. With special thanks to The Museum of the Future

From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s December 2022 issue.