"I met Karl during the LVMH prize and he was really fascinated by my bonded pleating methods and said he had not seen it before," Nayal told us. "I think he really appreciated the level of craftsmanship that goes into each and every one of my pieces. It was a very surreal experience; he studied the garment for a while and then exclaimed 'I love it, I love it, I love it,' then insisted that he buy it as a gift for Amanda Harlech; it was a really amazing moment for me, quite possibly the highlight of my career."
Syrian-born and British-based, Nayal first came to Vogue's attention as agraduate in 2008 when he scooped the Graduate Fashion Week womenswear award and secured a BFC scholarship to complete his MA, after which he was named as a finalist of the 2011 Fashion Fringe prize. His distinctive aesthetic, melding modern sportswear silhouettes with Elizabethan techniques, may seem incongruous, but Nayal believes that the more he understands about both the old and new elements of fashion design, the better his work becomes.
"I'm currently researching Elizabethan dress and sportswear finishing techniques at Manchester Metropolitan University," he said. "They have the most incredible technological equipment there, which has really pushed my skills to discover new ways of working with historical construction techniques. I am also taking historical classes at the School of Historical Dress in London. I have always been obsessed with the Elizabethan era and I became fascinated with 3D printing in the Rapid Prototyping department at the Royal College of Art back in 2009. I decided that I wanted to enrich my understanding of both early modern dress and future technologies to inform my practice."
"I'm currently researching Elizabethan dress and sportswear finishing techniques at Manchester Metropolitan University," he said. "They have the most incredible technological equipment there, which has really pushed my skills to discover new ways of working with historical construction techniques. I am also taking historical classes at the School of Historical Dress in London. I have always been obsessed with the Elizabethan era and I became fascinated with 3D printing in the Rapid Prototyping department at the Royal College of Art back in 2009. I decided that I wanted to enrich my understanding of both early modern dress and future technologies to inform my practice."
Continual learning is a strong theme for the designer and, as well as Lagerfeld and his fellow LVMH judges, Nayal revealed that Burberry's Christopher Bailey was another industry figure from whom he gained a lot - despite the apparent incongruity between their styles.
"I learned an awful lot from Christopher," Nayal said. "He was always very hands-on in the studio and seemed to have an unbelievable amount of energy, and the capacity to multi-task like no one else. I can still see him running around the studio at Haymarket buzzing about something he'd just seen or an idea he just had. I lived in the research cupboard and delved through all of Burberry's archives and designed a range of jackets and dresses based on my research findings. Some of them even made it to store! I think the most important thing I learnt was adapting my designer handwriting to suit a different customer; it is important to be versatile."
Although he has already seen his pieces worn by stars including Rihanna, Florence Welch, Lady Gaga, Claudia Schiffer and Victoria Beckham, Nayal's ultimate woman is a little further out of reach.
"If she was still alive, Elizabeth I would have been the perfect person to wear Nabil Nayal," he smiled. "She was one of the first women in history to challenge social conventions and really push the boundaries. For me, once I have designed the collection and made it, it no longer belongs to me; it belongs to the moment in time when I conceived the idea of it. So when I see my clients wearing my pieces, it is fascinating to see how they interpret my designs in their own unique way."
"I learned an awful lot from Christopher," Nayal said. "He was always very hands-on in the studio and seemed to have an unbelievable amount of energy, and the capacity to multi-task like no one else. I can still see him running around the studio at Haymarket buzzing about something he'd just seen or an idea he just had. I lived in the research cupboard and delved through all of Burberry's archives and designed a range of jackets and dresses based on my research findings. Some of them even made it to store! I think the most important thing I learnt was adapting my designer handwriting to suit a different customer; it is important to be versatile."
Although he has already seen his pieces worn by stars including Rihanna, Florence Welch, Lady Gaga, Claudia Schiffer and Victoria Beckham, Nayal's ultimate woman is a little further out of reach.
"If she was still alive, Elizabeth I would have been the perfect person to wear Nabil Nayal," he smiled. "She was one of the first women in history to challenge social conventions and really push the boundaries. For me, once I have designed the collection and made it, it no longer belongs to me; it belongs to the moment in time when I conceived the idea of it. So when I see my clients wearing my pieces, it is fascinating to see how they interpret my designs in their own unique way."
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