Manchester fashion designer Nadine Merabi remembers the first dress she ever sold.
It was a slinky black and white ball gown which got snapped off the rails during the launch of Merabi’s first collection in 2010.
It was among a number of dresses that were single-handedly created and launched by the designer in a pop-up-shop in Barton Arcade, Manchester.
Launched to the city’s press, fashion influencers and local celebrities, the collection was an instant hit and firmly shaped Merabi’s career as the go to designer.
But what makes the journey even more remarkable was that up until two weeks before the launch, Merabi had never used a sewing machine or stitched a dress together.
“I didn’t wake up one day and think I wanted to be a designer,” she tells me when we meet at Merabi’s studio based in The Foundry in Salford.
Surrounded by some of the designer’s colourful flowing floral dresses, glittering evening gowns and sequined mini dresses, Merabi recalls how working in events and bars including Ithaca, one of Manchester’s earliest trendy celebrity haunts, had led to a change in career.
Merabi, who takes her passion for fashion from her Lebanese father, said: “My experience from working in events and for Manchester’s trendy bars and clubs led me to meet a lot of Manchester’s movers and shakers - from leading business people to local celebrities and local press.
“Ithaca was a high-end restaurant-bar and I ran the VIP lounge which was frequented by a huge cross section of Manchester’s well known faces.
“Around the same time Facebook was taking off, and pictures of me on a night out or hosting an event started to appear online. It was great for work but it meant I couldn’t wear the same outfit again and when you’re doing three events a week, that’s a lot of outfits.
“As a hostess of the event I wanted to look different and professional.”
But finding the right dress for the right price had proved to be difficult.
“I knew what I wanted, I could picture it in my head but I just couldn’t find it in the shops,” says Merabi.
“I was always questioning why was there nothing in the shops that I wanted to wear.
“It didn’t really occur to me at the time that it will involve me becoming a designer.
“It was quite an innocent and naive idea that I thought I can make a dress.”
Merabi quit her job having agreed to take on a rail in an independent shop in the Barton Arcade.
With just two weeks to fill the rail with her own designs, Merabi went along to Abakhan in the Northern Quarter to buy fabric and a sewing machine from Argos.
Armed with her new tools, she set about designing her first collection.
“I didn’t want to tell anyone what I had done because I thought people will laugh at me,” she says.
“I couldn’t ask anyone for help on how to even thread a machine. I’m not very good with instruction manuals so I Googled how to thread and I learned from YouTube tutorials.
“I even cancelled a holiday and spent two weeks in the flat creating dresses to go on this rail.
“In the end I created these lovely dresses but not a single one had a zip in it because I hadn’t worked out how to do zips back then, so it was a case of squeezing the designed dress on.”
Even Merabi’s dress for the night was created by sewing together two pieces of scarves to create an off-the-shoulder design.
The launch was a huge success and the following month Merabi was asked by Coronation Street’s Brooke Vincent to design a dress for the National TV Awards.
Merabi created Brooke a flowing Grecian gown and thanks to a strong story line at the time - Brooke was plastered across a number of tabloids and magazines the following day.
Merabi says: “People started messaging me that they had seen the dress and they wanted it. From that moment other celebrities started requesting dresses and eventually I took over the pop-up at Barton Arcade.
“I never stopped learning though.
“Every single day I learnt new skills, I learnt how to put on sleeves, and even zips eventually, which is something I really enjoyed. I got a lot of enjoyment from learning and creating something new.”
Around the same period Merabi also won a pitch to supply Selfridges.
When their buyers asked if she could deliver the goods in three months, Merabi did what most entrepreneurs would. She said yes.
“I walked out from that meeting in London feeling super happy and excited but being petrified at the same time.
“They wouldn’t pay until the delivery so I had to find the money up front to make this order.
“I loaned the money, I had to find a manufacturer and to be honest I didn’t know were to start.”
However, local celebrity designer Vicky Martin came to the rescue. Despite being in competition, Martin offered her own factory in Whitefield for Merabi’s use, and even helped her to source bulk fabrics and the designer managed to meet her deadline and deliver the dresses.
While Merabi built a dedicated following of women from Manchester, the ambition has always been to go global.
To reach a bigger audience, four-years-ago Merabi teamed up with Nathan Alexander, the founder of Boda Skins, the Salford-based supplier of leather jackets, and its MD Blue Wilson.
Alexander and Blue have together taken Boda Skins from its Manchester roots to a global fashion brand with clients including Justin Timberlake to Khloe Kardashian.
Merabi said: “I knew that I could create the designs and make what I wanted but I didn’t know how to get someone in America or even London wearing a Merabi.
“That’s when I had a meeting with Nathan and Blue. I had known Nathan for many years and it was from that I started to think about the long-term strategy for the business.
“I was getting offers from private equity companies but it wasn’t money that I needed, it was infrastructure and guidance and somebody to help me take the business to the next level.
“Nathan and Blue showed me how they envisaged the brand and where they can help me take it.
“It was from there that we launched a collection in January 2016. We launched a new website and we grew my Instagram following from a few thousand followers to over 155,000 today.”
Since launching a website, online revenues have grown year-on-year with 20% of sales now coming from international clients with strong orders from the US and Australia.
Customers are also growing in Dubai where there is demand for Merabi’s flowing summer gowns.
Merabi’s collections are also stocked in wholesale stores as well as boutiques across selected cities around the world and regular pop-up shops is helping to build relationships with potential customers, influencers and stylists.
“I remember someone tagged us in a picture on Instagram of Elena Hadid, Bella Hadid’s sister, wearing one of my dresses.
“I thought how did she end up with a Merabi? It turns out she ordered it from the website.”
As for her designs, Merabi says they have evolved over the years to cater for women of different shapes and sizes.
“When I first started, I designed dresses that I wanted to wear but now I design dresses for all women. I don’t want anybody saying they can’t wear a Merabi.”
The newly engaged designer is also creating a capsule bridal collection ‘Marry Me Merabi’ for alternative bridal dresses.
“I want women to be able to wear a Merabi on their wedding day, or engagement or for the day after and it’s nice that I’m currently experiencing that too.
“I’ve got the engagement party in June and the wedding in Majorca next year, which means there are going to be a few outfits for the celebrations.”
Asked about the designer’s most standout moment so far.
She smiles when she tells me: “I woke up one morning, and I saw pictures of Mel B in one of my jumpsuits.
“And I thought, ‘A Spice Girl is wearing my jumpsuit.’ It was a pretty good feeling.”
The 50 most important players in the northern restaurant and bar scene
Manchester named 15th best city in the world - beating Barcelona and Buenos Aires
