Jacket made of denim block-printed in Dhaka, Bangladesh and tailored in London. Designed by Rahemur Rahman.

The ensemble belongs to Rahemur Rahman’s third collection, ‘Children of the Rag Trade,’ which was designed during the Covid-19 pandemic and produced at the end of the first lockdown in 2021.

The ensemble consists of a jacket and a pair of trousers. It was tailored in London and made of denim block-printed in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The denim is a dark navy basis, while the print counts for three different colours (cream, turquoise and black), each one block-printed singularly. The printing process respects the traditional technique: it requires time and the precise skill the designer found only in Dhaka.

Rahemur Rahman is a fashion designer born to Bangladeshi immigrants in East London. His father worked in a garment factory near Brick Lane, where he became acquainted with British tailoring. Rahman’s mother had a sewing machine at home where she and her husband would make clothes for themselves and their children, often using leftover fabric from the factory.
After working for luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton in Paris, Rahman decided to regain ownership of his own labour, driven by the goal of ‘redesign[ing] the fashion business model to integrate community and social engagement.’ His label takes sustainability – both environmental and human – as one of its core values: Rahman decided to use deadstock (leftovers and end-of-roll) fabrics and collaborate with Bangladeshi factories to revive traditional printing techniques in the place where the motifs Rahman develops were originated.
Rahman is the first Bangladeshi designer to showcase at London Fashion Week. His first participation was in 2019, when he decided to stage his presentation in a Bangladeshi community centre to reinforce the link to his heritage and inspirations, as well as to the London-Bangladeshi community he belongs to.
Rahman draws inspiration from his family and community, including his father’s admiration for British tailoring and the respect for formal Bangladeshi dress heralded by the women of the family. Influences from traditional menswear and womenswear merge with a contemporary and fluid approach to gender: ‘I’m in Bangladesh and honestly the men here are very feminine and not sexualised – like a bromance is so fine. Men hold hands crossing the road, they’ll hug and hold each other’s necks and be really close.’ Through fashion, Rahman contrasts hyper-masculinity with a material sense of queerness connected to the fabrics he uses and the decision not to focus on dressing ‘men only’. His clothes are designed without a specific gender in mind and then adjusted to fit different bodies. Since opening his label, Rahman received the attention of the press thanks to his focus on South Asian identities and culture.

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