Sabah
Iqbal

From her grandparent’s South London home, 24 year old Sabah Iqbal spoke about her graduate collection with a welcome rawness. ‘I ended up telling my own story,’ she explained. Previously an intern at Balenciaga and on the Maison Margiela Artisanal team during placement year, her latest work draws on her experiences coming from a Pakistani background and growing up in the UK. ‘It can be difficult to adapt to two worlds,’ she explained. Her heritage woven into the fabric of her garments, Iqbal’s references are subtle. ‘I didn’t want to make a collection that just looked like Asian clothes mixed with Western ones,’ she told me. Instead Iqbal used everyday materials, crafting a coat from treasury tags and a skirt from off-cuts, to make the mundane interesting. ‘It’s all about what it means up close,’ she explained. A deeply personal exploration of one’s self, Iqbal’s work – created in isolation – acts as a tribute to her own identity.

Augustine Hammond, BA (Hons) Fashion Journalism
@augustinehammond