With love for fashion from a very young age, the Azerbaijani fashion designer and blogger Eljammi Gozalli, started out in the industry quite eartly as an assistant fashion editor at the age of 18. She then proceeded to study fashion design at the American University in Emirates.

“EL-J is all about women and their power”

By 2012, Eljammi launched her fashion brand EL-J with t-shirts and, later, turbans making her one of the first designers to do that in the UAE. She says, “EL-J is all about women and their power. I’m a huge feminist and I love reflecting it on my designs. I wanted to create something chic and classy, but at the same time a huge head-turner.”

When asked what inspired her to start her own label she replied, “There were a lot of reasons. I wanted to share my vision of fashion and style, so I started doing limited collections of T-shirts and turbans, and as I received attention, I increased production. Another big point that pushed me to start my brand were my family and my fiancé, who have always been very supportive and pushed me to come up with new and creative ideas.”

Her latest collection Snow Flower, which was showcased in Eljammi’s homeland in October 2014, is inspired by women from different centuries. “I added a mix of edgy and very soft looks together, as I wanted this to showcase that women always hold the sense of power.”

We asked Eljammi of her favourite destinations, “Paris, the whole atmosphere of boutiques and streets and the way people dress is so different and unique.” Eljammi did note that Dubai is the place that she gets most inspired by, “the amount of nationalities, cultures and traditional clothing that one can see here is just endless. I am extremely proud to see how fast the fashion industry is growing here. There are projects and events happening all the time.”

We finally had to ask the fashionista about her own style, which she described as, “My style is my mood; I like to change it all the time. One day I’ll be wearing high heels and a classy dress, the next – I’ll just feel like putting on jeans and a t-shirt. However, one thing would never change about me- I love accessories. Rings, necklaces and a pair of good Louboutin heels.”