Although she is currently working on her research, which centers on Saudi children with behavioral difficulties, she has established her own fashion line through the social networking site Facebook. Allowing her to start a business on her own and receive orders easily.
Lum comes from her latent intrinsic interest. The idea of Lum started in April.
“My aim was to design practical, simple yet unique and chic clothing for young women. Initially, I started with tops and blouses in my first collection. With increasing orders and overwhelming positive feedback, I expanded my second collection by adding jumpsuits, vests and pants,” she said.
After living in the United Kingdom as a student for six years while studying for her bachelor’s degree in genetics and her master’s in mental health in learning disabilities she moved back home to Riyadh earlier this year.
“I then decided that I wanted to give my scientific mind and academic pursuits a short break and nourish my dormant artistic creativity through strengthening my hobby in fashion design,” Taher said.
Taher’s main inspiration to start Lum was her love for design and concepts.
“The fashion market in Saudi Arabia lacks simple and chic clothing for the young. Thus, Lum’s objective is to offer practical yet elegant feminine clothing,” she added.
Taher as a lover of elegance and fashion quoted Coco Chanel who said, “simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.”
“Lum cares more about quality than quantity because each item is hand-made and complementary pieces are individually selected for each design,” she said. “We provide clothing trimmed with frills, lace, ruche, flounces and ribbons. Obtaining the feel and the grace of a mid-nineteenth century Victorian lady but with ease and comfort is what Lum tries to provide to its ladies.”
The practical yet elegant and feminine clothing are manufactured in Riyadh and shipped worldwide.
“We have already had orders from around the country as well as from Lebanon, Egypt, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Lum will soon have a fashion show and an open house day,” Taher said.
For those women who enjoy wearing limited items and love being unique, Lum’s moto is to provide its clients an exclusive limited amount of tops per design.
“I personally design everything as well as handpick all the materials. My design revolves around what I personally like and love to wear. I get further suggestions from my mother and my sister who are my continuous supporters as well as my loyal customers from inside and outside Saudi Arabia,” she explained.
The prices of tops range between SR350 to SR700 for some exclusive tops.
Taher contributed part of her success to the social networking revolution, such as Facebook, which she described as “a huge enabler.”
“I am amazed at the immediacy of the feedback I get from my clients. This helps me modify and adjust according to their needs. I believe Lum has, through this mechanism, the potential for creating a truly ‘client centered design’ rather than the current designer centered business,” Taher said.
Taher posted a range of chic designs with materials combining cotton with lace with different white, gold and black colors worn by beautiful Arab models. “The models in the photos are non-Saudis. However, they are from neighboring Arabic countries and were raised in Saudi Arabia,” she said.
Taher believes that Saudi girls are beginning to pursue numerous careers from medicine, law, to photography, media and fashion design. Although she sees the involvement of women in public life especially in health care and education is dramatic as well as in private business but she thinks modeling remains a controversial career for some Saudis.
While this is still the beginning for Lama Taher, she is already making her future plans which includes opening a Lum store in Riyadh and hopefully another in Jeddah.
“I believe that creativity and imagination have no boundaries. The limits will be the response and acceptance of the customers and society,” Taher said. “I think and hope that the fashion line will expand.”
