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Zimmermann, the Aussie fashion brand loved by women all over the world, has ascended from humble beginnings as a market stall pop-up to a label so coveted it now counts Kate Middleton, Kendall Jenner and Beyoncé among their roster of A-list clients. It is known for its signature ultra-feminine aesthetic – think applique flowers, tulle dresses with billowing silhouettes, and dreamy colour palettes steeped in romanticism. (Although, make no mistake, this brand boasts an amazing selection of suits, too.)
And now, after many years of concession stands in our favourite malls across the GCC, Zimmermann has finally opened its very-first flagship boutique in Mall of the Emirates. GRAZIA sat down with founders and sisters, Nicky and Simone Zimmermann, to discuss the inspiration by the oh so Instagrammable new store, their latest SS24 collection, and designing for the Arab woman.
GRAZIA: Why did you decide to finally open a Zimmermann boutique in Dubai?
SZ: Dubai is an amazing cosmopolitan city. We’ve been looking for a store for a while, so when this one became available, we made it happen.
GRAZIA: Tell us about the inspiration behind the design of the store.
SZ: Yeah, we work with a designer, Don, that we’ve worked with for since nearly our first store that Nicky and I opened. And he has evolved with us over time. He creates these beautiful spaces that are a mix of vintage Australian art, international art, used a lot of colour, and he brings a lot of custom built pieces. In each of our stores really, he tries to design them in a way that there is a nod to the local region that they’re in. So every store is a little bit different, but they definitely have his his style about them.
GRAZIA: How would you describe the Zimmermann woman?
SZ: I think the Zimmerman woman is more feminine. She likes beautiful detail. I think that she probably likes to have fun. Most people like to buy our dresses or an outfit from Zimmerman for a special occasion, so I think she’s a confident woman, knows what she’s doing, and has exactly in mind what she wants to wear.
GRAZIA: Why do you think Arab women are such a huge fan of the brand?
NZ: Probably first and foremost, the femininity. I don’t think it’s really that different to what appeals to women in other regions, to be honest. I think in the design room, we really focus on making sure that there’s a real love component with everything that we do in terms of colour and fabrication. It’s very much about what we want to wear as well. So we’re very aware how women feel in clothing and what they want out of it. I think the appeal is femininity, color, texture. Apart from the coverage, I think also we have that resort kind of vibe with what we do as well, which is in being here. It’s definitely part of the lifestyle. So that works well for us as well.
GRAZIA: Tell us about the inspiration behind the new collection and any favourite pieces.
NZ: So far as the inspiration for the collection for Spring/Summer, it’s called Natura. It was about all different types of art form or how that can represent nature. So things like Mark Rothko paintings, incredible botanical drawings and then organic sculptures. So all of these referencing was put together. And I think through the collection it’s quite visible what we did.
GRAZIA: What is it like working together and building a brand as sisters?
SZ: I mean, it’s obviously a topic of conversation when we meet people, in terms of how does two sisters work together for such a long time? We’re a small part of a much bigger machine these days, and we work with so many amazing people doing incredible specialized things. But from a leadership team, Nicky’s husband is our CEO. So it’s very much a family business from that point of view, and that we’re very lucky that the three of us all do very different things and are happy in the things that we tend to lean towards. So, Nicky, from a creative point of view, is everything about product. My role as CEO is running the business operationally and organizationally. And Chris is our boss actually, and takes care of the corporate strategy and leadership of the of the business which has been great. So we’re really lucky to have the three of us being better at different things.
GRAZIA: Does that mean Nicky is allowed to have creative differences?
NZ: So how it happens is, I’ll come up with a theme for a collection, but there’s a lot of process that goes behind that and no one outside of my design team really knows exactly what we’re going going to do and what the idea is. There’s a lot of development, and I can’t go and show either Chris or Simone really what the idea is until I have it quite well developed and until I know that it’s a solid idea that can carry a full season. Without a doubt, both Simone and Chris’s opinion on what I’m doing for that season is my first protocol. It’s a fairly separate entity, but I like to get a tick of approval.
GRAZIA: What is the most challenging part of working together?
NZ: We’ve had many years of working together, so we are able to travel together, work together, come to a place like Dubai and open a store. These are things, I think, in our situation sisters would dream of. It’s unbelievable. We’re sometimes sitting on a plane going, oh, we’re off to Paris together again. How did this happen? We look at it in that way. I have such enormous support of what I do creatively and we both have an enormous amount of respect for what each other does.
SZ: Yeah, Nicky sums it up for sure. And I think that the opportunity to work in a family business is great, but it’s also about having to work with people that you have fun with, that you enjoy, that are obviously, you know dear to you, but really it’s about the experiences that we get to to do together.
GRAZIA: What has been your favourite celebrity Zimmermann moment so far?
SZ: I’m really bad with celebrities, but I do remember when Beyoncé wore one of our garments. It was a corset outfit that she wore in a video, and it was it just went absolutely mad. And the fact that I knew who that was, I was pretty pleased.
NZ: I think for me, the most amazing thing is when they come into the store themselves, quite often we’ll find from the store teams. The fact that it’s their choice of a garment is probably less about a specific person. The other day a photo came through of Taylor Swift dancing around on a boat in one of our swimsuits, and that’s when you go, oh, wow. But it’s also because I didn’t know that that was going to happen, and they’re the best kind of moments. When it’s their choice, because obviously the world is their oysters.
