Just launched, Dynasty already has caught our attention with its statement designs and “sway elegance”. Compared to what we see in the local fashion market these days, this brand definitely has a voice of its own. Founded by four AUC graduates, the masterminds behind this brand decided to stay anonymous to allow their creations to speak for itself. We sat with them to talk about their perspective and creative process.
How did your brand start?
We’re all friends from university and we got together mid-summer to think about the potential of the industry and why not create and promote an Egyptian brand, since we have all the resources in Egypt, including the designers, the ideas, the factories and textiles. We decided to try it out and gave it one month to come up with a groundbreaking idea or some sort of edge that will add something new to the market. If not, we were going to quit. In just two weeks, we had started building the idea of our brand, which revolves around the challenges, opportunities and questions that we face as millennials and turning it into something that we can wear.
What does the brand name Dynasty stand for?
The main concept we are after is to bring two things from different times that share something powerful in common, and then we thought of the people wearing our designs, that they would resemble a new dynasty altogether. Every collection we produce will be meant to resemble a new dynasty.
What stories do you hope to tell with your designs?
We definitely don’t want to stick to dark stories [like art censorship, art surveillance and immigration issues]. For example, we have a design titled ‘Winged Victory of Shakur’ celebrating Tupac Shakur as an icon and a civil rights enthusiast. At the end of the day, we don’t want our concepts to be too sophisticated or elitist for everyone to relate to and understand. We want everyone to join in the conversation and think about our ideas and develop them.
Who designs the clothing?
Surprisingly, we found a lot of internationally renowned fashion houses and designers in the Egyptian market. It didn’t take time to find people to work with but we were looking for people who clicked with the concepts we wanted to portray. We decided that we, the founders, will be the ones to come up with the themes and concepts but when it comes to the artistic process, we leave it to our designers. We may give them our preferences but we don’t tell them what to do. We want to give room for artistic freedom, which is something we’re preaching already with our designs.
Tell us about the inspiration behind your first collection.
Our first concern was to get the best result with the designs in the sense that they would look visually appealing, feel very comfy and sophisticated, and also be thought provoking to give a strong first impression. We can’t say that there is a common theme between all the designs and that’s the diversity that we wanted. Every design has its own message and, therefore, its own inspiration, which would normally come from issues most of us deal with in life.
What are the materials used in your collection?
A hundred percent Egyptian cotton. We really care about our quality being top-notch so we avoided polyester, for example, because it can cause a little skin irritation. We thought why not offer something that will not only look nice but at the same time be sustainable and feel great.
Where can people buy your clothing?
Our first phase is our Instagram online store, and then second phase will be boutiques and a website that is currently under construction. Our third phase is flagship stores, hopefully.
What is your vision for this brand in the future?
We want this very local brand to go international and become globally relatable.
By Sarah Guirguis
