Abaya Designers: Mauzan, NAFS and Creative Choices
The name on an abaya leads to a series of creative decisions: where a line begins, how colour is distributed, which parts of the garment remain quiet and which draw the eye. Meeting the designer means looking at those decisions alongside the experiences and working relationships that helped shape them.
This guide explores particular makers through their own accounts and documented collections. You will find different ways of approaching the abaya, from changes to an established house’s designs to the shared imagination of a family team. The aim is to help you recognise a creative approach, understand the people involved and describe what interests you with more precision.
Mauzan: Rafia Helal Bin Drai’s continuing design conversation
Founded in 1990 by Rafia Helal Bin Drai, Mauzan provides a substantial body of work through which to explore one designer’s changing approach. In her August 2024 interview with Soigné, Rafia described traditional abaya silhouettes as a starting point for experiments with fabrics, embroidery and distinctive details.
She named nature and architecture among her sources of inspiration. Her emphasis suggests a useful way to approach the work: look for decisions that translate an outside reference into clothing. A design may interest you through its overall outline, the placement of ornament or the relationship between a quiet surface and a more elaborate feature.
Rafia also explained that Miss Mauzan was developed with younger clients in mind. Within her account, the line offers a way of responding to that audience while retaining a connection with the wider house. Looking across such collections can help you notice which ideas a designer carries forward and which she chooses to change.
A different setting for the abaya
A 2012 interview in The National captures Rafia preparing to present Mauzan at an unusual Paris event: a fashion show planned aboard the glass-topped boat Le Jean Bruel. Organiser Jessica Minh Anh spoke about the differences between the pieces and their use of colour as reasons for selecting the label.
Rafia discussed the possibility of adapting a collection for particular customers and countries, and her hope of meeting buyers. The conversation records her thinking while the event was still being prepared.
Its creative interest lies in the question of context. Presenting an abaya to a new audience involves considering how the garment will be encountered and understood. Rafia was thinking about a customer’s circumstances alongside the collection itself, while the organiser explained what attracted her attention within the designs. These are different perspectives on the same clothes, each useful in understanding their presentation.
Colour and surface in the 2014 collections
The house’s spring/summer 2014 collection announcement offers more specific details. Miss Mauzan included floral crochet in blue, red and purple, with designs described as mainly black and accented with other colours. The main Mauzan collection combined lace with crepe and chiffon with black crepe. Necklines included V shapes and versions sitting close around the neck.
These descriptions allow several separate design choices to be considered. Colour can occupy a small part of a garment yet become its most memorable feature. A change at the neckline can alter the emphasis near the face. Combining surfaces can create interest while keeping a limited palette.
Imagine comparing two designs with the same overall colour. If one concentrates its detail at the neckline and the other spreads it across the sleeves, your attention may travel differently over each. This is a way of thinking about placement: the design decision includes where a feature appears, as well as what that feature is.
Family memories, materials and the wearer
In A&E’s 2024 conversation with Rafia, she recalled watching her mother and grandmother make traditional abayas and accompanying them to fabric markets. These are her personal memories of learning to notice clothes and materials.
The interview also discussed Chapter 32. Asked about that season’s materials, she named linen, tulle and Tencel organza. Such details give a more concrete point of entry into the collection than a broad description of its mood. They invite curiosity about the different surfaces and forms she was exploring at that time.
Her answer about inspiration returns attention to the wearer. She said that seeing clients style Mauzan pieces encouraged her to develop further designs. In her account, the creative process continues after a collection leaves the studio, through observing how people combine and interpret the clothes. Family experience, material selection and the wearer’s imagination all have a place in the story she tells.
Translating an idea between different crafts
A collaboration with Vacheron Constantin gave Mauzan another design starting point. Zayed University’s profile of Rafia records seven abayas inspired by the watchmaker’s Égérie collection. The project connects two forms of design through an identifiable source of inspiration.
The university also distinguishes Mauzan, Mauzan Exclusive and Miss Mauzan within the house. Keeping the individual project and the different lines in view helps us understand the variety of work taking place under one brand name.
Rafia’s daughter, Mouza Aldhaheri, adds another perspective in her May 2021 Harper’s Bazaar Arabia interview. Discussing the watch collaboration, she explained that the garments were developed to complement the individual timepieces’ style and craftsmanship.
She described learning by moving through departments at Mauzan and recognising the specialised work undertaken by different people. When discussing mentorship, she also emphasised accepting advice and criticism and passing knowledge to a younger generation.
Her account broadens the idea of meeting a designer: the founder’s name is part of the story, alongside the knowledge of people contributing at other stages. For someone interested in fashion as a creative field, that distinction matters. It is possible to appreciate an overall vision while remaining curious about how it becomes a finished garment. Mouza’s comments direct attention towards learning within a working environment and understanding the separate responsibilities behind a collection.
Hoods, belts and Chapter 37
Speaking to Villa88 in February 2026, Rafia identified sculptural hoods and defined belts among details used to develop Mauzan’s silhouettes. These are concrete points of attention: one changes the outline around the upper body, while the other draws attention to how the garment is organised at the waist.
She discussed Chapter 37 for spring/summer 2026 and Ramadan through simplicity, balance and fluid shapes. In describing her approach to Ramadan, she considered both intimate gatherings and larger celebrations. The collection also included complementary mother-and-daughter kaftans, which she connected with relationships between generations and shared traditions.
