Plush: Maison Haute Couture

Now plush is more a word we'd use to describe a couch, and not a fashion line, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, we came across Plush Maison Haute Couture, a Cairo-based design house that creates everything from gowns to cocktails dresses to outerwear. The versatile brand's name stems from the use of the word 'plush' to describe rich fabrics and the man behind the stylish attire, Ahmed Saedi, places a great deal of importance on such, telling us that "the main factor in any design is the fabric itself." According to Saedi, it is the fabric that essentially defines the dress. That's definitely a notion we can get behind; the most gorgeous of gowns design-wise can be destroyed by the wrong choice of fabric (we tend to hold a special grudge against jersey, which is a particularly unforgiving bitch of a material).

The line was started two years ago by Saedi; initially there were other designers contributing, but eventually he was the only one who stuck with it. "It was just a sort of fashion trial when we started out," he says with a laugh. Since then however, the brand has expanded, with a myriad of designs and a recent fashion show at Cairo's Fashion Festival, exhibiting Plush's Spring/Summer 2014 collection, one filled with rich fabrics and nailing some of the season's hottest trends. From lace and sheer loveliness to floral infusions to ombre hues, with a smattering of sequins, the collection showcased the designer's versatility and vivacious style.

Though we certainly loved some of the pieces, among them a flirty sheer-nude-with-black-lace-overlay dress, and another Grecian-eque long white gown (although we could have done without the turquoise sequined edges [below]), we think the tailoring left a little to be desired, and he may have gone a little overboard with the sequins (but we're just not uberfans of sparkle – chalk it up to a personal vendetta against tirtir). We did adore a full-skirted black creation, sheer lace at the top and intricate design on the flouncy skirt though!

Of his signature style sign-off, Saedi says, "I love to create designs which show off the femininity of the wearer." The designer collects inspiration from "anything that I see beauty in…a painting, or if I'm staying in a cool place..." and the various sources are reflected in the broad range of styles and hues showcased in his collections.

If some adjustments are made in terms of perfecting the tailoring, we think the designs would look seriously stellar, and if the adorable floral frocks seen in the collection are any indication, we're definitely looking forward to seeing the brand's new ready to wear summer collection, which will feature a lot of colour, and, we're guessing more flowers!

According to Saedi, he's currently loving the whole "50s style" and the new collection will incorporate elements of that, along with colours and flower prints galore. Of his love of colour the designer says, "within a collection I like to see a range of hues in front of me – with the twelve upcoming dresses, there's a varying colour palette." We're definitely down for some retro throwbacks and we just so happen to love bright hues for the summer, which is also, incidentally, Egypt's wedding season! Some select items from the forthcoming collection will be at Vichi's Fashion Night Out, set to take place at the newly opened Mojito next Monday, and the full collection will be ready in a few weeks!

You can check out Plush's Facebook page here or follow them on Instagram @PlushFashion.