LONDON — Hoor Al Qasimi, creative director of London-based brand Qasimi, collaborated with 84-year-old Sudanese artist Kamala Ibrahim Ishaq as a way of shedding light on the 2023 Sudan conflict.

Qasimi didn’t do the same old act of borrowing the prints for her collection. As a substitute, she fixated on a number of of Ishaq’s works and drew her own inspiration from some while she plastered others as a print onto the clothes.

“Ishaq did a painting called ‘People in Crystal Cubes,’ so I desired to take this concept of crystal-ism and crystal cubes to bring it into this story. It’s more about how the artist works,” said Qasimi during her London presentation at Somerset House, where the London Art Biennale is being hosted.

Clear crystals made their way throughout the gathering via a body hardness layered over a shirtdress with a peplum; under classic shirts where they resembled curtains and embroidered onto a sheer light yellow vest imitating the outlines of a plant inspired by Ishaq’s 1998 work “My Plant I.” 

This was Qasimi’s most straightforward and wearable collection thus far without compromising on fabrics corresponding to denim, organza and silk, which added a nonchalance.

The presentation also made space for 2 other collections by Omer Asim from Sudan and Salim Azzam from Lebanon, each of whom were winners of the Qasimi Rising award, a newly founded talent incubator to support emerging designers.

“It’s such a shame that folks are stuck for many alternative reasons. So why not share our platform? They’re capable of be here at London Fashion Week because we’re here, so let’s share our stage and contacts and, you recognize, support one another,” said Qasimi.

Azzam displayed three pieces of his work that were inspired by the small village of Mount Lebanon in Lebanon.

“The sun is all the time shining. There’s a number of lemon trees and a number of migrating birds on a regular basis, so I just desired to reflect this image of home,” explained Azzam of his design process, where each garment is made by female artisans from his village.

He lives in Beirut, where he has arrange a small shop for his brand, but visits the 60 women that he works with twice per week.

“There’s something about this land [Lebanon] that’s just so incredible, I believe that folks have been through a lot, but they use art and creativity as a solution to express themselves, so the creative scene is aggressive and exquisite in so many alternative ways,” said Azzam.

“The country takes lots from you, nevertheless it also offers lots, there’s a lot culture and variety — that’s something that I don’t think has been affected by the economical crisis and every part that we’ve been going through,” he added.

For Asim, whose brand relies in London, it was about showing pieces from his archive that he designed between 2017 and 2023 with a concentrate on a jacket.

His process will not be traditional within the sense that he doesn’t use themes nor mood board.

“It’s the concept of using one idea after which constantly constructing on it because the collections go on and changing it and evolving it,” said Maya Antoun, Asim’s co-creative director.

Omer Asim is perhaps quiet on the style front, nevertheless it has been running for greater than 10 years and has been stocked at Selfridges for six.

Asim studied architecture before moving to social psychology and Antoun was a jewellery maker before diving into design with Asim.