Beljafla has always had a deep love for fashion and textiles and in 2012 she decided to explore it further and launched her own womenswear brand Trésors Sauvages, while she was studying at London’s prestigious university Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.
Beljafla showcased her first collection on the 18th of February, 2013 at the Bulgari Hotel, Knightsbridge, London and later at Fashion Forward Dubai at Souk Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, Beljafla won the Grazia and Vogue award for best upcoming Middle Eastern Designer.
With a Middle-Eastern background, Beljafla took her inspiration for the Flamingo Collection from the UAE’s flamingo species, presenting the theme through a layered construction of illustrative representations, architectural arabesques, and textural intensity, manifesting a mirage of natural exoticism.
The collection had a unique embroidery technique which was exclusively created for this collection. Each piece of the collection was hand-crafted, hand-coloured and then tailored in-house. Luxurious fabrics were sourced from around the world: Japanese cashmeres, Italian leathers, Shetland Island sheep’s yarn and Indian acid-wash silks.
Beljafla’s ink and line-drawn illustrations provide the starting-point for the graphic of each piece. Layered water-colours and intensely lined surrealist flamingos exploded on trouser prints and were woven into complex kaleidoscopic patterns. In AW13, this graphic intensity was anchored by the magnificent floor-length ombre show-piece.
The beauty of the exotic flamingo was translated into the cut of the collection: high-rising arm holes, austere shoulder lines, elongated waists and cuffed trousers presented an ethereal silhouette of a woman, standing in a mirage of moonlight installed in the midnight-lagoon at the ballroom of the Bulgari Hotel.
“Our pieces stand out, not only because of the passion and time that has been put into creating them but because of the uniquely collaborative philosophy within the House. The richness of that vision is present.” – Amalie Beljafla
After great success beljaflah saw her potential but decided to close the brand as she got a place at the Masters program At Central Saint Martins in 2013.
