Affas is as approachable as he is brave in word; he doesn’t sit behind a marble desk stacked with fashion photography books and speak only in poetic riddles to his clientele. Yes, he has opinions and a much-needed voice on the labels that fashion industry insiders have placed on him and his contemporaries. Much like when Hollywood went through a spate of calling some people, ‘Female Directors’ rather than just calling them ‘Directors’, there is undeniably a culture within luxury fashion that defines people in a way that generates otherness. “I don’t want to be purely labeled as being an ‘Arab Designer’. Of course, I’m proud of my heritage and my roots,” Affas says with strength growing in his voice. “I just think we need to get beyond the stereotyping of talent and the unnecessary stamps placed on fashion houses. Why only call me an Arab Designer? I’m a designer, who just so happens to be Arab.”

“The industry (editors, critics, buyers, etc) don’t always know where to place Arab/MENA designers - we are put into categories,” explains Affas. “The first category is the one where the industry feels most comfortable with, that’s placing us in the ultra-glam evening wear box… I have high respect for these designers, and their talent and the businesses they have built. But that ultra-glam, embroidered, colorful, gala-wear is what people expect of designers [from the region]. It can be generalized within Arabic culture… That is how a lot of women do dress. A lot of people who are not from the region buy this look and they like to go to Arab designers because they love this aesthetic and those designers do it very well,” remarks Affas.
“The other group [Arab talent is categorized in] is the designer that is always referencing the literal motifs of one’s own culture,” says Affas.
“And then the third category that Arab designers are often placed in is what I feel a lot of editors/buyers love at the moment - it is part of the zeitgeist: the designers that are politically charged. You talk about politics through your work. It could be about you growing up as an Arab, Muslim teenager in England and that experience shows through your collections and is the storytelling of the brand. It’s about identity and politics. All of this is valid. But we shouldn’t have to fit into any of these boxes. We should all be able to design whatever we want to and not have to fit into a group in order for the fashion world to understand us.”

“Having my work defined in a certain box is what I take issue with,” Affas remarks. He gives the perfect example of an architect who became free from being boxed-in, “Zaha Hadid! She was a Muslim, Iraqi, Arabic woman in a very male-dominated environment, well, certainly back in the ’80s. But she became and is one of the most important architects in the world. I’m proud that her work had nothing directly to do with referencing her background; it’s just that it is her work, and that’s what's amazing about it. Of course, as Arabs, we are all very proud of Zaha Hadid. But to me, it’s even more interesting that she is simply classed as one of the greatest architects of the last hundred years,” Affas says beaming. 

With the interview rapidly transforming into a manifesto for change, I had to pose this question, “What have you never been asked before that you’d like to address here?”
“Well, many questions, but I’m not asked about other people’s collections. I get why journalists don’t go there because it could seem competitive but I think it would deliver an informed opinion. That’s the irony, a designer is the best critic of another designer because we understand what it takes to create amazing clothes and not be influenced by the marketing, the PR, etc. This industry doesn’t talk about the crux of design enough. In general, critics avoid getting on the bad side of brands.”

From launching his own label, to the custom-creations he whips up today for global clients (they hail from Japan and Europe, the Middle East and US zip-codes), there is a clear reverence for architectural form in his collections. He shows a confident minimalism and has a natural understanding for engineering the fall and flow of cloth/fabric over a woman’s physique. You won’t find unnecessary complications in Affas’s designs, nor heavy-handed embroidery or greedy lashings of gold. His artform is in making complex tailoring appear effortless and unique to each person wearing it. It’s also exciting to note that one day Affas would like to begin a menswear line and launch his own e-commerce store.

So, what is real luxury to Zaid Affas? “Luxury is not about expense. I would not buy a logo item to simply show the world that I can. It needs to be about the design. A lot of fashion houses make money today because they sell logomania items and obvious things. Much of what that type of customer pays for is the marketing… I don’t care if a designer is cool or hip. I care about the design, the fabrics, the cut, the look, and the longevity of the garment.”
“A woman doesn’t need to shock people, it’s more about having a confident personality,” Zaid famously said to WWD as the lights lowered upon his February 2014 debut showroom presentation in Paris. Does that still stand? Has that proven true a decade later? “It has proven true because of how people in the real world really dress,” Affas declares over a call this June. “The real world doesn’t mean boring. For me, I am always trying to balance creativity in making clothes that are different conceptually but wearable. Not creative for the sake of pure runway or shock value… Interesting designs that are different but have longevity and are timeless are actually harder to design, the pieces that are not going to be defined by a trend or a season.” Aren’t we on the hunt for an unreal real wardrobe? “If you wear something over and over again, and you have it for twenty years and someone frequently asks you where it is from… That is pure design and what I’m all about.”

The only labels a fashion designer should worry about are the ones being stitched into the collar of the garments they create. This is what is being asked of here: love the work; appreciate the back-story; but leave the boxes for the delivery of what you order, please. Designers are designers. Full stop.

Written by Philippa Morgan.

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READ more features in our Fashion Thoughts section here. And do check-out Zaid Affas’ Take Ten Qs answers.