The Birth Of Caftan Fashion Week In Casablanca

The first edition of “The Caftan Fashion Week” drew its curtains Saturday in the Moroccan economic capital of Casablanca with the participation of more than sixty stylists from across the country.

The traditional Moroccan haute couture festival, which was organised by Osra Magazine, was held April 12-18 under the theme “Spring Butterflies” at Paradise sports club.

“The idea of organising Caftan Fashion Week came a year and a half ago. We decided to organise a whole fashion week for the caftan in order to highlight the Moroccan traditional couture,” Director of the festival Anas Chaouki told Middle East Online.

Over 60 stylists took part in the festival with an average of 12 collections a day.

Sanae Maizi, Soumiya toudaoui and Sophia Laahrichi, who represent A3S Creation from Casablanca, have been working on their collection for two months.

“This is our first participation in a fashion show. We selected the best 12 caftans out of the 28 we created in line with the venue’s theme,” said Toudaoui who, along with her partners, graduated from the College Lassalle which is one the leading design schools in Morocco.

“Our caftans were made of velvet, lace and raw silk and adorned by golden thread and pearls,” said Maizi.

The first edition was quite successful, according to Mohammed El Mouchtaray from the festival’s artistic team.

“We will start working on the second edition in two weeks time and make it bigger,” El Mouchtaray added.

However, Kouart Youssefi a stylist representing “A La Marokaine” from Fes, who is quite experienced in caftan fashion shows, cited few difficulties that stylists encountered during the festival.

“There were few problems but we have overcome them. Overall, the week-long festival allowed us to meet other stylists and exchange expertise in the traditional couture,” added Youssefi who exhibited 14 caftans throughout the show.