Her explanation places shape and emotional purpose alongside one another. A collection can explore the outline of a garment while considering the occasions on which people might wear related clothes together. These are two different ways of developing a design brief: thinking about the form itself and thinking about the moment in someone’s life that it is intended to accompany.
NAFS: four sisters and a shared creative identity
NAFS takes its name from Noora, Alia, Fatma and Sara. A useful early account comes from a separate creative collaborator: Fatma Al Mulla, who described her work rebranding NAFS in an October 2012 portfolio post. Her project included the label’s visual identity and items identified in the post as a business card, tags and a suit bag.
Al Mulla’s contribution adds a second kind of design to the story. Alongside the sisters’ clothing work, she developed the materials through which the label presented itself. Distinguishing these roles gives credit to the people involved and helps explain how the collection acquired a visual identity.
The project also shows how a designer’s work can be presented beyond the garment itself. A consistent name and visual identity help an audience recognise a collection, while the clothes still need to communicate their own design ideas.
Combining four points of view
In Elisar Sasso’s NAFS interview in Masquerade, Issue 11, Fatma Al Taher described sisters with different preferences bringing elements of their tastes into the same designs. The feature discusses their interest in details seen on jackets, trousers and dresses, and how those references could be reconsidered for an abaya.
Fatma distinguished between materials used for different purposes at the time, naming royal nida for everyday abayas and organza for wedding pieces. She also spoke about developing their knowledge through experience and their intention to take fashion courses.
The most revealing part of the interview is the shared process. Four contributors need ways to bring ideas together while giving the garment a coherent result. Their description invites attention to the combination: which element establishes the overall shape, which adds a contrasting detail, and how the parts relate. It is an introduction to a family label in which different personal tastes can contribute to the same design, with learning continuing as the work develops.
The wearer’s personality within the design
Fatma’s December 2015 conversation with Harper’s Bazaar Arabia connects this approach to her own experience of wearing an abaya. She recalled receiving her first one shortly before Eid at thirteen and the significance it had within her family.
She described the sisters wanting greater variety than they had found for themselves, and explained their interest in taking creative risks with cuts and fabrics so the pieces could be styled in different ways. The same feature paired NAFS with Mthayel Al Ali, pictured in an abaya over a jumpsuit. Al Ali spoke about colour and fabric as ways of developing the garment while maintaining a connection with tradition.
That combination is a useful reminder to consider the whole outfit. An outer garment can have a strong identity while the wearer contributes another layer of colour, shape or proportion beneath it. The resulting look belongs to the dialogue between design and personal styling.
Where Hessa Al Falasi fits into the picture
HF Boutique is another name associated with abaya design: The National’s 2017 interview identifies Hessa Al Falasi as its owner. Her design work deserves to be understood through her own accounts and specific collections.
Our guide to Emirati abayas and contemporary design explores her work in greater detail alongside other Emirati makers. It offers a wider setting for her contribution, including the different ways designers work with colour, form and cultural references.
How to recognise the creative decisions that interest you
A designer’s story becomes more useful when it changes what you notice. You can begin with a collection image and make a short, specific description before deciding whether you like the outfit as a whole.
Start with one visible relationship
Choose two elements and describe how they interact. Perhaps a narrow band of decoration sits beside a broad plain area. Perhaps a rounded sleeve contrasts with a straight front opening. This keeps your observation focused enough to be useful. Words such as elegant or dramatic may describe your response, but they do not identify the decision that produced it.
Compare variation within a collection
Place two looks from the same collection side by side. Look for a repeated feature, such as the direction of a line or the position of a contrasting panel, and then identify what differs. The exercise can reveal a shared idea even when the colours or decorative details change.
A useful note might read: “Both looks keep the centre plain, but one concentrates detail at the sleeve and the other at the edge.” That is a more precise reference for your own taste than saving both images under a broad label such as occasionwear. If the photographs do not show a feature clearly, leave it undecided rather than filling the gap with assumptions.
Separate the collection from its presentation
Look once at the complete photograph and again at the garment. Consider the role of jewellery, lighting, pose, background and the other clothes in the outfit. Which part of your response belongs to the abaya’s design, and which depends on the setting?
This can help you understand why an image appeals to you without expecting an item of clothing to reproduce the entire atmosphere of a campaign. It also gives proper attention to the people who shape the presentation as well as those who develop the garment.
Build a personal reference with a clear purpose
If you want to carry an idea into your own dressing, write down the feature you would like to explore. Keep it narrow: a continuous vertical line, a single contrasting edge, a quiet combination of colours or an interesting balance between curved and straight shapes.
A small reference board can help. Keep the designer’s name and collection date with each image, then add one sentence explaining what you are studying. Separate those references from sketches or combinations you develop yourself. This makes it easier to recognise your own preferences while keeping the original creator’s work properly identified.
Return to the board after trying a few combinations. Remove examples that no longer interest you and keep the ones that explain something specific about your taste. The result should help you make choices, rather than become a growing list of clothes you feel obliged to acquire. Understanding a designer’s work can enrich your eye even when your own wardrobe takes a very different direction.
Compare another design partnership
Continue with Reem and Hind Beljafla’s DAS Collection for a separate account of two sisters’ creative work. Comparing their particular collections with the design choices discussed here can help you describe what interests you more precisely.