ELLE – May 2005
One To Watch

WHO? Tamerlane’s Daughters, designed by Karina Duebner, 30 (seen left with model).

WHAT? Elegant skirts, dresses and jackets in antique, tribal fabrics sourced from bazaars in Kazakhstan.

HOW? Half German/half Kazakh, Duebner grew up in East Germany where hip clothes were hard to buy. ‘If you wanted something fashionable, you had to make it,’ she says. An investment banker in New York and Moscow, Duebner designed in her spare time and began making clothes full time after being inundated with private commissions.

INSPIRED BY? Central Asia. ‘I used to spend my childhood summers with my grandparents in Kazakhstan and was inspired by the arts, crafts and rich, earthy colours of the area.’

DESIGNER INSPIRATION? ‘Alberta Feretti and Oscar de la Renta for their well-executed feminine clothes and John Galliano for his flamboyancy.’

WHY BUY? Her clothes are different thanks to the fusion of antique fabrics with modern designs, they’re one-offs and have ‘collector’ stamped all over them.