Alia Elborai on Simplicity

Alia Elborai is a Lausanne based fashion designer and seamstress who aims to help people (re)discover the pleasure of self-made and made-to-measure garments by offering personalised sewing and knitting lessons. She has a longtime passion for second-hand clothing and has been regularly selling handpicked pieces on the preloved market since 2008. From time to time she helps people declutter their wardrobes and find their style again, so they can feel more in tune with themselves.

Born in Kuwait in 1989, Alia’s father is Egyptian (Cairo) and her mother is Swiss but born and raised in Colombia (Medellín, Bogotá) before moving to Switzerland in her teenage years. This mix of origins gave Alia inspiration and an open mind from an early age as she always felt like being a citizen of the world.

A creative nature made her explore all sorts of mediums since she was very young, therefore it was a natural decision for her to go for her Bachelor in Fine Arts (at EDHEA). At this time, fashion started taking a bigger space in her life and she began organising physical second-hand events in friends’ art studios, apartments, and gardens.