Photography by Chieska Fortune Smith  

For such a singular, progressive force in global art – and, more recently, fashion – Hoor Al Qasimi has a deceptively quiet demeanour. It’s a trait you might not expect of the most influential figure in art, according to ArtReview, last year. Yet, the radicalism integral to her pioneering work as a curator, creative director of British-based brand Qasimi and leader of its talent incubator q-rising is still more than palpable in our half-hour conversation. “Someone did another article and they asked me [about] predicting trends in the art world,” Al Qasimi tells me, from her home in Sharjah. “But I don’t work with trends.”

Whilst it’s a professional creative’s prerogative in the 2020s to populate their Instagram bio with the one or two handles of the accounts linked to their pursuits, Al-Qasimi’s profile lists nine. As such, our slot is wedged somewhere in a characteristically unrelenting pan-continental schedule, which not only encompasses leading her late twin brother Khalid’s cult favourite, sociopolitically-charged namesake brand, but also multiple international art biennales and serving as President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation. She founded the latter in 2009 to promote contemporary art in her native Emirate – ruled by her father under monarchical governance – and to forge creative links in the region in a global context.

London would be the city where Al-Qasimi’s creative aptitude was first officiated, however. She posted up in the British capital in 2002 to undertake undergraduate studies in painting at UCL’s Slade School of Fine Art, before pivoting to curation with a master’s degree at the Royal College. The city was also where her brother Khalid earned his fashion stripes at Central Saint Martins and subsequently established his label in 2015. His refined yet wearable designs made him a critical darling and a highlight of London’s men’s schedules, notable for cultural amplification and lyrical commentary on often-strained Middle Eastern politics. His collections were guided by an “urban nomad” narrative that saw him journey through Arab cultures via four pillars: architecture, colour, military and messaging, becoming a hallmark of his work.

Photography by Kosmas Pavlos; model Lawal Badmus at PRM wear QASIMI

At the time of Khalid’s sudden death, in July 2019, four years following Qasimi’s launch, the brand’s potential for global impact was only truly coming into its own. After his passing, “People were saying, ‘You should take over the brand,’” Hoor recalls. However, already grappling with such a seismic personal loss, the responsibility of stepping up to the mantle and actualising her brother’s vision wasn’t something she embarked upon lightly. When she did take the reins, in 2020, Hoor’s early acclimatisation to design, under the guidance of Khalid’s in-house team, was beset by COVID and Brexit trade disruption. Still, her debut Spring/Summer 2021 presentation, realised as a fashion film due to social distancing, was warmly embraced and showed early indications of how Qasimi’s future would be articulated in Hoor’s lexicon. She introduced womenswear for the first time and harnessed dialogue with the world she knew best, featuring a collaboration with Jamaican- born installation artist Nari Ward – the first of many linkups with global artists that have permeated her tenure to date.

“I need to have a connection with the artists I collaborate with,” she tells me. The brand’s first live show since Khalid’s passing, last June, unveiling Hoor’s Spring/Summer 2025 efforts, involved interplay with New York-based visual artist Kambui Olujimi. The focus, in particular, was his When Monuments Fall series, an investigation into the role of monuments in communicating narratives around state power and colonialism, in reference to increased discussion of the symbolism of historical statues following 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests. Digital printing techniques saw portions of Olujimi’s work transferred onto garments. Silhouettes blended structure and fluidity, reflecting the unsteady position of monuments in society. While SS25’s show found its backdrop in the barren Victorian industrial interiors of East London’s Wapping Power Station, for January’s offering, Autumn/Winter 2025, Qasimi headed to Milan. Despite having delivered her live debut the previous season, “There was more pressure [for AW25],” Hoor says, due to the new territory they quite literally found themselves in. The brand resorted to a presentation format rather than attempting a fully-fledged show in its inaugural year on Italian soil. “We wanted to test the space,” Hoor says, “but next time we’ll do a show.”