![]() | |
Type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Fashion |
Founded | September 2008 |
Founder | Ayaan and Idyl Mohallim |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | worldwide |
Key people | Ayaan and Idyl Mohallim |
Website | www |
Mataano ("Twins" in the Somali language) is a women's fashion line. Founded in 2008, it is owned by Somali-American twin fashion designers Ayaan and Idyl Mohallim.
Ayaan and Idyl Mohallim were born in Alabama to Somali parents. [1] They moved to Somalia at an early age, and spent their first nine years there. When the Somali Civil War broke out in the early 1990s, they returned to the United States. [2]
Settling in northern Virginia, just outside Washington D.C., the sisters developed an interest in fashion after their mother bought them fashion magazines. Their family put an emphasis on education, envisioning the girls' studying at top schools in preparation for professional careers. Upon graduation from college, the twins moved to New York City to pursue their goal of becoming fashion designers. Idyl quickly secured an internship with Betsey Johnson, [1] where she acquired skills in design technique and color. [2] Ayaan obtained a production job at Jill Stuart. [1]
Mataano specializes in contemporary ready-to-wear pieces for women. [3] [4] It began mainly with dress production, with an accent on comfort. Plans were also made to branch out into other areas of fashion. [4]
To establish a foothold in the fashion market, Ayaan and Idyl focused on ensuring their wear was ready for distribution. They then retained the services of a PR firm to help them advertise their brand, in the process sending out press releases and look books, as well as establishing a website. [4] Their marketing efforts eventually earned the designers an invitation to the Oprah Winfrey Show to Skype with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. [2] The Mohallim sisters have also been invited to showcase in Sweden, South Africa, Jamaica and at New York Fashion Week. [1]
Mataano showcased its premier collection for Spring 2009 in New York City. [3] Consisting of ten dresses, it attracted attention in the fashion industry and received enthusiastic reviews. [2] [3] The brand has since launched six other collections during New York Fashion Week. [3]
The Somali filmmaker Idil Ibrahim later directed Mataano's official promotional video for the fashion line's 2009 Fall collection. She likewise directed the official promotional video for the company's 2010 Spring collection. [5]
In Spring 2012, supermodel and fellow Somali Iman also signed Ayaan and Idyl as brand ambassadors for her cosmetics line. [1]
The Mohallim twins say they strive to incorporate their experiences and influences as Somali Americans into their designs, reflecting both cultures in their work. [4] Mataano's Spring 2013 collection in part drew inspiration from Los Angeles' beaches, featuring light silks and organzas. According to co-founder Ayaan, the sisters ultimately design for multicultural women like themselves. The silks and colorful hues that adorn the fashion line are typical of Somali female attire. [1]
In terms of other fashion designers, Ayaan and Idyl's primary influences include Tracy Reese and Carolina Herrera, whom they feel have an international appeal. They also admire the work of Donna Karen and Oscar de la Renta. [2]
As of 2013, Mataano is designed and manufactured in New York City. [3]
Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid, known mononymously as Iman, is a Somali–American model and actress. A muse of the designers Gianni Versace, Thierry Mugler, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, and Yves Saint Laurent, she is also noted for her philanthropic work. She was married to rock musician David Bowie from 1992 until his death in 2016.
Ready-to-wear is the term for garments sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothing tailored to a particular person's frame. In other words, it is a piece of clothing that was mass produced in different sizes and sold that way instead of it being designed and sewn for one person. The term off-the-peg is sometimes used for items other than clothing, such as handbags.
Giorgio Armani is an Italian fashion designer. He first gained renown working for Cerruti and then for many others, including Allegri, Bagutta and Hilton. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, which eventually expanded into music, sport and luxury hotels. By 2001 Armani was acclaimed as the most successful designer of Italian origin, and is credited with pioneering red-carpet fashion. In 2010, he opened the Armani Hotel in Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. He is also the richest openly bisexual person in the world. According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Armani has an estimated net worth of US$9.53 billion, as of 2021.
Fendi is an Italian luxury fashion house producing fur, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces and accessories. Founded in Rome in 1925, Fendi is known for its fur, fur accessories, and leather goods. Since 2001, Fendi has been part of the “Fashion & Leather Goods” division of French group LVMH. Its headquarters are in Rome, in the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana.
