Asian bridal designers are a dime a dozen, one of the most common trade/business in the Asian market, and when it comes to design, it seems we have seen it all. But something ground-breaking is happening in a quaint but luxurious studio in the north-west of England; a brand is emerging where the designs are unconventional, are being propelled by eye-catching campaigns and is headed by no means an ordinary designer; Arfa Malik.


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Bold yet elegantly dressed, Arfa steps out in the busy streets of Manchester city centre in her beige cashmere trench coat and oversized black designer sunglasses and zips through the crowds in her heels towards her studio whilst maintaining an iron grip on her coffee order: “If we head over now we can catch a quick chat before my next appointment” Arfa calls to me whilst infront, marching in her heels in perfect precision. Her assistant tries to blend in the crowd whilst filming Arfa for a documentary series on YouTube.


We settle down in her office above the studio in no time – Arfa removes her sunglasses, sips her cappuccino, locks her eyes and directs ‘so what do you want to know?’ whilst poising a coy smile.


Her direct and no-nonsense approach could be attributed to her 10-year previous career as a professional lawyer in the city. ‘I’ve always been an artist at heart’ she says wistfully as she reclines in her seat, relaxing her shoulders. ‘I’m a firm believer that if you look good, you feel good, and if you feel good, good things and energy is attracted to you. You are what you perceive yourself. But the most important thing is you have to believe in your beauty yourself; it’s then your outfits job to capture, highlight and then frame your beauty and radiance.’


Her brand philosophy is centred around bold, clean, well-tailored silhouettes with eye-catching designs paired with an extreme attention to detail of every single embroidered and hand worked component on her outfits. ‘Being a lawyer for 10 years means I retained the habit to scrutinise and go over everything 100 times over’ she chuckles. ‘It took me 4 years to source the best artisans and tailors to create my vision. Before I even started creating my designs, I thought to myself if I’m going to do this, it has to be the best of the best - no shortcuts.’


Established only 2021, ‘Arfa Malik’ launched her premium couture; a collection of designs with bold yet timeless cuts detailed with exceptional hand embroidery and techniques rooted deep in her Asian heritage. The pieces are a fresh of breath air, embodying the western cuts that are desired by the modern woman whilst detailed with the beautiful and lavish hand embroidered work that is longed for and is easily identifiable to the Arfa malik brand.


‘I love bringing out a womans beauty and femininity through my pieces, especially in couture.’ And this is already showing; Arfa’s growingly popular brand has already been modelled by some of the industry’s top actresses and celebrities. Most recently, Arfa organised her first official private catwalk of her latest couture collection at Emirates Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester in May 2022 to a crowd of a 1000 people dressed in black tie and treated to a 5 course dinner. Icons Hira Mani and Mani (Salman Sheikh) also featured and modelled her couture pieces on the catwalk. Given the raving reviews of her first solo show, there is little reason to believe that the next will not be bigger and better, with more celebrity stars featuring and with further endorsements from Asian-British communities.   


‘Haha, we’ll have to wait and see!’ Arfa smiled ‘the next collection will be bigger and more impactful, something that I am very much looking forward to bringing to life!’. And with that, Arfa sips the last of her coffee, thanks me for my attendance, stands up and straightens her stylish black pants and cream polo and heads to her next client appointment, her heels clicking in a uniformly descending tone; I feel we will be seeing alot more of her in the coming future.


All of Arfa Maliks creations and pieces can be viewed on her Instagram @arfamalikofficial, website www.arfamalik.com, and other social medial platforms.


 


 


(Above mentioned article is a sponsored feature, This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of IDPL, and IDPL claims no responsibility whatsoever.)