Rewriting the Narrative

Bangladeshi designer Rahemur Rahman combines his work with activism to make space for South Asia in British fashion.

- UPASANA DAS

In a room plastered with dark floral print wallpaper, possibly peeled off by his younger siblings, a boy sits on a sofa too large for him. Holding his baby sister for the first time, a young Rahemur Rahman smiles, a pair of white wedges belonging to his mother peeking out demurely below his jeans. Throughout fashion school and while designing his first collection for London Fashion Week, Rahman would return to these family albums looking for patterns that defined what home meant to him. 

“My work starts with activism,” says the designer, who, as the director of training and development at the British Bangladeshi Fashion Council (BBFC), mentors South Asian designers to survive in the industry. “From 2019, when I launched my brand at LFW, there hasn’t been another Bangladeshi person who’s gone on to LFW. I’m gonna make sure I’m not the last one.” Sitting in his alma mater, Central Saint Martins, as we speak, where he also teaches the BA Fashion students, he feels lucky for a lot of things in life—he was lucky to receive the Erasmus fund to access an education at CSM and it was pure luck again when Sarah Mower spotted him, leading him to showcase at LFW, the first Bangladeshi designer to do so.