The Designer Behind Meghan Markle and Michelle Obama’s Best Looks is Now Making Wedding Dresses
All products featured on Vogue are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
If you don’t know the label Safiyaa, chances are you’ve seen its most famous dress: a blue cape-back gown worn by none other than Meghan Markle. Images of the Duchess on a royal visit to Fiji last year went viral almost instantly: This was the first gown she’d been photographed in since her wedding, as well as one of her first public appearances after announcing her pregnancy. But the dress itself left a lasting impression, too: the striking color (mirroring the Fijian flag); the elegant cape detail; the narrow, unfussy silhouette. A few decades ago, a royal tour would’ve mandated a ball gown and gloves, but this was a fresh, modern alternative. In fact, Markle looked comfortable.
That sort of easy-yet-elegant balance is the core of Safiyaa, according to its founder Daniela Karnuts. Before she launched the line in 2011, she was working as the commercial director for a major fashion media company in London and found it arduous to curate a “work wardrobe” that felt both sophisticated and practical. “I was always looking for clothes that were dignified, but still comfortable, and what I found was either very expensive or very seasonal and trend-driven,” she explains. “You might find a beautiful dress, but it becomes the dress of the season, and by next year, everyone knows exactly what it is. Or it’s beautiful, but it doesn’t work for every woman’s shape.”
She noticed men didn’t seem to have this problem. Instead of navigating a glut of choices, they could simply go to Savile Row and have a suit made to their every specification. “I wanted to make that available to women, with eveningwear and ready-to-wear made to order and in multiple colors to choose from,” Karnuts says. “I’ve always had the experience of finding a piece I loved and wishing I had it in five colors, so I’d have this wardrobe staple to mix and match.” She decided to start Safiyaa with 12 such staples: a few trousers, tops, jackets, cocktail dresses, gowns, and camisoles—simple, yet powerful-looking pieces in sculptural silhouettes. The assortment has since grown to dozens of styles, all of which are available year-round in 60 shades of her signature stretch-crepe. “It took me years to find the right fabric,” Karnuts says. “Women still want to be dressed up, but I don’t think they want to compromise on comfort anymore. This holds you in, but it has just enough elastane that it’s comfortable and molds to your body, and you don’t feel like you have to change immediately when you come home.” (An added bonus: The crepe doesn’t wrinkle, so women who travel frequently for business or pleasure have one less thing to stress over.)
