60 \ FASHION

AN ODE TO
MINIMALIST
DESIGNS
BY DEBRINA ALIYAH
PHOTOS BY ANGEL MALLARI

THERE IS AN ALMOST WALL-SIZE PAINTING IN

THE MAIN DINING SPACE OF THE EL-TANANI
APARTMENT IN DOHA, WHICH AT FIRST GLANCE,
LOOKS JUST LIKE ABSTRACT SPLASHES OF RED
AND WHITE BUT ACTUALLY DEPICTS A HUMAN
HEAD IN DEEP THOUGHT.

MOTHER'S DAY SPECIAL / 61

Alia wears coat from Prada,

shoes from Manolo Blahnik,
and vintage Hermes bag.
Tamara wears dress from
Azzedine Alaia, leather
jacket from Prada and
shoes from Gianvito Rossi.

The

deep shades of red in that art piece are consistently present

throughout the whole apartment. Warm mahogany and auburn
furnishing have a way of making you feel thoroughly relaxed and
welcomed, though this is probably by intentional design of the
madame of the house, Alia El-Tanani. After all, when you are one of
the most sought-after interior designers in the region, what a better
canvas than your own home?
Though, the down-to-earth mother-of-two would be quick to
tell you that it is only a small space intended originally just for
short trips to Qatar while they work on a bigger villa as their next
family home here. Alia, together with her husband, are the creative
forces behind the powerhouse dcor company Living In Interiors
which has an outpost in The Pearl-Qatar. Her gorgeous 23-year-old
daughter Tamara has recently joined the familys business, living
out a vision Alia had carved out when she first founded the business.
The mother-daughter combo is a picturesque dream team Tamara
has her mothers slender features and feisty spirit, while Alia is an
authoritative, calm figure who keeps everything together. Their
conversations are punctuated with jibes at each other which end in
laughter but in the boardroom, it is all serious business.
In their wardrobes, on the other hand, it is all fair game. During
our last trip to Paris, Tamara wiped me clean of my cashmere
pieces! Alia quips. And she has already started on my crocodileskin bags. Every time I get a new one, she starts going after the older
ones. Tamara readily admits that she treats her mothers closet as
one giant free shopping spree but it is an ode to Alias sense of style.
I look up to my mums style. We tend to dress the same and share
similar taste but of course there are certain distinctions too I like to
mix colours but she likes to colour-coordinate, Tamara explains.
Tamara is a self-confessed shoe lover who has been collecting
since she was a teenager and thanks to her petite size that has not
changed much, she has kept most of her fashion buys. The shoes
are an obsession because they are a focal point in building her
wardrobes, a concept that rings familiar in Alias interior design
philosophy curating a space around one centerpiece. I have about
sixty pairs of shoes with me now, not counting the ones in our homes
elsewhere. I dress up according to my mood, a basic staple outfit
and jazz it up with a cool bag or a pair of cool shoes, Tamara says.
Block-colour cigarette pants, denims, slim shirts and a few sturdy
statement jackets are anchor pieces in her wardrobe that has names
like Alexander Wang and Rick Owens. She identifies with the smart

Beauty is
simplicity,
accepting who
you are, what
you feel like
wearing. Anything
that is clean and
simple, a quality
of minimalism
attracts me.
- Tamara El-Tanani.

MOTHER'S DAY SPECIAL / 63

Alia wears jacket from Phillip

Lim, leather pants from Ralph
Lauren, shirt from Arthur & Fox,
shoes from Stubbs & Wooten
and vintage necklace.
Tamara wears pants from
J.Crew, leather jacket from Rick
Owens, and shoes from Tods.

64 \ FASHION

Alia wears pants from

Trussardi, top from Malo
and shoes from Dior.
Tamara wears pants
from Joseph, jeans and
shirt from J.Crew.

MOTHER'S DAY SPECIAL / 65

Beauty is confidence
and inner spirit as
time goes by, you wont
look the same as you
would when you were
twenty but a beautiful
person is because of
her confidence. She
oozes with inner style
and energy and thats
beautiful. It doesnt
matter what shes
wearing, its not an issue
at all.
- Alia El-Tanani.

yet laid back essence of Italian dressing, I could just strut out in
jeans and tees one day and a floor-length dress the next!
Growing up in an Egypt - post Gamal Abdel Nasser - Alia
understood the value of well-made clothes that would last for a
long time. I grew up wearing good quality clothes, not necessarily
fashionable or trendy and I was always referring to my mothers or
auntys archive of vintage clothes, she reminisces. These values
have shaped her style quotient all these years, reflected in the
stream of labels that she loves for their pure simplicity and tailoring
panache. I feel most comfortable in Prada, Donna Karan, Ralph
Lauren, Phillip Lim and Stella McCartney there is a certain ease
to wearing these designers, she says. As I grew older, I have
learned what I really like. Sometimes, I am tempted to try something
different and I show up looking different for a day but then I always
revert to my own thing. This is an aesthetic that extends into her
work the pursuit of quality and lifestyle in homes and not just
passing trends. Both Tamara and I are your non-conventional
fashionistas. We are big fashion buffs but understatement is our tag
line! I dont believe that wearing a full look from a brand makes a
person stylish, its all about defining it yourself.