When Saudi designer Daneh Buahmad launched her label Daneh Design in 2011, she never imagined it would turn into a more than decade-long journey of style exploration and reinvention. What began as a side project alongside her corporate career in IT and media has now become her full-time calling — one she has embraced with unrelenting passion and purpose. “It’s funny because when it comes to my own style, my friends always say I’m either a bag lady or in my full gear! There’s no middle ground,” Daneh laughs. “I value comfort a lot, and I value feeling comfortable in what I’m wearing. I think a lot of that is the inspiration for my brand.”
Daneh’s Dubai-based label is rooted in comfort, individuality and the lived experiences of modern Arab women. Her designs don’t just dress women for a special occasion or a particular season — they follow her through her life, empowering her to feel like her most authentic self. “It revolves around being comfortable, but also that you made an effort to be put together,” she explains. “We really focus on the clothes and pieces that can carry you throughout your life.”
Though she officially moved to Dubai in 2015 with her corporate job, it wasn’t until recently that she took the leap to leave behind the security of the 9-to-5 to focus full-time on her brand. “I was truly exhausted,” she reflects. “I was always working, and at the time, I thought everything was fine, but now that I’m not dealing with as much, I’m just focusing on doing everything for my brand.” That focus has turned into a rebrand, launching new collections, a redesigned e- commerce platform and a visual identity that reflects both her growth and the maturity of her customer. “It’s not a complete relaunch, but it’s very much a rebirth of what we already had,” she says.
The aesthetic of Daneh Design is heavily based on the designer’s own personal style and speaks to a regionally-rooted but globally conscious woman — someone who values craftsmanship, longevity and subtle detail. “I’m a child of the 80s, and I feel that was a very big time for experimentation. I didn’t look great, but I stood out!” she recalls with a smile. That fearless approach still shapes her work today. Even in her corporate years, she rejected the monochrome uniform of the boardroom. “I couldn’t just wear a black suit to work every day — that wasn’t who I was — so I would always try to add a bit of something different.”
Daneh’s work has always been a quiet rebellion against style norms, especially those that dictate what a woman ‘should’ wear at a certain age or occasion. “I want to remove that age group restriction,” she says. “It shouldn’t be about what’s suitable for your age; it should be what’s suitable for you.” That philosophy informs her commitment to creating “seasonless” wardrobe staples — pieces that “all go together” and survive trends. Her latest collection, Oasis Haze, is a poetic reflection of her connection to nature and heritage. Inspired by a recent trip to AlUla, the collection channels the raw beauty of the region into understated, structured silhouettes. “The stitching on the pocket was inspired by how the mountains fall,” she says. “The colours are a reflection of the landscape. This season, the collection is predominantly about the colours.”
Daneh’s journey into the fashion world has been full of learning curves. “I actually started off wanting to open a concept store,” she recalls, “but I realised that what I really wanted to do was create. The first thing I ever did was part of a design competition for the concept store Sauce in Dubai. Two of my pieces got picked up,” she says. “It was something that just came from my personal creativity, but it did really well.” That collection led to her label being stocked in Riyadh’s trendy concept store DNA, and from there, her brand grew organically. Daneh has been lucky that her brand has been consistently well received, but she’s quick to acknowledge that being a designer in this region comes with its own set of hurdles. “You have to handle all parts of the business — from the creative design to human resources, to finance, to production,” she says. “There’s a lack of an established industry here. If things were different, designers would actually have time to focus on designing and use their finances wisely. We still have a long way to go.”
That reality shaped her decision to move away from traditional retail models and go fully digital. “If you are working with multibrand retailers, you are in danger of running into whatever problems they run into, and you don’t have control,” she says. “So, I wanted to take things into my own hands.” Daneh is building a regional e-commerce powerhouse that speaks directly to her community, rather than conforming to global fashion cycles. “Following certain calendars and seasons is good, but I think it should be tweaked to who we are and who we’re selling to,” she says.
Production, too, has come full circle. After starting out in the UK, moving production to Turkey, and finally establishing an atelier in Dubai, Daneh now produces locally and sources her materials from Turkey, Korea and Japan. “We categorise ourselves as a responsible or conscious brand,” she says. “I can’t control every inch of the manufacturing process, but we do our best, and we like to think that we positively impact the lives of the people that we work with.”
Beyond business goals, Daneh is on a mission to shift perceptions of Middle Eastern fashion — both from within and outside the region. “There’s nothing to say that regional brands can’t be side by side in a mall and all be easily accessible to customers,” she says. “It would be great to have a design district where people can go and explore what we have to offer. That’s a dream of mine.”
As a woman who has navigated both tech and fashion and left the comfort of a career to chase her creative vision, Daneh’s presence and passion are integral to everything she does. “When a woman walks in one of my pieces, I really want her to feel good about herself,” she says. “I want her to feel she’s wearing something unique, and I want her personality to shine through.”
And to aspiring designers? Daneh’s advice is equal parts practical and passionate: “Never forget that the creative part is the most fun, but you have to have a budget plan, you need to have projections, emails up to date, a system for everything… It sounds so boring, but that’s what needs to be done in order to build a successful brand.”
Originally published in the May 2025 Issue of MOJEH Magazine. Subscribe here
