Fashion

The Emirati Female-Owned Brands You Need to Know

BYKhaoula Ghanem

August 27, 2026

Over the past decade, Emirati women have built some of the UAE’s most interesting independent brands, turning side projects, Instagram accounts, pandemic ideas, and lifelong creative obsessions into serious businesses. From Shamsa Alabbar and Noora Shawqi helping shape a new language for homegrown fine jewelry to labels like ILLI, PRNTCODE, and ONORI rewriting the local fashion rulebook, these women have helped build a design scene that barely existed a generation ago. So, in honor of Emirati Women’s Day on Aug.28, we’re looking back at some of the female-founded brands that helped get it here.

Illi

Born in the middle of a pandemic, ILLI arrived in 2020 with a decidedly more playful proposition for the abaya. Founded by Emirati-Moroccan designer Rawdha Thani, whose background spans architecture and visual arts, the label quickly became recognizable for its pastel palettes, whimsical prints and dreamy, almost storybook approach to modest dressing. The aesthetic proved influential, too. In the years that followed, similarly sugary hues and playful motifs began popping up across the abaya market, inspiring countless copycats and cementing ILLI as one of the labels that helped define a new generation of Emirati modest fashion.

PRNTCODE

For Hessa Alsuwaidi, print has never been an afterthought. The Emirati designer founded PRNTCODE as a textiles studio where the print comes first, building entire garments around bold patterns, color and storytelling rather than treating them as finishing touches. Alsuwaidi certainly has the credentials to back it up: she holds an MFA in Textiles from Parsons School of Design and previously worked as a color designer at Nike’s World Headquarters, contributing to projects including the MoMA x Nike collaboration. Today, PRNTCODE applies that serious design pedigree to something far more playful, spanning abayas, jalabiyas, dresses and separates covered in everything from coded cheetahs to checkered orchids.

Onori

If your idea of an Emirati fashion label begins and ends with abayas, ONORI would like a word. Founded in Dubai in December 2023 by Emirati designer Sharifa Alsharif Alhashemi, the ready-to-wear label looks further afield, pulling from the glamour of the ’60s through the ’90s to create sharp tailoring, playful dresses, resortwear, and accessories that could just as easily turn up on the Amalfi Coast as they could at a Dubai dinner. Alhashemi came to fashion after working in finance and at the United Nations, alongside more than a decade of exposure to her family’s fashion and beauty business. The result is a homegrown brand that expands the idea of what Emirati fashion can look like, with nostalgia, femininity, and a little old-school glamour baked into its DNA.

Evada

Founded in Dubai by Emirati entrepreneur Dr. Moza Suwaidan, the label trades embellishment and excess for fluid tailoring, tactile fabrics, and a palette pulled straight from the desert. Think linen, suede, soft knits, and beautifully restrained silhouettes designed to move between occasions without trying too hard. Even its name nods to that sense of movement: Evada draws partly from the Latin evado, meaning “to emerge” or “move beyond.” In a local fashion landscape where more can often mean more, Evada makes a compelling argument for keeping things beautifully simple.

Alia bin Omair

The Dubai-born Emirati designer started out in graphic design before trying her hand at photography, illustration and product design, eventually finding her medium in jewelry. After earning a diploma in Jewellery Design and Production from Damas Jewellery Academy in 2013, she was named Emirati Jewellery Designer of the Year that very same year. Her work has since become known for taking materials tied to Emirati heritage and pushing them somewhere unexpected, with pieces incorporating everything from frankincense to gold foil. More artist than conventional jeweler, Bin Omair makes the kind of pieces that could sit just as comfortably in a gallery as they could around your neck.

Serrb

Over the years, SERRB has become a familiar name in the UAE’s modest-fashion landscape. Founded in 2018 by Emirati sisters Budoor, Noor, and Sarah Al Khaja, the homegrown label took the codes of traditional modest dressing and gave them the tailoring treatment, building its identity around clean cuts, structured fabrics and a distinctly minimalist sensibility. Abayas sit alongside kaftans, capes and dresses, with sharp collars, coat-like silhouettes and unexpected details bringing an almost menswear-inspired edge to the mix.

Madiyah Al-Sharqi

Before the UAE fashion scene had become the industry it is today, Madiyah Al Sharqi was already making a case for Emirati design on an international stage. The Fujairah-born designer and daughter of the Ruler of Fujairah trained at ESMOD Dubai and interned with Lebanese couturier Abed Mahfouz before developing a signature that married Parisian polish with a distinctly Middle Eastern understanding of how women actually want to dress. By 2015, her pieces had already caught the attention of names including Kim Kardashian and Alessandra Ambrosio.

The Kape

The Kape has spent years making the case that an abaya can be every bit as directional as anything else hanging on a designer rail. Founded by Emirati designer Hanadi Alhawi, the Dubai fashion house even gave the garment its own name, the “Kape,” approaching modestwear through sharp tailoring, luxury fabrics, embroidery and playful digital prints. The brand established a presence in Dubai Design District before opening a striking boutique in The Dubai Mall’s Fashion Avenue, putting a homegrown Emirati abaya label in the same luxury retail neighborhood as some of fashion’s biggest global houses.

Shamsa Alabbar Fine Jewelry

Shamsa Alabbar Fine Jewelry began with a birthday present and an Instagram post. In 2013, Emirati graphic designer Shamsa Alabbar shared pieces she had designed for a friend, inadvertently launching what would become one of the UAE’s most recognizable homegrown jewelry names. Her graphic-design background became the brand’s secret weapon, translating into a strong visual identity and experimental pieces created with the contemporary Arab woman in mind. More than a decade later, it is easy to see why Alabbar is considered a pioneer of the local jewelry scene: she helped establish a distinctly Emirati design language at a time when the country’s independent fashion ecosystem was still finding its feet, proving that fine jewelry from the region could feel modern, conceptual and unmistakably its own.

Odeem

Created by Emirati designer Fatma Al Otaiba, ODEEM is built on the idea that the perfect handbag should outlast trends. Since launching in 2019, the Dubai-based label has become known for its clean, sculptural silhouettes, rich leather finishes, and understated sense of luxury. Designed for everyday wear but crafted with the attention to detail of an heirloom piece, ODEEM has quietly established itself as one of the UAE’s standout accessories brands.

Noora Shawqi

Before Noora Shawqi became a fine jewelry designer, she was already the person people went to for jewelry advice. In 2017, the Emirati creative began sharing her favorite regional and international pieces on Instagram, building a following before turning that obsession into an eponymous label in 2018. She came prepared, too, becoming a certified Diamond Graduate from the Gemological Institute of America and studying diamond grading and jewelry design before launching. Travel became her calling card: Sri Lanka inspired her debut Ceylon collection, while later collections have looked to the Maldives, Morocco, Japan and beyond, translating everything from gemstones and architecture to landscapes into gold, diamonds and colorful stones.

The Emirati Female-Owned Brands You Need to Know

Illi

PRNTCODE

Onori

Evada

Alia bin Omair

Serrb

Madiyah Al-Sharqi

The Kape

Shamsa Alabbar Fine Jewelry

Odeem

Noora Shawqi

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The Emirati Female-Owned Brands You Need to Know

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