Khaleda and Fahad, the two new designers from the Middle East, have created the latest design for Linda Farrow Collection. The eyewear has created a whole lot of buzz internationally as well as in the Middle East. We catch up with them to learn more.
Khaleda, How would you describe your style of designing.. global or middle eastern or a fusion or something totally different?
Khaleda : My designs are for the fierce woman of today. I don’t design for an ‘ordinary’ person. I design for the woman who wants to say something with what she has in her wardrobe. The person who I design for should want to have something unique about herself and her style. Fashion is about trends and in my designs you might see a little bit of the trends but I will give it my own vision and about describing my style of design, I would say it’s global.
Khaleda, You say it’s always better to be overdressed than to be caught underdressed!… Can you elaborate?
Khaleda : Well, it’s very true. There are some women who are confused when they attend an event, whether they should be dressed in a simple way or should they be ‘over the top’… I would say a woman should always overdress, she must alway outshine.
Is it difficult to be taken seriously as a designer internationally for a Middle Eastern designer?
Khaleda : No, it’s been no problem for us.
Fahad : Our designs and our style are very global. We are very confident about our work and quite frankly, we’ve got Linda Farrow and we’ve been working just for 2 to 4 years! And to top it all, our sales are more than more established designers and that makes us even more confident and happy!
How did Linda Farrow happen?
Fahad : We are good friends of the people at Linda Farrow. And they are big fans of our styles and designs and they really liked our work and we really love their glasses. So it was a mutual decision and it’s been great for all of us.
Fahad, From shoes and handbags to eyewear.. how has your journey been?
Fahad : It’s been fun. It’s been just 2 years and I’ve launched one line for bags and one line for shoes and now we’ve done this design for our eyewear collection. And in 2015, I am going to do a shoes and bags collection. We are now going to be collaborating closely, me and Khaleda.
Khaleda : Yes, we are going to be collaborating and if you see our new logo, it shows the K and F merging and that’s how we are going to be working for the accessories. It’ll be a whole lot of fun!
Fahad, the Middle Eastern touch to your designs.. Is this obvious, subtle or does one have to look deep to find this?
Fahad : I don’t think my designs are very Middle Eastern. I just design whatever is in my mind and I don’t think it’s very Middle Eastern. My bags are very exotic and it’s very expensive leather so maybe that might suggest a bit of Middle Eastern influence but otherwise I would say my designs and styles are global.
What got you both interested in eyewear designing?
Fahad : We just love sunglasses. Both of us travel with about 15 to 20 pairs of sunglasses and all the sunglasses are crazy designs.
Khaleda : And another thing is that we’ve been collectors for Linda Farrow sunglasses and it’s been a dream for us to actually design an eyewear for their collection.
How did the two of you come together?
Khaleda : Oh we’ve been friends for a really really long time and we both love cats!
Fahad : Oh yes! We both went to college together in Boston. We went there in 2004 and we’ve been inseparable.
Tell us a bit about this design…Is it difficult for creative minds to work together?
Fahad : No. We love working together.
Khaleda : Oh, it’s unbelievable how similar our tastes are! We have a toug
h time dressing up because when we get out of our rooms we realised that we have dressed up exactly the same! I am worried about going shopping with him as we would end up picking the same suff.
Fahad : The unique thing about this design is that they are the first time ever anyone’s used 4 lenses in an eyewear. There’s 5 different styles to choose from.
Khaleda : And the designs not for the ‘ordinary’ person. It’s for someone daring and ready to flaunt. Having said that I would say that the eyewear looks great on everyone. All that you need is a little confidence to wear it and step out. You are bound to get some comments and they are great comments. Once in London, I was told, ‘You put my RayBans to shame!’… so that’s how great they can be!
How has your experience been with Linda Farrow?
Khaleda : It’s been great and we’ve been great friends and now we are working together
Fahad : It’s been a dream come true. We’ve gone from being a Middle East designer what were selling in the Middle East to Middle Eastern designers that are selling globally.
Khaleda : Yes, it’s every designer’s dream to make it big on the international platform. And it’s so encouraging to hear people talk about and like our designs from New York, Russia, Hong Kong and other parts of the world. It just gives us more motivation to create better designs.
How do you like being with Hassans?
Fahad : Oh we love Hassans. The owners are such sweethearts. They are wonderful
Khaleda : They are such lovely people. It’s been a great experience.
