European line, traditional cloth

Suzan Azeem

A quiet European line, carrying Banarasi brocade and mirrors set by hand. Made in Dubai for the woman who lives in two worlds at once.

See the cuts Register for the launch
Cuts in the register
0
Hours of mirrorwork
0
Made per cut, per season
0
A strapless bodice of copper brocade folded into wide panels edged with mirrorwork, tied at the waist with a broad undyed linen sash.
i The Bow Bodice. Folded brocade, linen sash

The house

She belongs to two worlds. Her clothes should, too.

Every piece starts with a quiet European line. Clean shoulders. A soft fall. Nothing that shouts. Then the East arrives: gold thread, small mirrors, brocade still woven by hand.

I have never seen these as two things being mixed. They have always sat well together: the calm of one, the warmth of the other. One does not soften the other. Each makes room.

Everything is made in Dubai. Drawn, cut, embroidered and finished under one roof, by the same hands, until it is right.

Suzan Azeem, Dubai

Chapter I

The cuts

Nine cuts form the permanent register. Each is made six times a season, numbered, and fitted to one body.

A full A-line skirt in undyed linen finished with a deep damask brocade border and two rows of mirrors at the hem.

The A-Line

True circle, weighted border

№ 01
A halter-necked gown in cream chiffon with mirrorwork bands crossing the bodice and ringing the neckline.

The Halter

Crossed mirror bands

№ 02
A bias-cut wrap skirt in camel cloth knotted at one hip, with a length of copper brocade falling from the knot.

The Bias Wrap

Knotted hip, falling panel

№ 03
A finely knife-pleated skirt in pale chiffon with a single vertical mirrorwork panel down the centre front.

The Pleated Column

Knife pleats, centre panel

№ 04
A full balloon sleeve in cream velvet gathered into a brocade cuff edged with mirrors.

The Balloon Sleeve

Gathered full, brocade cuff

№ 05
A structured linen collar with sharp shoulders worn above a brocade bandeau bordered in mirrors.

The Bandeau

Structured collar, mirror border

№ 06
A dress form draped in a single length of camel cloth, standing in a panelled room with herringbone floors.

She was never asked to choose between two worlds. Her clothes shouldn’t ask either.

Suzan Azeem

Chapter II

How it is made

A hand marking a panel of camel wool with a flat tailor's chalk in low afternoon light.
001 Marking the panel

Slow, on purpose.

The brocade is woven to order on one family’s loom, about nine metres a week. Every mirror is cut by hand and set in a ring of gold thread. Never glued. Forty in a good hour.

Hands couching a small round mirror onto copper brocade with a needle and gold thread.
002 Shisha, set by needle
Rolls of undyed linen beside folded copper brocade, loose mirrors and a wooden spool of gold thread.
003 The season's cloth
Close view of a hem border in copper brocade, edged above and below with rows of round mirrors in gold rings.

The border

Weight where the cloth wants it

The brocade border is not trim. It is ballast, the reason a circle skirt swings back to centre instead of flying out. We weave it heavy for that reason alone, and set the mirrors in two rows so the hem catches light as it settles.

  • Border depth18–24 cm
  • Mirrors per hem≈ 300
  • ThreadGold-wrapped silk

Chapter III

A private fitting

Fittings are held privately at the atelier in Dubai, one client at a time. Write to us and we will find an hour.

atelier@suzanazeem.com

Next collection

The register opens soon.

Nine cuts, six of each, numbered as they are finished. Leave an address and you will be written to the morning it opens, before anyone else is told.

One message when the collection launches. Nothing else, ever.