Do Dhār: In Stilte Gewapen (Double Edged: Armed in Silence)

This collection explores the duality of armour and fragility within femininity, fusing strength with vulnerability through bold, sculptural silhouettes. Influenced by gothic futurism, I work with exaggerated proportions, sharp tailoring, and dark, distorted tones to express the tension between protection and exposure.

Using deadstock materials, I hand weave leather into rigid structures while spacer mesh and neoprene allow me to build fluid, avant garde forms. Referencing surrealism, religious iconography, and fetish symbolism, I aim to challenge beauty ideals and reframe femininity as both sacred and subversive.

This vision is rooted in my upbringing between South African and Pakistani cultures—raised by matriarchs who embodied power in radically different forms. My South African mother and grandmothers were stoic and spiritually grounded; the Pakistani women in my life navigated strength through softness and restraint. Together, they taught me that femininity is never singular, but always layered, strategic, and deeply tied to survival.

Each garment becomes a double edged expression: tender but unyielding, sensual but shielded. These forms act as emotional armour for women shaped by diasporic, patriarchal worlds.

My silhouettes don’t aim to flatter—they provoke. They speak to the body as a site of resistance and transformation. This is sustainable design as rebellion: weaving the traditional with the futuristic, the inherited with the reinvented.

Do Dhār: In Stilte Gewapen is a tribute to the women who raised me—those who taught me that silence can be armed, and softness can cut.