THE FABRIC OF SUCCESS

Paris, Milan, London, and New York—all are cities commonly associated with the rarified air of high fashion. Yet, serious devotees of the sartorial arts know that Chicago is a veritable hothouse of fashion talent. Recall that the late, great Illinois-born Virgil Abloh began his visionary brand Off-White in Chicago and then blazed a path to the top of the fashion pyramid—Louis Vuitton. Maria Pinto, a former Art Institute of Chicago student turned award-winning designer, dressed Oprah and Michelle Obama in the first decade of the 2000s. Cynthia Rowley, an Art Institute alum, built a global lifestyle brand touted by Vogue as the perfect blend of sporty and pretty. Emerging Chicago designers like Chloé Mendel are attracting attention and garnering applause. Now, designer Azeeza Khan is preparing to make her eponymous line a household name.

Khan has been charting a rocket course in the industry since establishing her brand just a decade ago. In 2019, she found herself collaborating with the legendary Barbra Streisand on 25 looks for her tour and personal wardrobe. Streisand had become a fan after seeing Khan’s clothes at Barneys, a longtime Azeeza stockist. Other fashion-forward fans include Beyoncé, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hailey Bieber, and J.Lo, who adore the line’s meticulously hand-dyed luxury fabrics that are rendered in ultra-feminine but modern silhouettes.

Khan describes her style as “understated, while still making a statement. When someone walks in the room wearing it, you’re going to turn and look.” Her pieces have a fluidity and discernible flow. “It’s very feminine. You’ll feel confident wearing my pieces, and when you feel confident, you’re going to own that room. In this day and age, everything moves so quickly, so when I design a collection, I really pay attention when something makes me think twice or catches my eye.” She jokes she could almost offer a guarantee of two compliments per wearing. And, of course, there is her highly regarded emphasis on color. Khan says her process often starts with color and finds inspiration in her surroundings from food to nature.

During a recent trunk show at The Lake Forest Shop, Khan points out dresses one by one, her passion for her work evident as she notes the feel of the rich, vividly colored fabrics (organza, crepe de chine, raw silk, chiffon, charmeuse). Then she stops at a crisp poplin dress from her new Day Collection, which reimagines the brand’s core designs and best-sellers in wearable fabrications like pure cotton and denim chambray. The collection invites her loyalists to find new occasions to wear her designs, while its versatility and lower price point allow others to experience Azeeza for the first time.

“It re-invents the dress, right?” she exclaims, brimming with pride. “The new Day Collection is washable,” Khan notes. “You can dress it up and you can dress it down too. I think it’s definitely going to appeal to our core girl. She’ll buy it if she owns that same dress in silk but it’s going to be a lot more for the day-to-day.”

Khan came into the industry in a very organic, grassroots way. The daughter of first-generation immigrants from India, she grew up on the north side of Chicago. Although her family had no connection to the business of fashion, Khan’s favorite weekend destination was Old Orchard Mall and she learned how to sew during summer vacation and school breaks. After graduating from DePaul, she began a career in marketing at the energy conglomerate BP. Yet something wasn’t clicking, and she knew she had to make a change. Upon launching her label, Khan gave herself a year to match her salary at BP or she’d give up.

“I was naive and gullible at the start,” she recalls. She was unaware of the magnitude of what she was attempting and of how competitive the business could be. “I had a false sense of confidence in the beginning. I didn’t know how much I was biting off.” In the end, however, her passion and the business skills she learned in school carried her through.

The brand’s growing national profile is reflected by a presence at Saks Fifth Avenue, REVOLVE, Bergdorf Goodman, elysewalker, Kith, Olivela, Shopbop, and multiple divisions of Anthropologie. On the North Shore, Azeeza can be found at Winnetka’s athene. Her flagship store at 900 Michigan Avenue in Chicago has been featured in the Louis Vuitton Chicago City Guide and listed as a top destination by Forbes.

Now, with this heightened profile and a broadening base thanks to the Day Collection, Khan is setting her sights even higher.

“I want to be a legacy fashion house of America,” she asserts when asked about her goals for the future. “That’s what I’m looking to do. Something iconic.”

Pressed on what that means, Khan doesn’t skip a beat in mentioning Ralph Lauren and Vera Wang. In Khan’s mind, they have set a template that she can evolve in her own way. “I do think that it can be a national luxury house, by all means.”

Based on her past successes, Khan knows this is an attainable goal. But she also knows it won’t be easy. “My business is self-invested, so the scaling has to be done in a very calculated and strategic way. Everything we make, we pretty much put back in. So, that’s been the formula for growing by maintaining that self-investment.”

Khan is keenly aware of the American Dream nature of her story; a story that includes successes from the fashion runway to the aisles at CB2 where she has a line of outdoor furniture and accessories to the social media world where she has an enthusiastic and youthful following on Instagram.

“If I woke up in high school and said what my wildest dream would be … this is it, right? So these opportunities aren’t only something that were imaginable, they’re attainable. I do hope that I can inspire others to do the same in the generations to come. That, you know, if any race, gender, whatever it is … that anything is possible, I think that’s the lesson.”

For more information, visit azeezaofficial.com.