KHALED AL KHAWALDEH (ABU DHABI)
Nestled between the red drapes adorning the various stands at “The Rage” fashion lifestyle event over the weekend, Street Cultured, a local streetwear brand, made its physical debut to a crowd of eager onlookers.
Just three months prior, in early November, budding fashion entrepreneur Abdullah Al Hairi launched the brand digitally, with the aspiration of creating a locally bred fashion label that could take on the challenge of delivering high quality casual wear in a market increasingly saturated by fast fashion.
“It’s about bridging the gap between luxury and streetwear, creating clothes that are casual and suitable for people of all ages,” Al Hairi told Aletihad on Sunday night as shoppers looked through the various items on display across the stall.
Despite the simplicity of much of the designs, it’s the quality and the excruciating attention to detail that Al Hairi says makes the brand stand out, giving wearers the pleasures of luxury textiles and craftsmanship in a design that looks effortless and nonchalant to the casual observer.
“I spent three months looking for the textiles. It’s all made in Turkey; I personally travelled to Turkey and went to different factories to get to this quality,” he explained.
“I did all the stitching myself; I gave it to an Italian designer, and he said it had been a long time since he saw quality stitching like this. That is the point, we are focused on quality and on details.”
Al Hairi said the inspiration for the clothes came from New York-based brand, Aimé Leon Dore, which pioneered the idea of bridging the luxury/streetwear gap. The entrepreneur said he hopes to replicate the brands success at maintaining its exclusivity, which it achieves by only being available in two locations worldwide.
“When you buy something [from there], you buy it for the name on it, you buy it for Aimé Leon Dor,” he noted.
Taking place at Umm Al Emarat park, “The Rage” Abu Dhabi is designed to showcase the cutting edge of fashion and lifestyle brands across the country and give new brands like Street Cultured a chance to share their vision and ideas.
Complete with a red-carpet aesthetic and a variety of stores, ranging from custom Abayas to perfumes, the event gives young entrepreneurs a platform to join in the UAE’s growing fashion scene. For Al Hairi, it was the perfect first step on his way to take his brand to the next stage.
“The reception we received was great, and quite big, more than we expected,” he said. “We want to strengthen the brand, get new ideas, launch new products and, hopefully by next year, start participating in events outside the country.”