By Brit Olivia
Fashion weeks are built around what comes next. New silhouettes, emerging designers and collections hoping to influence what people will wear in the seasons ahead.
For Aql&Nafs, however, looking forward also means making sure something important isn’t left behind.
The London-based luxury fashion label, founded by Afghan twin sisters, presented its collection at Dartmouth House in Mayfair on September 18, bringing Afghan design and craftsmanship before a sold-out audience during London Fashion Week.
Presented alongside Fashion Represents and Paris Runway Official, the showcase attracted fashion media from across Europe, including editors representing publications such as Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, Grazia and Glamour.
For Aql&Nafs, the international stage offered something larger than exposure for another collection. It provided an opportunity to introduce audiences to a side of Afghan culture that is rarely given this kind of global fashion platform.
Building a Luxury Brand Around Afghan Identity
Aql&Nafs has built its identity around the idea that traditional Afghan craftsmanship does not have to remain confined to traditional clothing.
Instead, the label brings those influences into contemporary luxury.
One of the clearest examples is the Afghan coat, a garment deeply associated with the country’s fashion heritage. Through Aql&Nafs, familiar elements such as embroidery, texture and traditional craftsmanship are incorporated into pieces designed for today’s wardrobe.
The result is a collection that moves between cultural tradition and contemporary fashion without asking either side to disappear.
Alongside its traditional-inspired designs, the brand has expanded into modern coats, cropped jackets and other pieces that introduce Afghan influences in ways that can reach customers well beyond Afghanistan.
That approach has already started attracting attention within the fashion industry. Ahead of its London Fashion Week appearance, Paris Runway Official included Aql&Nafs among five designers to watch.
The Women Behind the Craftsmanship
The people creating the garments are an equally important part of the Aql&Nafs story.
The company works with women artisans in Afghanistan who use embroidery techniques passed down through generations.
Some of that work cannot be rushed.
An embroidered Aql&Nafs coat can require several weeks of work by women artisans in Afghanistan, turning each garment into a physical record of techniques that have survived through families and communities.
The partnership also has an economic purpose.
By providing paid craftsmanship opportunities, Aql&Nafs is connecting women in Afghanistan with an international fashion business at a time when employment opportunities for Afghan women have faced significant restrictions.
That relationship changes the meaning of taking Afghan fashion global.
International growth for the label can also mean greater visibility for the artisans, traditions and communities behind the clothing.
A Different Picture of Afghanistan
Fashion may not be the first industry people associate with Afghanistan internationally.
Aql&Nafs is helping challenge that limited picture.
Afghanistan has a long history of textile work, embroidery, intricate patterns and distinctive clothing. By bringing those traditions into spaces such as London Fashion Week, the brand is presenting Afghan culture through creativity rather than allowing the country’s identity to be defined exclusively by conflict and political headlines.
The runway becomes a different kind of introduction.
Audiences encounter Afghanistan through color, craftsmanship, clothing and the work of women whose skills might otherwise never reach an international customer.
For the twin sisters behind Aql&Nafs, that creates an opportunity to build a luxury label while simultaneously expanding the conversation surrounding Afghan design.
From Local Craft to an International Runway
Dartmouth House provided a striking setting for that mission.
In the heart of Mayfair, models walked before an international fashion audience wearing garments connected to techniques practiced thousands of miles away.
The distance between an artisan working on embroidery in Afghanistan and a model walking during London Fashion Week may be enormous geographically.
Aql&Nafs is attempting to make that distance much smaller creatively.
Every collection provides another bridge between the two worlds.
As the label grows, its September 18 presentation may ultimately represent something bigger than a successful London runway appearance.
It demonstrates how an independent fashion company can use international visibility not only to build a brand, but also to carry craftsmanship, cultural identity and the work of overlooked artisans into new markets.
For Aql&Nafs, taking Afghan fashion forward begins with making sure the people and traditions behind it come along too.
Credits:
Show: Fashion Represents @fashionrepresents.
Production & Founder: Fashion Represents @fashionrepresents.
Paris Runway Official
Writer/Journalist: Brit Olivia @onceuponatimebrit
PR: Paris Runway Official (PRO) @parisrunwayofficial
PRO Producer: Sangeetha Menon @sangeetha_menon_official
PRO PR Assistant: Gena Aspinall-Martin @
Goody Bags: @wrappingpond @yisebeauty @lovecorn_snacks @
PRO Photographers:
@yuliafun
@the_quantum_lotus @qlotuslabs
Designers:
PRO Beauty Team:
Makeup team
@Glow_by_elenadragomir (Head of Hair & Makeup)
@Mariia.magdau
@Lorena.chencian
@Catalina_chifiriuc
@Anamariacarsote
@Andrada_valentina_
@Ivan.jucos.denisa
@Enciu.ralucaj
@Manuela_mandrut_mua
Hair team:
@Glow_by_elenadragomir (Head of Hair & Makeup)
@July.u
@Birtomdana
@unique_byanna.07
@andramishellemakeup
@Hairartist_octavia_maria
@Katksthrine.K2