#INTERVIEW: Asheema Razak, Founder and Creative Director of ASHAALIA | Generational Wear

She is a third generation Fiji Indian. Her great grandparents are from India, Punjab and Pakistan. She was born in Fiji, migrated to Auckland (New Zealand) where she did her secondary schooling, and lived there for a period of time. She is now based out of Melbourne (Australia) with her family. She is Asheema Razak, founder and creative director of ASHAALIA — a bold, empowered haute couture label that represents a new era in generational, slow fashion.

Combining the elegance and sophistication of Eastern beading with quality modern European apparel, ASHAALIA represents empowerment, confidence and a love for worldly fashion. Dedicated to the foundations of elegance and sophistication, ASHAALIA handcrafts limited edition, bespoke garments that create a long-lasting, positive impact for the wearer.

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“I wanted clothing to spark joy and have a strong

emotional connection with its wearer.”

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Tanja Beljanski: How did you come up with the idea of creating your brand? What is the story behind it?

Asheema Razak: ASHAALIA was born out of frustration of having a closet full of clothes and still having nothing to wear. Alongside wanting to find a way to pay homage to my Indian/muslim heritage that was authentic to me having grown up in a western society with few opportunities to get dressed up in traditional Indian clothing often earmarked for events like weddings, social get togethers/ parties. I wanted clothing to spark joy and have a strong emotional connection with its wearer and I feel we have achieved that with ASHAALIA. We often talk about “that ASHAALIA feeling”. I have experienced it first hand seeing how it lights up a person’s face when they put on our pieces. It makes my heart sing with joy and I know that feeling when you know you look good and feel amazing. This is what I want every ASHAALIA wearer to experience..

I also wanted to create pieces that would stand the test of time and have the ability to be passed down over the generations, for example myself passing coveted pieces to my daughter. This is where the idea of creating Generational Wear was born. ASHAALIA signifies coveted everyday glamour that is designed to be classic styles to support the concept of being able to be reworn over generations due to its design, fabrics and workmanship. The name itself embodies this sentiment as it is a combination of my name ASH (Asheeema) and AALIA (my daughters’ middle name).

One thing I would also like to add is that you are never too old to start doing something new. If you are passionate and driven you will find a way to succeed. If you truly believe in your product and value offering then you will find that market of like minded individuals who are your customer. Despite having a successful career in pharmaceutical sales and marketing, I didn’t want to wake up one day years from now and wonder what could have been. I did not want to have a “what if I had done this where would I have been”, but “when I achieve this then this is what I will do next”.

When you find something you are passionate about you never have to work a day in your life couldn’t be more truer than now, I don’t wake up and see ASHAALIA as a job, I work in my business 24/7 and I love every minute of it, the people I continue to meet, the opportunities I continue to be provided and the learnings I continue to have are all opening up my mind as I am growing. For me if you are in a career where you aren’t growing or learning you need to find something that gives you that outlet. We are human beings designed to grow and if our mind isn’t growing spiritually and mentally, then we have nothing.

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“Wearing ASHAALIA is like wearing

artwork on your body.”

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TB: Can you share with us a little bit about your creative process?

AR: I am always looking at what is missing from my working wardrobe, every woman needs a capsule collection of pieces that she can pull out for any occasion and feel like a million dollars. Top of this list is a well fitted blazer, a beautiful dress that accentuates your figure, functional pants and skirt and a showstopper piece. Everything else we build around this core so we have suit sets, we have mix and match pieces like tops and shirts that can be worn with other pieces from our collection or separately. We have our bias cut silk dresses, our event style outfits like our jumpsuits or Nargis dress as an example. We will always stay true to this ethos and build our collection accordingly, we will update our beading to suit the pieces and their functionality. All our items are hand beaded. The beading is purposefully designed to get you the attention you require without overwhelming the wearer. The beading isn’t heavy, we add just the right amount. All this forms part of the thought process and is considered before we start designing our pieces right down to the detail on the cuffs of our jackets, cufflinks on our blouses and the silk linings we use to reduce the need to dry clean our statement jackets to improve their longevity over time. My science background may have something to do with this attention to detail that we have with ASHAALIA.

Before I design something, I try to think about how the pieces can be worn multiple ways with an existing wardrobe. I am sketching all the time! I have done this for years. When I was younger, I used to design clothes for my Barbie dolls!

ASHAALIA is a compliment magnet that I can personally guarantee given the feedback we continue to get from our customers. You will certainly get noticed in ASHAALIA!

TB: Who or what inspires you?

AR: I come from a long line of strong women. My nani (Sitara) was the inspiration for my launch collection. My mother (Rehana) was the inspiration for our most coveted full length velvet coat. Being self sufficient and a self starter are all values I want to pass onto my daughter. My father (Ashif) has always been an inspiration for me. He has an entrepreneurial spirit and big picture thinker that I know I have. I have his resilience, his tenacity and never take no attitude — “there is always a way, go and find it”. That is what he will say to me.

Sometimes parents underestimate how much of their values they pass on consciously vs subconsciously. This entrepreneurial behaviour is ingrained in me from years of seeing my parents, and especially my dad, work hard to set up his business and the sacrifices they had to make for us as kids to have the opportunities that we have now.

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“All our items are hand beaded.  

Our jackets take around 25 hours to hand bead

before we stitch the jackets, that is a whole day per jacket!”

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TB: Who is your client; the person you address with your designs?

AR: ASHAALIA is for people who aren’t afraid to stand out. It connects with people who want to be noticed, those who aren’t confident and then they wear ASHAALIA, and you see their faces light up. It’s the everyday woman who likes to take risks, confident and a unique focal point in any room or gathering she attends.

TB: What are some of the traditional techniques in your designs that are noteworthy or uncommon in clothing today?

AR: ASHAALIA uses a lot of crystals in its design work. We work hard to source high quality crystals and workmanship to ensure that our pieces meet our expectations. We do a 100% beading check on every single item we produce by an independent third party outside of our factories to ensure that the beading meets our international standards. From our current range our jackets take around 25 hours to hand bead before we stitch the jackets, that is a whole day per jacket! Our jumpsuits take 30 hours to hand bead as you can see from the level of detail in the pieces.

The fact that ASHAALIA is individually hand beaded by artisans out of India who have worked on this type of beading work for generations is also a testament of how we can support and give back to continue to ensure that traditional hand beading does not die out. We also don’t want traditional hand beading to only be reserved for the wealthy or for couture pieces that are elaborate such as for weddings and event style dressing. My aim is to share how beautiful Indian beading can be and for the western world to enjoy these works of art on functional clothing making it more wearable.

TB: What are you most passionate about, besides fashion?

AR: Without sounding like a contradiction, Family and Food! Everything I do, I do for my family. That is what my dad did for us and that is what I will do and I hope that is what my children will one day do as well. Food is also an important connection for my family and food is so intertwined in Indian/ Arab culture, and, growing up, these are my fondest memories. The flavours, the smells take me back to my happiest memories as a child when life was much simpler and your biggest problem was what was happening on the weekend and whose house you were going to or how soon it was till your birthday party! Everything centres around food. I love to cook and I love to travel and eat! Experiences give me an opportunity to grow and expand my beliefs and values as an individual and tastes are a great way to expand your mind and try new things. Creating memories with family over food makes these moments so much more precious.

@ash.aalia