#AmanqiLoves: The Nou Project


 

Constantly expanding our sneaker collection (a girl can never have too many pairs), this season we came across the coolest amalgamation of fashion & art; The Nou Project. Established by style connoisseurs Nour & Basma, The Nou Project is a contemporary luxury label presenting wearable art in the form of versatile yet timeless sneaker silhouettes (available in both low & high top variations). Scouting talented artists from across the globe, The Nou Project’s sneakers serve as a canvas for collectible, trendy & unique art (we’ve got our eyes on that Nydia Lilian piece).

Providing a fresh take on everyday accessories, Nour & Basma not only focus on creating dynamic aesthetics, but also provide both a sustainable (all The Nou Project sneakers incorporate recycled rubber in their soles) & comfortable pair of sneakers. Truly honing the art of sneakers, we sat down with Nour & Basma to discover their journey, the inspiration behind The Nou Project & all things style.

 


 

THE START OF THE NOU PROJECT JOURNEY

 

Nour: The Nou Project was my final thesis at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art; I had to come up with a business plan to benefit the art world in a new and innovative way. Inspired by both street art and sneaker culture in New York City, the Nou Project seemed like the perfect way to ‘wear’ art and give upcoming artists the chance to show their work on a new platform.

Basma: Nour and I met at Coachella in 2014, the music festival in Palm Springs, and we became friends almost instantly. It wasn’t until Nour moved to New York whilst I was attending Parsons the New School for Design, where our friendship solidified. She described her business plan to me and I was immediately taken with the challenge and creativity it would require. Hence we started sketching out shoe ideas from my apartment and next thing we know, we’re both in Dubai now to see this vision come to life.

 

THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

 

Nour: Social media has become an integral part of our generation; the sharing and exposure of so many images keep us in tune with what is going on in the world, what events are happening, what new restaurants to try out and what vacation spots should be added to our bucket list and lastly, what our friends are up to. In terms of our brand, it is useful to follow museums and galleries and art fairs. It helps us stay in the loop in terms of growing artists and what exhibitions not to miss. On the sneaker factor, following sneaker brands and sneakerheads has also given us the opportunity to really understand our audience and see their behaviors as well as have an idea about the size of the market. It’s no surprise that almost all high end brands such as Gucci, Valentino, Dolce, and Chanel have launched sneakers. In that aspect social media has also aided in recognizing our competition and the main players in the sneaker world.

 

The Nou Project

Photo: Courtesy of The Nou Project

 

NOUR & BASMA’S TAKE ON EMERGING TRENDS

 

Basma: It is hard to pinpoint a ‘new’ trend as we feel the market has been recycling a lot of its old ideas. I would like to pinpoint a trend that has been gaining an increasing number of followers, which is the ‘normcore’ trend. It is the grandfather of the current 90’s trend and they will both make way for the return of the millennium (00’s) in the next few seasons. Normcore is based on looking like you’ve made little to no effort in getting dressed although it’s not the case, i.e. wearing a plain white t-shirt, a levi’s mommy jeans and white common projects, looks simple, but was actually hard to find. The way we have designed our first collection does not respond to any trend actually; our main focus was high quality meets comfort, and that is what our sneakers represent. The added value is the limited printed artwork from incredible artists that we are so happy to collaborate with. Whether it’s the high top or low top model, they both have the same skeleton that is not made to change in responsiveness to seasonal trends but transcends time with its classic yet modern shape.

 

The Nou Project

Photo: Courtesy of The Nou Project

 

FAVOURITE PIECES FROM THE NOU PROJECT

 

Nour: It is difficult to choose a favorite piece as I admire all these artists’ equally, but to choose a piece that possibly suits my style most, I would say the Nydia Lilian ‘Criss-Cross’ with its sharp lines and shapes in black, white and grey. I love to dress in color so wearing these would balance out my color, making it look cool without being too much of a statement.

Basma: It is hard to choose, as these are our first ‘babies’ but if I had to, I would pick the James Rawson ‘semi-auto’. Simply because from far it looks dangerous but when you get close to it you realize it is not a gun but a harmless water gun. I like it also as it came at the same time when whatsapp changed it’s ‘gun’ emoji to the green water gun in an effort to make its keyboard less aggressive. I thought it was a pertinent addition to our collection and in parallel with current global news.

 

BASMA & NOUR’S MANY SOURCES OF INSPIRATION

 

Basma & Noor: As we mentioned earlier, we don’t follow trends, we follow artists. Always on the lookout for the next artwork that inspires us and that we get lost in. Once we express our interest in an artist’s work, we start the conversation with them and so far we have been very blessed and got almost all positive responses.  We then begin working together back and forth to create what will become a collaboration between TNP and the artist’s work on the moving canvas that is footwear. We give artists full creative freedom, when designing an edition, TNP acts like a compass, guiding the artist until the masterpiece is final.

 

The Nou Project

Photo: Courtesy of The Nou Project

 

A USUAL DAY IN THE NOU PROJECT TEAM’S LIFE

 

Nour: When Basma and I started working together in New York, we had different lifestyles. For instance, I like to wake up and get my morning workout out of the way while she prefers to leave that to the end of the day. Initially, we would both meet early for breakfast at the Ace Hotel in New York and start our work day from there. If we didn’t have meetings, we would go to the market and research the latest trends in the sneaker world, which was readily available in NYC. Since moving to Dubai, we kept our routine going and have reached a consensus on work lifestyle: we agree that we can work from anywhere, as long as we are together, we have our laptops and matching notepads but most importantly: good coffee!

 

NOUR & BASMA’S WARDROBE ‘MUST-HAVE’S

 

Nour: This may sound boring but a white t-shirt is definitely an essential for me; you can dress it down in the day with your sneakers of course, or dress it up at night with a pair of high heels. Another essential for me are bodysuits, for the same reasons as above, and they are even more flattering than a t-shirt!

Basma: My essentials vary from one city to another, but I think what is most consistent is definitely my black denim jeans, sweatpants and a sweater- preferably if they match, and the classic white tee as Nour said, (you can never have too many of those).

 

The Nou Project

Photo: Courtesy of The Nou Project

 

NOUR & BASMA’S FAVOURITE DESIGNERS

 

Nour: This probably is a coincidence but all my favorite brands are Italian! I love Valentino’s dresses; they are so feminine and flattering, Dolce & Gabbana’s designs and how they influence everyone to want to be that beautiful Sicilian woman wearing incredible earrings, an elegant and beautiful dress, and of course a crown! And Fendi and Miu Miu more for their accessories than their clothes.

As for designers, I love Naeem Khan’s dresses; he is so talented at making a woman feel beautiful. I love Christopher Kane and Mary Katrantzou, because I feel like they stood out of what other designers were creating at that time, using technology and different types of cuts and prints. And who from this region doesn’t love Zuhair Murad and Elie Saab?

Basma: In terms of brands, I’ve always liked Margiela, Comme des Garcons, Celine and more recently Vetements, Gosha Rubchinskiy and Raf Simons. As for designers, I have tremendous respect for Karl Lagerfeld and what he has done in his career. I also have to mention Alessandro Michele and the wonders he’s done at Gucci lately, and finally, Kanye West whom after meeting him briefly in New York, realised what a gentleman he is and added to the respect I have for him after what he has done with the Yeezy x Adidas collaborations.

 

The Nou Project

Nour & Basma / Photo: Courtesy of The Nou Project

 


 

Follow The Nou Project: @thenouproject