Formalwear is similar everywhere – a pencil skirt with a cotton blouse, a suit or a maxi dress! The brilliance of business casual for women is often in conflict with the commonality in designs and styles. This leaves a little space for intervention and innovation. The founder of Maraley, Murat Dal, took it upon himself to innovate upon formalwear by amalgamating the western sophistication with the eastern elegance.
The result is fabulous collection of formal clothes for women - a blend of ethnic embroidery with the sophisticated formals! The exquisite silk thread embroidery is carefully woven in an outfit, turning a bland formal attire into an exotic and rare one.
Every brand is created out of a brilliant idea and a set of values. For the designer Mehri, the central idea was to give a sense of individuality to what they now call, a “Maraley woman”- “I’m Mehri Babayeva, and as a passionate fashion designer in-training and in-heart, I create elegant and unique designs for women looking to reclaim their individual style, even at the workplace, through fusion of conventional clothing and exotic embroidery.”
The Maraley collection combines a hint of ethnic exoticism with a perfectly tailored fit. The designer’s work does not end with adding an element of embroidered silk belt on a pencil skirt, the idea is to create a well-tailored fit that brings an element of authority and enthuses confidence from the wearer.
Just one look at the Maraley store, and an office goer will be amazed at the range of choices available – a black pencil skirt with a twist (an embroidered belt), an exquisite elegant formal black dress with zigzag embroidery, or a smart office pant in black with embroidered waistband. The sole aim of Maraley brand was to give an individualistic, rare and authoritative voice to working women, and that’s what the brand achieved in many ways.
Interestingly, the brand owes its inspiration to Maraley, a respected woman who pioneered in a traditional male-dominated society. The designs are created keeping in mind her undying spirit, which amalgamated male willpower and authority with feminine charm and delicacy. The hint of adding a feminine work-of-the-art embroidery to a masculine formalwear is seen as reaching a unique balance of masculine and feminine power.
“I believe in balance. The balance of feminine and male energies when woman feels whole and complete, the balance of male ambitiousness and female allurement, and the balance of traditional and non-traditional. Because our collection reflects that balance and that fusion, I lovingly call our creation the Yin and Yang of fashion,” says Mehri, the core designer of the team.
Maraley is perhaps a great example of a brand that decided to experiment with the plain business casual for women, and succeeded in creating a balanced style for modern working women.