Last Saturday, Deana Shaaban launched her 2012 spring/summer collection at “Cairo’s first pop-up venue for art, fashion and brands,” 18.213 in Maadi. The collection mixes two different worlds of fashion: bold, warm colors and big prints paired with small and pale floral sequences.
Shaaban creates the right combination for her devotees. Rhythmic beats of African music play in the background as a server walks around with cupcakes in flavors such as pink lemonade, espresso and chocolate while clients checked out the new creations.
This season, Shaaban has introduced a new concept in design: “Africa Meets Little House on the Prairie.” The collection depicts a world filled with bold and bright colors and prints mixed with light, summertime fabrics. The young designer said she wanted to create a collection that embodies a woman in all her faces and forms. “For the collection I wanted to draw on the strength of the African woman, her bold and defined personality, with the delicate, soft and subtle beauty that is epitomized in the book ‘Little House on the Prairie,’” says Shaaban.
Shaaban uses fresh colors for this hot season, like yellows, purples, reds, greens, blues and white. The collection is all about comfort and freedom. Flowery dresses, loose bulb-shaped cotton skirts and blouses are the main theme of the collection. There are also loose, silky harem pants. Shaaban incorporates the contradictory aspects of her collection into every piece and astoundingly, the end result is homogeneous and simply pretty.
Head accessories are the main addition to this collection — Shaaban was clearly inspired by African head wraps, with her brightly colored and patterned flower-shaped hair clips and chapeau-like headbands which were the talk and toast of the event.
Shaaban uses her talent with draping and creates four evening dresses for this season. The soiree line incorporates elements of ancient Rome. The small collection is feminine, flowing and elegant.
Like all of Shaaban’s collections, her new spring creations define every angle of a woman and the freedom that the summer season brings.
“This collection is a guided tour into the very core of every woman,” Shaaban says.
