Azeeza Khan's eponymous ready-to-wear label launched with spring 2015 at Paris Fashion Week, and it hasn't slowed down since.
Azeeza Khan is a big fish in a small pond. As a high-end ready-to-wear designer based in Chicago, Khan wages fierce competition against her contemporary counterparts in the traditional fashion capitals. Her eponymous line, Azeeza — heavily comprised of luxurious silks and hand-woven embellishments — is familiar (in that you've likely seen some of the industry's biggest influencers tout them on Instagram), yet bold. Khan has never taken an outside investment, driving strong profits from her Chicago flagship on the prestigious Michigan Avenue.
Even Azeeza's origin story is compelling. In July 2011, Khan, a Chicago native, decided she was unmotivated by her passionless 9-to-5 job working in corporate marketing at BP. That same September, without any formal design or business training, Khan staged a soft launch for her label — then called "Atelier Azza" — at New York Fashion Week; she made her first foray into the wholesale market with spring 2015 at Paris Fashion Week. Today, Azeeza not only has an exclusive retail partnership with Barneys, but she's also gearing up to place her product at upscale Canadian department store Holt Renfrew — and will show her forthcoming spring 2017 collection in both New York and Paris.
If there's been any red tape stopping Khan from growing her self-funded and insider-adored contemporary label 800-odd miles away from the U.S.'s fashion capital, she's certainly barreled directly past it, full speed ahead to what's next. I hopped on the phone with Khan (also a brand-new mother!) about her explosive design career, her success with influencer marketing and what's next for the fashion scene in Chicago.
