About La Nero

The two of them

La Nero is the work of a husband and wife, Alaa and Baidaa.

Alaa came to the UAE in the 1990s and started out working with fabric. Over the years he moved into abayas, first designing them and later managing the workshop. Baidaa began by selling in the same shop, but she had an artist's eye, and it wasn't long before she was designing her own pieces and building a following of women who kept coming back for her work.

Neither of them studied design in any formal way. They learned it slowly, through years in the trade and the many women they dressed along the way. By 2020 they felt ready to work under their own name, and La Nero opened.

Designed and made in house

Every La Nero design is drawn by the two of them. They choose the fabrics themselves, going to the warehouses, picking the rolls, and often shaping a design around a material they couldn't leave behind. Once a piece is designed, our own tailors bring it to life here in the atelier, made to order for the woman it's meant for.

What makes it La Nero

There isn't a single La Nero look. What ties it together is range, and the standard we hold it to. We make abayas and dresses for every part of a woman's life, from the everyday to work to the occasions worth dressing for, right up to her wedding.

Much of the work is done by hand, from the embellishment across the fabric to the fine crochet detailing. The materials are chosen with the same care, heavy and luxurious, often the sort that are rare to find and difficult to work with well.

And because only a small number of each design is ever made, what you wear stays your own. You're not likely to see it on anyone else.