Newsfeed
In the world of fashion and art, we’re seeing a rise in independent brands and creatives.
One such individual who has made a foray into this space is Dubai-based Malak Hany, who founded her own label THEFRONTROWSTUDIOS a little over a year ago.
While it wasn’t initially on her radar to launch her own brand, Malak’s vision eventually led to her to starting a women’s fine garments prêt-à-porter label that combines luxury with high-quality statement and essential pieces.
In just a short space of time, with an innate sense for design and a sharp eye for the fashion industry, Malak has grown THEFRONTROWSTUDIOS into a brand that emphasizes exceptional craftsmanship and timeless style.
Driven by her passion for design and the evolving fashion landscape, Malak is committed to expanding her influence within the industry, blending creativity with entrepreneurship to build a lasting impact on the global fashion stage.
My current role is…
The founder, creative director and CEO of THEFRONTROWSTUDIOS, a fine garments pret a porter womenswear label, that offers high quality statement and essential pieces.
I also work at Maison Pyramide, a 360 multidisciplinary fashion agency that operates within the MENA region, and Paris.
When I was younger I wanted to be…
When I was younger I wanted to be a writer and then I wanted to work at a fashion magazine!
I love visual communication & media in general, especially if there’s witty, engaging text that aligns with it and as I got older, I wanted to find a way to incorporate both – mixed in with fashion, a complete dream!
My favourite subject at school was…
I had two, so I had English and Psychology.
I’ve always loved to read and analyse – whether it’s a fictional or non-fictional read. I enjoy brain food, just as much as I enjoy entering a completely different world with fictional characters.
As for Psychology, it’s always been so interesting to understand human behavior, emotion and decision making process, which luckily has become so beneficial in my line of work – considering 60% of it relies on human interaction and communication. It all blended together really nicely!
My first job was…
I was a contributing writer to a fashion magazine, writing up a few pop culture and fashion related pieces. I then interned at Maison Pyramide back in 2018 as a fashion assistant, which is where I learned a lot about executing a proper fashion shoot fully, from ideation to creation and social media roll out. I learned a lot about styling at that time, being on a fashion set, and how to coordinate in order to get the best results possible to fit the moodboard references and vision to communicate the initial message.
I also handled marketing for an Egyptian Designer Label, which ended up teaching me a lot more about fashion production than I previously knew because I wanted to learn everything from the ground up, so I spent my time really getting to observe and experience everything firsthand. During that time I learned a lot about the ins and outs of fashion production, like understanding different fabrics types, techniques, sampling and product development. There’s still so much to learn, but I was so exposed to the entire process that I ended up absorbing so much, which gave me a leg up when starting THEFRONTROWSTUDIOS last year.
My career path so far has been…
I would say it was very eventful and interesting. Working with Maison Pyramide has been a huge cornerstone in my career, in the sense that I not only understood more about the fashion & retail industry worldwide, but also became exposed to different industry leaders and KOLs all around the world, which definitely raised my benchmark & expectations. Through that, I was able to develop my vision and execute work that I am proud of at THEFRONTROWSTUDIOS.
With that being said, becoming a founder / CEO at a young age, after developing a solid foundation within the fashion industry, taught me so many things, both about myself, my work ethic, my preferences and the fashion works in general. I think knowledge comes from experiences and I feel so blessed that I am able to wake up everyday and push myself towards what I know THEFRONTROWSTUDIOS is going to be.
The role the Middle East has played in my career is…
Honestly, coming from the ME has taught me so much, especially lately with the incredible influx of creatives that have emerged and developed within the region. I think it’s an amazing opportunity to grow together as a community and also uplift each other, while sharing experiences & merging businesses. It’s such a blessing to grow within a community like ours and be able to create opportunities for ourselves. I feel like the creative community has flourished immensely within the past 4 years; we’ve been able to create an entire market that didn’t previously exist in such a short amount of time, which is incredibly impressive. On a related note, I believe that the creative community within the ME has gone the extra mile and really pushed through maybe 10 times harder, in order to be able to attain opportunities needed in order to be seen, which pours into everything else.
Building an amazing industry that caters to our needs, cultures and communities, at global benchmarks, and pushing ourselves to be at the forefront of our industries at an international scale, has been truly incredible to watch and contribute to.
I was inspired to become an entrepreneur and enter the fashion space because…
Personally, I wanted to become an entrepreneur because I find so much satisfaction in seeing a concept turn into a tangible thing that you can see and touch. I love the process of ideation to creation and being fully in control of every single aspect.
