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milia m Boutique Beirut

Located down a cobbled side street in central Beirut’s arts quarter, Saifi Village, the milia m Boutique initially began life in October 2004 as a temporary exhibition space shared jointly by the designer and lighting design studio, PS Lab. Completely undecorated, the shop attracted the designer’s eye both for it’s ideal location and the unlimited possibility such a raw space presented.

Even before the exhibition began, plans were in place for the space to be transformed into a boutique. The design was the work of local architect Raed Abilama and his architectural practice, Raarchitects, who entrusted long-term collaborators Acid, with producing the shop fittings.

The result was a minimally-designed space – essentially massive windows, polished concrete floors and slightly rougher, less finished walls – that maximized the store’s potential and created the perfect stage for milia m’s delicate designs, which are artfully displayed on long metal rails suspended from the ceiling. It’s a contemporary blend of the brutal and the beautiful. The windows are designed not only to admit light and to showcase at night the beautifully lit designs within but by drawing the thick white blinds, they are transformed into a changing room. This teasing and mildly titillating touch lends the boutique a playfulness entirely in keeping with the collection.

On the 4th of November 2005, after being repeatedly delayed by the spate of car bombs and the serial murders of leading Beirut intellectuals and politicians, amongst them the former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in February of that year, the flagship boutique finally opened its doors.

Just seven months later, the boutique once again fell victim to regional politics as Beirut was attacked and bombarded by Israel. The devastating 34-day war, now known as the July War, was swiftly followed by what would turn out to be an 18- month blockade of the city centre by Hezbollah partisans and their supporters. Trapped on the periphery of the sit-in encampment, the boutique suffered but fought back by blocking its windows with 1191 t-shirts – one for every Lebanese victim of 2006 war – imprinted with a number and the words “don’t forget, remember” in 10 different languages. Proceeds from the sale of these t-shirts were donated to two local organizations working with child victims of the war. Further details of this initiative can be found by visiting www.lebanonsummer06.org

With the return of calm in 2008, Beirut began to boom, attracting tourists, visitors and media attention from all over the world. The same year, milia m pulled off and historic coup by becoming the first Arab fashion designer to show at Milan. With her designs being featured in increasing numbers of international publications – in 2010 alone, milia m was featured in Tatler, the New York Times and Conde Naste Traveller – we expect both the boutique and Beirut, to continue from success to success.

Majida Azar has been working with Milia for the last 10 years, so when it came time to find someone to run the boutique, there was no contest. Majida’s warm, welcoming personality not only helped see the boutique through the challenges of the last few years, turning it into an essential part of Saifi Village but her visceral understanding of the milia m style also means that she is the ideal ambassador for the brand.