“It’s about defining what we are, by thinking about what we are not.”
In an overstimulating world, where you’re getting new information hurled towards you from every direction. How does one decipher what belongs to them and what was forced onto them? Dubai based label BLSSD is a fashion brand that is set on pushing back on that notion in their most recent collection.
On day four of Dubai fashion week, the contemporary streetwear brand showcased their Spring/Summer ’24 collection on the Dubai Design District runway. A subtlety runs through their pieces, even when experimental and expressive, it abides to its minimalist core. With a largely monochromatic palette and sleek cuts the pieces balance simplicity and edge.
Creating a collection that centres individuality, GRAZIA speaks to Lama and Lys Riachi on the power of trusting your instincts and being driven with purpose.
Rocking the boat with Dubai
If there is one thing Dubai, and the UAE at large, is known for how it harnesses the power of innovation. Through disrupting the truths we think we know they continue to break the moulds of what a Middle Eastern country is supposed to look like. And BLSSD embodies the same sentiment in their DNA. “Everything in the UAE is about challenging the status quo, trying to do more and newer things to add value,” the founder and creative director, Lama explains. “We try to do the same by mixing up styles,” Lama continues. “By for example making street style luxurious creating pieces that are soft but also very fierce at the same time.”
By merging ideas that traditionally belong on opposite ends of the spectrum BLSSD creates pieces that challenge what can be perceived as opulent and remain casual. Through collaborating disciplines that don’t always interact in fashion they create a contemporary fashion label that propels distinctiveness and individuality.
Implanted in seeds of gratitude
Building a brand grounded in integrity is not an easy feat. It requires ingraining your purpose and mission at every level of the business with authenticity and candour. Not for BLSSD though. A brand that started out selling T-shirts to support cancer patients, their very existence is an ode to their purpose. “From the brand and graphics level, it’s the message we always put out. It’s the iconic BLSSD print, it’s our ethos,” Lys, the managing director, starts. “Right down to how we work, how we build a collection, how much we produce. The story of gratitude has to infuse everything we do, not just the final product. There’s a story of how our team is built, how we support locally small businesses, how we support the community, so all of that goes back to our ethos.”
Pret-A-Gratitude, their aforementioned ethos, rings through this collection as well. Sprinkled through their pieces, the words line the asymmetrical cuts and hemlines. Adding edge and complexity to some straightforward pieces. “It can’t NOT be included in our designs,” Lama smiles. As a cancer survivor herself, it is safe to say she embodies the sentiment to an ever deeper extent. The brand she founded doesn’t just halt at being a fashion label, it doubles as a purpose label. A brand that above producing pieces that bleed creativity and push boundaries, is committed to adding value and substance into our noisy world.
With a store already open in the Mall of the Emirates, the Riachi sisters have mastered creating work that contributes. Work that adds value and substance to an oversaturated industry. Pouring who they are and what they stand for in every stride forward, we can’t wait to see what’s next.
