One of Maneeza’s sketches.
Prepare the runway, this voracious fashion designer is here to dazzle the crowd.
At the age of 12, Maneeza Rahmany, the Malaysian born Australian citizen of Indo- Turkish descent knew she would be in the world of couture, the industry of glitz and glamour. Honing her skills to master this artistry, her designs have been wowing the public bringing in cultures of Asia, North America, and soon enough, the Middle East.
We’ve talked to Maneeza on a cold morning, she had every look a designer can be – simplicity of elegance. Her personal billboard was a silk green top, white pants and shoes, and a no makeup look.
“I’ve started with arts and expanded into fashion designing because I’ve always been into it like drawing, sketching, and creating things. My first garment is when I was 12, I was in the youth fashion show, and that was how I first got in fashion design, I’ve learned how to sew and sketch,” she said.
Maneeza bagged the Young Designer of the Year at the 2017 Apex Australia Teenage Fashion and Arts Youth Festival in Perth, Australia; and just recently in 2019, she was among awarded the Charles Darwin University Arts Award which celebrates the creative practices of young people, particularly the initiative and commitment required to produce inspirational work.
The cloth that she created is a yellow top and pants with garments from India, it’s almost like a twitch of Sari, but the bottom is of pants-like design, and instead of the usual drape, it was like a bolero.
Maneeza receiving the NT Young Achiever Awards.
Her drive to showcase her talents was seen by local and international communities, sewing every culture she knows through garments. She has been competing endlessly in various fashion shows and festivals including NTeen Fashion Festival and the Northern Territory Young Achiever Awards.
She’s rigorous on what she really wanted to do. “I’ve been doing it for six years now. That’s what I really enjoy. My main passion is designing.”
Fashion designing is a very competitive industry but somehow Maneeza’s journey has been a smooth one. She told us how she experiments with culture and integrate it to her designs.
“I started with Indian because that is where I came from, and then three to four years later I turned to Mexican, followed by African. And coming here in Doha, the culture is different. And compared to other, the fashion is modest, and that’s another thing,” she explained.
And amongst all of these cultures, she said she always go back to her roots – the Indian culture.
Maneeza, although an Australian expatriate now didn’t leave the vibrant and rich culture of India. And there’s something on that background she drew inspiration on her works – the deep connection of clothing.
“Indian culture is what I’ve always known. I’ve seen my mother, aunties and the men in my family have a deep connection with their garments. Even at my cousin’s wedding, the routine of choosing your fabric, talking to the embroiderer and other local artisans to create a personalised item of clothing is a very step by step process.”
“What the bride and groom wear, and (these clothes) bring down to generation. During the wedding I am wearing a scarf that my great grandmother had, it’s a very generational thing, I think the sentiment with Indian culture is what I really like and go back to.”
Maneeza revealed that she is working on to design a garment suitable for the Muslim women, she termed it “fashionable but completely modest,” she even shared her recent visit at Christian Dior Designer of Dreams at M7 in Musheireb Downtown Doha.
“It was so fashionable. I’ve never been modest in my design and it’s the first time I’ve been exposed. Even here, you can see abayas and thobes, it’s completely covered to an extent you can see the person’s figures, and I think that’s what inspired me.”
The young lady also stressed the way how women express themselves through fashion clothing, she said they are “empowered.”
“There is empowerment with the women’s fashion, just because you are covered doesn’t mean you are not confident,” she said. Her inspiration from all of these? A collection of personalities, cultures, and even architecture.
“Designers, artists, and anyone that create something. I love the Muslim and Indian architectures, just the geometry of everything is astounding. In terms of designer - American designer Kerby Jean-Raymond, his brand is called Pyer Moss. He comes from a very similar inspiration – he’s Haitian and African-American, he does like social topics like Black Lives Matter, Ethnic cleansing, he have a topic that is relevant today. There’s more depth to the garment.”
Pyer Moss was founded in 2013, as mens and womenswear fashion label concerned with building a narrative that speaks about heritage and activism.
Maneeza was born radical. She wanted to do something more in fashion designing.
“My biggest goal is to work in sustainability so people can understand the difference between fast and slow fashion.
Take for instance you are buying a $10 top from a well-known clothing brand, have you ever thought how much is the person who made that top earning?”
In 10 to 20 years, she told me that she wants to do really well in her career. “I am not so much for the fame, not the big lights and career, but I want to do something that makes a difference, like in education.” Maneeza is determined to change this trend and wants to ensure everyone including the last person in the supply line gets his fair share.
Maneeza is complex, penchant for fashion designing, she replaced dolls with needles and garments as her playtime, and coming to her age of 20 this year, the shift of desire to make an impact and transformation into the world of fashion is what she is aiming for.
The perky life of this industry has a verbal sharpness and ability to touch and cognize people on the meaning of every sew, thread and stitches that a designer make. Maneeza’s craft is a strand that keeps on tailoring, it patterns, it fits, and once we stitch altogether, it creates a splendour of beauty that narrates our culture and sustainability.
