Luxury can be a durable, versatile feeling. And it can definitely blend in with your personal style. At least that’s what Deborah Henning is out to achieve.
There are certain things most people are guilty of. From stocking up on trendy clothes that quickly fade from consciousness to ‘special event’ pieces that spend more time in the wardrobe than in the sun, there is a certain elusive element to luxury in fashion.
Smashing that notion to pieces with style is Deborah Henning and her namesake label. Having worked with the likes of Alexander McQueen in London to Sass and Bide in Australia, her spectrum of experience is uncontested. And akin to most starting out in fashion, the designer has personally undergone multiple style revolutions over the years.
When she moved to the UAE, however, she took a break. With no fashion labels to learn from thirteen years ago, it was basically bootstrapping on a wing and a prayer. More importantly, the determination and belief to identify her own style and bring it to life. Fortunately for her and the rest of us, it all came together in 2014.
“I am not a buy beautiful candles and save them for an event kind of person, I would rather buy beautiful candles and burn them. If I want to wear luxury clothes, I want to wear them during the day,” she says.
“I identified my style and wanted my brand to reflect it. I wanted something that is accessible, well-made, well put together and good enough to wear on weekends and on normal days.”
And that is exactly what she managed to do, having a penchant for creating pieces that are both modern and timeless. Her pieces are a balance of style and functionality and transition seamlessly from day to night, office to parties, and are versatile enough to style however you deem fit.
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A question that seemed to rear its head often revolved around the seemingly high price. Why would someone pay that much for a t-shirt?
“I was selling t-shirts for 600 dirhams and people were like ‘I don’t get it’. It’s a luxury t-shirt. You get to wear it all day or at night, it’s not H&M; it’s not the cost of a Balenciaga t-shirt. You get to have something in the middle. Back then, there weren’t people doing luxury casual, so people would ask for glitz and glam and rhinestones. So in the beginning it [minimalism] was what differentiated my brand,” she says.
The aptly titled ‘If Not Now Then When Jacket’ espouses this spirit quite well. In doubling as a shirt jacket or clipped as a cropped option, it can be styled with just about anything in your wardrobe to make for the perfect effortlessly luxe ensemble. Highest-quality fabrics blended with the right vision, manufacturing, and fair-trade practices have yielded a niche in the market over the years.
And also opened the doors to paths previously unconsidered by Deborah. She explains, “For at least ten years now I’ve been helping other brands create pieces. When I got a pitch from Majid Al Futtaim is when it struck me that I have another business [outside of my label here]. It kind of started to come out of nowhere off the backs of existing projects, but being in this region with my skill set and background made people want to work with me. Which is why I now want to take my formula as is and teach other people to copy-paste it.”
The recently launched Alaïa is just one of the numerous brands to have benefitted from Deborah Henning Consultancy. What the designer initially took three years to do herself, she could condense and have someone else do in three months. Add to that the invaluable access to her network and entrepreneurship is suddenly a less mammoth task.
So how would the fashionista recommend discovering your own timeless aesthetic?
“It’s taken me a lot of time over the years to figure out what I like. One way to do it is simply by looking at your wardrobe. Do you like oversized or slim-fits, black and white or colours? So look at whatever trend that works with, develop it a bit more, and see what works best for you,” she says. And a tastefully minimal DH piece is perhaps the best way to begin.
Want to know more? Take a look at deborahhenning.com
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Image source Deborah Henning
