Lebanese design duo Azzi & Osta have launched their first e-commerce site, azziandosta.com, in an attempt to promote slow fashion and better connect with their global customer base.
The designers are also keen to show that, despite the setbacks wrought by the Beirut Port explosion in August, which laid waste to their new atelier, they are looking to the future.
“With all the uncertainty that 2020 brought along, we wanted to create an online space for the brand to be accessible globally, especially having witnessed the remarkable growth of our ready-to-wear collections.
"The website aesthetic is a reflection of the brand’s codes, a digital space to navigate and escape,” say the brand’s founders, George Azzi and Assaad Osta, whose designs have been worn by the likes of Beyonce, Queen Rania of Jordan and, most recently Megan Fox.
Speaking to The National in the aftermath of the explosion in Beirut, the duo reaffirmed their commitment to their homeland, in spite of the challenges they face.
“Lebanon is everything for us. It’s always a source of our inspiration and we know that whatever we do going forward will be more and more an ode to Lebanon. We like to think that we create dreams and those dreams are made in Lebanon,” they said.
Notably, the brand has decided to launch its new e-commerce site with a pre-order model, which they say will help minimise waste and “create much-needed equilibrium between supply and demand”.
The aim of the new site is to create a welcoming space that replicates the experience offered in the brand’s bricks and mortar atelier. Azzi & Osta's spring/summer 2020 and autumn/winter 2021 collections, which both feature a selection of gowns, slim-line cocktail dresses and sleek separates, are currently available for pre-order on the site, and will be delivered within two to four weeks of an order being placed.
Azzi and Osta’s signatures are evident throughout, from sculptured silhouettes to eye-catching embroidery and clouds of tulle. Elsewhere, exaggerated pleats stand to attention with razor-sharp precision and a classic trench coat is reimagined with a lace-panelled back.
