English GBYour backdrop looks very California. Where are you right now?
In California!
It feels like the beach-is that how you have it set up?
This meeting was supposed to take place in my house where I have a beautiful view, but we had the family meeting in Los Angeles-so I had to rush here. This is my office-in downtown.
I’m an UCLA alum, so I know LA fairly well.
And where are you?
Right now, in Chicago.
Very, nice.
I see from your bio Cher Murphy sent, you were born in Casablanca.
Yes, I was born and raised in Morocco, until I was seventeen years of age.
Then you moved to Los Angeles?
And we moved to Los Angeles. That was the American Dream.
My father was in love with the United States. And so we moved the whole family of 6, including my parents. It was definitely a journey. And for most of my life, I have lived in Southern California.
Then, when I had twin boys, we moved to the Bay Area for a bit more greenery-with the redwoods and the whole thing (with nature). So that was the reason (for that), and because I love seeing color.
Growing up, my father was a painter. And I used to wake up at night and change the color of his paintings. From that, I learned to understand and interpret, things through colors. To this day, I remember people with colors, and can remember the color of prints that they wore when we met. So this is my life, my world.
I’m big on color as well. Not so much from an art stand point, but from an energy stand point.
From what?
Energy, and memories.
Oh, energy, yes-for sure.
I can see how color affects you on an emotional level as an artist, as well in your travels. Are you willing to talk about how you’ve gone on some of your greatest voyages?
I traveled a lot because I was brought from Morocco to the U.S., where I had a very hard time adjusting to the mentality of the new culture.
I grew up in Morocco where life was free. Not free with money but where you can do so many things-like going to the club and it not be a thing. That culture was very, very free and very safe. I was always traveling back and forth, with my friends-some of which were located in Paris and different international cities. So traveling has always been a big part of what I love.
I’ve been to Europe a lot. But as I matured, I started exploring places that I’d never seen before-like Thailand, like Vietnam and all these places. And after these travels and many years based in the U.S., I created a clothing company which grew to 17 stores. And then September 11th happened, and I lost everything.
So I packed my bags and decided that I was going to be a hippie to heal. I said, I’m done with the city, I’m broken hearted. Everybody’s asking me how I am. My car was gone and my condo. So I took a one way ticket and went to Thailand.
I asked for my father’s blessing before I left and he said, “no blessings and you’re not going!” Then I told him, I’m leaving and you need to give me your blessing-which he finally did. So, I left to Thailand and China and Vietnam-visiting a lot of places and you know-I eventually came back to the U.S. because I discovered you can not run away from yourself. You need to face who you are. I thought to myself, if you want to be a hippie, you need to have a lot of money in the bank-so go back.
I didn’t have a job at that time, so one day while going to the gym-my towel falls down. And from that experience I thought, let’s make this little collection with one size, because it’s a bathrobe. The idea of the collection was one size, a project that can fit all the seasons and have a longer life. And that’s what I did, I created the wrap-up. The timing was such a blessing because I met this woman who told me she wanted to work with me and we got started with a pair of scissors and custom prints.
I love the fashion world and I wanted to incorporate and serve the worlds of spa and resorts-where I’d met some very nice people. I knew in that world, the people were stressed from work-giving massages and doing bookings, but even then it's like a family and that’s who I like to serve. We’ve been in business 20 years since and it’s been an amazing life. When you pickup the phone, you have these relationships with people, even if they move-which happens a lot from resort to resort. Wherever they go, they bring you with them, and with me they’re bringing the collections and it’s really nice to have these lasting relationships.
You said the inspiration came from your experience with a towel at the gym. What made you think you could take the experience and do what you did?
Because I was thinking, what can I do to fix this? When I was in Thailand I was thinking then, what do I do, and how do I start designing this collection. Then I thought, hey, you need to have a product-with no size and no season.
So when what happened with my towel dropping, I knew that the spa wrap already existed, but what I would bring is high-fashion for everyday use. And single at the time, I thought instead of looking bulky when coming out from the shower looking unattractive, let’s make you look beautiful and sexy in a bathrobe. With this type of design, it would allow you to enhance your body shape and be like a little dress that you can then also take to the pool, to the gym and to the sauna and still look beautiful. Instead of just being in this little piece of towel fabric with a lot of velcro-not made to be flattering on your body.
The whole line is for using everyday after a shower, feeling beautiful, elegant and practical.
Is the fabric you use also water absorbent like a towel?
Yes, it will absorb the water. We make our own fabric with this in mind and it is really soft on the skin. Components of the fabric include microfibers which are enhanced by the way we brush it and the way we knead it. It really has an amazing feeling.
Our fabrics never change color because we print on a finished garment-using the best ink. It’s produced to never bleed or fade so you have the same color made to last for 20 years.
What is the best way to clean it?
I put everything in the (washing) machine. I like things that are easy and producing things that make life easy. To clean the garment, use cold water-you can hang it out to dry or put it in the dryer and it comes out perfect and still look amazing.
Who would you consider an ideal client?
It’s really designed for everybody. Even my nine year old twins-love to touch it and are stealing my bathrobes all the time. It’s for everybody that takes a shower or go to the pool or go to the gym-that’s the perfect time for a wrap up.
We usually sell though spas and resorts like the Four Seasons-wherever you think about hotels, four and five star experiences-this is where or wrap-ups live. And it has been a blessing from the sky not going through boutiques and stores. The focus has been going into the world of luxury and traveling. It is made to be easy to travel with. It takes up little to no space in a suitcase. It’s easy to maintain, dries quickly and wrinkle free. So everything is about the destination.
And to bring it all together-what would be like an ideal spa or travel experience for you? Can you take me on a journey that would complement your fashion?
First, when traveling, once you leave your house to your transfers to and from the airport, once you arrive your destination-it should already be magical.
For example, soon I’m going to Fiji and when I arrive I’m expecting a certain feeling with the heat or even a little rain-that’s part of the trip. Then come the views-so once you are arriving the hotel you are already relaxed and disconnecting from your everyday life. You’re disconnecting from your kids, from making everyday breakfast, doing laundry and other responsibilities of daily life. So just leaving all of this-you’re already on vacation. So when you are arriving the hotel-think color, scenery, people, language-you can be already relaxed and not stressed.
You know, sometimes, even when on a very short trip-I forget the phone number for my office. That’s a good vacation!