Egyptian Label Amina K Drops Upper Egypt Inspired K-apsule Collection
Clear the runway, there’s a new ‘Omda’ in town. With notions of identity and belonging at the heart of the collection, ‘Saeedi Spring’ is a sartorial love letter to the land and its people.
“For any Amina K collection, I always look to the streets of Egypt for inspiration.” - Amina Khalil, Founder and Creative Director, Amina K.
Drawing straight from the heart of the nation and paying homage to traditional Upper Egyptian wear, Egyptian slow-fashion label Amina K is putting its own sustainable twist on the time-honoured garbs of the ‘Saeed’.
Infused with contemporary cuts and floral motifs, Amina K’s latest ‘K-apsule’ collection, ‘Saeedi Spring’, dissects the Egyptian ‘galabeya’ and scarves through a modern lens while staying true to the cultural essence embedded within their proverbial fabrics. Offering a selection of kaftans, pants, skirts, jackets, and vests, the label’s latest collection is all about light, easy, and breezy attire that contentedly echoes cultural pride.
While the collection includes a variety of different silhouettes and motifs, there remains one commonality between every piece; a strong sense of nostalgia. Breaking down the traditional ‘omda’ - a descriptor coined by the label - scarf often seen donned by men throughout Upper Egypt, Amina K literally reconstructs the regionally popular scarves into colour-blocked pieces that showcases the design intricacy often dismissed by the passing eye as one whole, completing the looks with fringes at the hem, not unlike those seen on the actual scarves that were Khalil’s muse and textile of choice.
“This scarf - which at some point was exclusive to the mayors of Upper Egypt, the ‘omda’, trickled down over the years and now is a commonly-worn accessory that you often see in the street,” Amina Khalil shares with SceneStyled. “Usually ‘galabeyas’ are made of a stiff wool, they’re heavy duty, and I wanted to offer a lighter counterpart to that, something that could be worn on a day-to-day basis,” Khalil adds.
Hand-embroidered floral details and traditional Egyptian line art decorate the collection, effectively turning each individual design into its own statement piece. Complementing the intricately fashioned jackets, kaftan sets, and skirts, the latest drop presents a series of minimal flowy ‘galabeyas’ in subdued neutrals and light pastels. A highlight of the collection would have to be the label’s ‘Full Circle Denim’ jacket, which features an exterior of distressed denim patches, with a colourful South Asian-inspired print in its interior lining.
Staying true to the label’s commitment to sustainable fashion that stands the test of time, the latest collection builds upon Amina K’s ethos, partially utilising fabrics and prints from earlier collections, and ensuring not a single thread goes to waste.
“The way we do things at Amina K is ongoing. It’s a build-up, a journey, we don’t just flip the page and forget everything we’d done before.”
