Community at the Forefront of Fashion with Kazna Asker

Kazna Asker is a fashion designer who is putting her community on the map. Growing up in both Liverpool and Sheffield, and coming from a Yemeni Muslim background, Asker’s work is heavily influenced by the friends, family and culture she surrounds herself with.

Asker was born and raised in the outskirts of Liverpool where racism was rife. Her father’s corner-shop was regularly vandalised and her and her siblings were the only people of colour in school, which all made for an intense environment to grow up in. When Asker turned twelve, her father decided it would be best to move the family to Sheffield where their extended family were located and where there was a much larger Yemeni community — and Asker fully immersed herself in what felt like her new safe haven.

The desire to pursue fashion started early on as Asker won a fashion competition in primary school and was deeply encouraged by her father. Soon after, she made the choice to study Fashion at college, then continued pursuing Fashion Design at Manchester University for her BA, and then at Central Saint Martin’s for her MA. Studying at CSM was “intense” and had a “competitive atmosphere”, says Asker, as she explained how the master’s degree pushed her physically and mentally when having to produce large quantities of work in extremely limited time-frames. The demographic of her year group was also not particularly diverse so she desperately states:

I would really recommend minorities to just go for it.

Asker mentions that there was a real thirst to hear about different voices, perspectives, religions etc. when it came to the course. However, she did at some points feel tokenised as her political voice became a constant point of reference for profit. Going to protests for Palestine and Syria, being outspoken about the war in Yemen, having an aunt that was a Labour councillor, politics was part and parcel of Asker’s life. As a person of colour, as part of the diaspora, it was only natural.

Being political is part of my DNA.

After her MA, she also realised that she wanted to champion sustainability by steering away from mass-production and thinking more about slow fashion. Asker began sewing many original garments herself from scratch by upcycling her sister’s old Nike jackets — this then caught on with her other friends and family, and blossomed into the creation of versatile designs that saved clothing from prematurely being sent to landfill.

Having recently participated in Fashion Trust Arabia and won the Debut Talent Prize, Asker didn’t hold back when it came to representing her people in her winning speech. She used the opportunity to shed light on the war and famine in Yemen and urged people to donate, despite her parents pleading her back home, “please, don’t be political”. Asker says that once she stepped off the stage, security rushed over and led her to Sheikha Moza who was sat amongst celebrities like Bella Hadid, and all she could see was how emotional and deeply-affected the crowd were. That was a moment where her ethos, centring around community, activism, and charity, was truly actioned.

Although she started off with menswear, a lot of Asker’s designs now lean towards catering for Muslim women. There is a strong focus around “brotherhood and sisterhood” as well as Islamic influences from her faith. She says she is:

Grateful that hijabi women are at the forefront of my work.

She is relentless in her desire to give her community a voice, always keeping up with her siblings and her cousins about the type of fashion they’re sporting. Before starting her most recent collection, Asker even filmed a few documentaries asking those in her community what interested them and what they wanted to see in her designs.

After having graduated from Central Saint Martin’s, Asker has gone on to receive multiple global accolades and we can see why. She is currently doing research for a new collection and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for this young designer.

Kazna Asker interviewed by Asia Khatun

Shop Kazna Asker’s collection drops here: https://www.kaznaasker.com/collections/all

Social Media:

Instagram: @kaznaasker