By Denise Marray
The global apparel retail industry is valued at about $1.3tn. It’s a hugely competitive market from which only the lucky few will emerge as success stories. At London Fashion Week it’s possible to see upcoming young designers whose ability has earned them a much coveted place in the Emerging Talent section of the Designer Showrooms.
This September just 130 designers were selected in the categories of jewellery, shoes and ready-to-wear. Located in the bustle of Somerset House media and buyers cast a critical eye over the collections and connections are made.
A collection that caught the eye in the ready-to-wear section was showcased by Bahraini native Hind Matar. After completing her BA at the University of Virginia, she studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design and interned at the design studios of Bernhard Willhelm and Yang Li. She was clearly enjoying the ‘buzz’ of the London Fashion Week. “It’s been a great experience so far and we’ve had a huge flow of buyers and press,” she said.
Her original and striking clothes are aimed at young, confident women. Structured skirts, oversized jackets and tailored trousers are her trademark pieces. There is an intriguing interplay of textures, fabrics, silhouettes and embellishments.
“The look is quite architectural; it’s inspired by origami and flowers in different stages of bloom,” she explained.
She has been influenced by the work of the Polish art deco painter, Tamara de Lempicka. “There are a lot of angular shapes mixed with rounded shapes that were inspired by Lempicka paintings in which she juxtaposed round shapes against architectural backgrounds,” she said.
(American singer-songwriter and actress Madonna is a huge fan and collector of Lempicka’s work. Other famous collectors include actor Jack Nicholson and singer-actress Barbra Streisand).
Matar’s collection includes structured taffeta skirts in dusty pink and powder blue inspired by origami and with a beautiful tonality in the fabric. The most expensive item is a highly embroidered and sequinned silk dress in silver, fuschia, turquoise, ruby reds and emerald greens.
It retails at $1,400. Customers can place personal orders; all her pieces are made in the UK. She buys many of her fabrics at the world famous PremiereVision Fabric Show in Paris as well as sourcing beautiful materials from Bahrain.
Asked where her passion for fashion comes from she spoke about her childhood influences in Bahrain. “When I was in my early teenage years I wanted to become a designer. I was looking a lot at old Italian cinema and I started to develop a passion for clothes. My father was a very big influence on me; he was always very elegant. I always looked up to him and he was a huge inspiration. He always insisted on us children (her brother and two sisters) looking our best,” she recalled.
She credits her grandmother, who used to live in India, with developing her appreciation of embroidery which is a key element in her designs.
Speaking of her love of colour and texture she said: “In the Middle East we love bold colours.” She regards London as her second home and said: “London in terms of creativity has been a huge influence.”
She credits Saint Martins with giving her the freedom to explore ideas and teaching her how to develop those ideas into a methodology. Her dream is to have her own catwalk show in the years to come. For that she explained she would need at least 25 looks involving around 60 garments.
For Matar this looks like the start of a promising career. She recognises what this opportunity presents: “I’m super-privileged to have been selected as it’s very competitive,” she said.
One of the designs from Hind Matar’s collection.