Acne Studios is a multidisciplinary luxury fashion house based in Stockholm, Sweden that specializes in men's and women's ready-to-wear fashion, footwear, accessories and denim. When founded in 1996, the label derived its name from the creative collective ACNE; initially an acronym for Associated Computer Nerd Enterprises and later a backronym of Ambition to Create Novel Expressions.
Christopher John Kane is a Scottish fashion designer based in London.
Giambattista Valli is an Italian fashion designer. He is from Rome, Italy. His collections, both ready to wear and Haute couture are presented semi-annually during Paris Fashion Week.
Yves Saint Laurent SAS, also known as Saint Laurent and YSL, is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1962 by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé. The company specializes in haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather accessories, and footwear. Its cosmetics line, YSL Beauty, is owned by L'Oréal.
Rodarte is an American brand of clothing and accessories founded and headquartered in Los Angeles, California, USA, by sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy.
Peter Som is a Chinese American fashion designer. He was creative director for Bill Bass and creative consultant for Tommy Hilfiger, where he designed the women’s wear collection, prior to founding his eponymous label. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Peter Som graduated from Connecticut College in 1993 with a degree in art history. He continued his studies at the Parsons School of Design where he apprenticed with American designers, Michael Kors and Calvin Klein. At Parsons, his talent was recognized through competitions; he won and was presented with the Parsons Gold Thimble Award by Isaac Mizrahi.
A cruise collection or resort collection or resort wear sometimes also holiday or travel collection, is an inter-season or pre-season line of ready-to-wear clothing produced by a fashion house or fashion brand in addition to the recurrent biannual seasonal collections — spring/summer and autumn /winter — heralded at the fashion shows in New York, London, Paris, and Milan.
Sabyasachi Mukherjee is an Indian fashion designer, jewelry designer, retailer and couturier from Kolkata, India. Since 1999, he has sold designer merchandise using the label Sabyasachi. Mukherjee is one of the Associate Designer Members of Fashion Design Council of India and the youngest board member of the National Museum of Indian Cinema. He has designed costumes for Bollywood films such as Guzaarish, Baabul, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Raavan, and English Vinglish.
Adele Simpson was an American fashion designer with a successful career that spanned nearly five decades, as well as a child performer in vaudeville who danced in productions with Milton Berle and other entertainers.
Vionnet is an haute couture label founded by the French couturier Madeleine Vionnet. Established in 1912, the house of Vionnet closed doors in 1939. Vionnet was relaunched by Guy and Arnaud de Lummen in the mid-1990s with perfumes and accessories, and then in 2006 with ready-to-wear collections. Since 2012, Vionnet belongs to the Kazakh businesswoman Goga Ashkenazi.
For decades now, fashion in South Korea has evolved due to inspirations from Western culture in the past, from Korea's wealth, social media practices in Korea as well as the country's highly developed economy. This, with the rise of the Korean Wave has also made Korea highly influential in fashion trends worldwide due to the popularity of its modern pop culture.
Israeli fashion refers to fashion design and modeling in Israel.
Maison Margiela, formerly Maison Martin Margiela, is a French luxury fashion house founded by Belgian designer Martin Margiela and Jenny Meirens in 1988 and headquartered in Paris. The house produces both haute couture-inspired artisanal collections and ready-to-wear collections, with the former influencing the designs of the latter. Product lines include womenswear, menswear, fine jewelry, footwear, accessories, leather goods, objects, fragrance, and home goods, among others. Known for deconstructive and avant-garde designs with unconventional materials, Maison Margiela has traditionally held live shows in unusual settings, for example empty metro stations and street corners. Models' faces are often obscured by fabric or long hair to direct attention to the clothes and design. Margiela resigned as creative designer in 2009 and John Galliano was appointed to the role in 2014.
Vivienne Hu is an American fashion designer based in New York City.
Opening Ceremony is a fashion brand founded in 2002 by fashion designers Carol Lim and Humberto Leon. The brand designs and creates its own products and also retails other emerging fashion labels. Opening Ceremony is known for exotic runway shows and advocating global issues. During the COVID-19 pandemic the company announced it would close all its physical stores due to bankruptcy.