A Question of Purity

German-born Daniela Karnuts, the woman behind the label SAFiYAA, was in the city last week, and Dubai's fashion set queued up for a tête-à-tête with the designer. The London-based brand may not take part in fashion weeks or retail at department stores, but those in the know rely on SAFiYAA for elegant staples that range from a simple but chic pair of black trousers to a dramatic full ball gown evening dress.
The SAFiYAA showroom is in London's Mayfair, and it is here that Karnuts meets her very glamorous clients. Among those who have been spotted wearing the label on the red carpet are Kate Winslet, Kyra Sedgwick, Jennifer Lopez, Gigi Hadid and Chrissy Teigen. Closer home, Dubai style setters such as Rosemin Manji are loyal to the label too. The reason why these women trust SAFiYAA has a lot to do with the designer's approach to fashion. Karnuts has no formal training, though she has worked as commercial director of the annual international fashion fundraiser Fashion Rocks.
As the 2008-09 recession set in, fashion was perhaps not the place to be, and Karnuts moved into the corporate world of "pure business". She suddenly found that wardrobe solutions for corporate women who enjoy fashion were non-existent. "I knew what I wanted.
If I had been a man, I could have gone to Saville Row and just been able to order a wardrobe that works."The move into the corporate world not only gave Karnuts the ideato start her label, it is also where she met her husband, who comes from the well-known London-based Ismaili entrepreneurial family, the Shamjis.
Which explains the Eastern name behind her label, SAFiYAA (meaning "pure" in Urdu).The label is named after her daughter, and her first collection was made in India. She eventually moved production to Istanbul. "Everything is done at our studio," she says. "Nothing is outsourced. There is one person who works on each piece from start to finish.
"With fabrics coming from France and Italy, SAFiYAA is truly a global British fashion house. Her first capsule collection was bought by Dubai's Boutique 1, so the label has always had a special connect to the city. And Karnuts hopes to open a showroom here soon. She was in Dubai last week to meet her clients and preview her Fall/Winter2016 collection. With the designer personally overseeing all fittings,it is clear SAFiYAA is all about attention to detail.
This is demi couture, at ready-to-wear prices, as each dress is made specific to the client measurements. Karnuts has adopted the Saville Row principles of tailoring to her label, and this ensures each SAFi-YAA piece is made to measure. She also does not feel the need to be dictated to by trends. "We do have seasons and, of course, we keep updating, but the idea is to keep it classic. I want the woman to wear the dress, and not the dress to wear the woman. This was a fashion lesson I learnt from my own mother." And it is this philosophy that makes SAFiYAA popular with celebrity stylists.
Karnuts believes her sense of style is inspired by her mother and grandmother and does not feel her lack of training has hampered her in any way. SAFiYAA is only six seasons old and already has a cult following, proving that Karnuts' formula is a style success.
It is a label that mixes the traditions of British tailoring with an international outlook and contemporary aesthetic. "When a cashmere sweater is perfect, you return to that brand again and again, and that is how our clients feel about a SAiFYAA dress," she says.
sujata@khaleejtimes.com

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