My initial plan was not to enter the fashion space in the sense that I would create the product itself, I think that developed overtime. I’ve always loved fashion growing up, but as I got older and my vision got clearer, I was able to see where I fit in the industry and what I can offer, not only as a business owner but also as a consumer.
My daily routine consists of…
I start my day at 7am, get dressed and head to B-URN for my hot pilates class with Solinne. By 10am I’m at the Maison Pyramide office where I have my coffee, go through my emails and start organizing my day based on priority. After that, I start taking my calls for the day and aligning with the team on what’s done, pending and the deadlines . I’m done at around 4PM and then start working on content for THEFRONTROWSTUDIOS socials until around 6pm. After that I head home, start packing up orders until around 8pm and then go have dinner with my boyfriend. I’m in bed by 12am and I usually have my comfort show on, like Sex & the City or Desperate Housewives. My days are super busy but fun, I love when my days are productive.
The story of The Front Row Studios is…
I never really planned on starting a fashion brand, funnily enough I tried to talk myself out of it. I didn’t want to go through the hassle of production, I felt like I didn’t still know enough about it at all. It always stayed in the back of my mind though and I’d sample some items and then not really develop it all the way through.
My friends and family were really on board though and they were incredibly supportive, pushing me towards it every chance they got. I was very worried at first, I didn’t think I would be able to execute it properly. Nevertheless, as time went on and I developed my own personal career and expertise, I was still very much aware of the market gap at hand within Egypt and the GCC and became a lot more confident in what I knew I could offer and what THEFRONTROWSTUDIOS could become.
I spent two years developing THEFRONTROWSTUDIOS, doing my best to learn everything I needed to from the ground up, even if it was at a starting point, until I truly believed in the concept and the product. I was very determined to achieve my objectives and execute my vision properly. I wanted to provide my customer the best of everything, from fabric, to craftsmanship and even down to the paper we use for packing. I really did my best to offer ultimate quality, all the while still maintaining a profitable business.
I then really worked on the communication & community aspect of the brand, finding the perfect balance between cool and chic.
My role as Founder entails…
Because THEFRONTROWSTUDIOS is still only a year old, I’m still very much involved in every single aspect of the brand, from production, to creative development, logistics and customer service.
I start off by developing a concept, locking in a theme for the collection and then designing pieces that would appeal to our target audience, resonate with the collection theme and align with the brand identity. I then start sourcing the fabric we need, which is sometimes a challenge in Egypt, but luckily we always succeed. Once that’s all sorted, I start working closely with our artisans to achieve the perfect patron and sample. In parallel, I’m also developing the creative & marketing strategy for how we’re going to communicate the pieces to our audience, through moodboards, references and archival inspiration. As the product is perfected, I then move onto scouting locations, models, and other creatives that I could onboard onto the campaign and release strategy. Once that’s all sorted, I begin shooting and executing the release campaign and it’s roll out on socials.
As the execution takes place, I begin packaging orders and sending them out to customers, as well as liaising with the logistics company, gathering feedback and immediately working on product development in real time. A huge part of being a founder also relies on being your own brand ambassador and promoting the brand through PR, which includes networking and attending various events that would lead to amazing opportunities and visibility for the brand. Luckily, my full time job at Maison Pyramide has given me so much exposure that really helped my business and I grow so much, to which I am incredibly grateful.
The biggest milestone I have achieved is…
It’s not particularly a milestone per se but I’m incredibly proud of the community we’ve built over the past year. Never in a million years would I have thought that THEFRONTROWSTUDIOS would grow so much in just a year! I feel so blessed and overwhelmed at times, but mostly excited.
The biggest hurdle I have experienced in my career…
It’s just figuring out a way to balance my own personal life and growing my business. I’ve just been finding it so hard to disconnect recently because I’m so connected to my brand, it’s always on going and there’s something new happening or an issue that I need to attend to.
I’m learning to take better care of myself to avoid severe burn out so that I’m always able to deliver my best
A quote I live by is…
“Nothing changes, if nothing changes.”
I really like that quote a lot because it really pushes me to work towards my goals and change what I don’t like instead of just complaining about it, which really taught me how to be self sufficient.
What I hope for 2025 is…
To continue to grow THEFRONTROWSTUDIOS into what I know it could become and work on expanding within the GCC region.
