RAGA MALAK KEEPS IT IN THE FAMILY

Ahead of its second collection, the RAGA MALAK duo discusses the workings behind the brand that has already won over the likes of Ice Spice, Doja Cat, and Addison Rae.

Gadir Rajab and Raquelle Saba sit at a large dining table, their chairs so close that their shoulders jostle for space as we talk. It’s a satisfyingly clean embodiment of their tight relationship with each other and their brand. Founded in 2019, RAGA MALAK began life in Beirut, Lebanon, but relocated to Melbourne, Australia, in the aftermath of the 2020 explosion at Beirut’s port that left 218 dead and around 300,000 homeless. “It was still part of the plan,” explains Rajab. “We were going to try and base there and do content there, and then COVID happened and then the explosion and also the corrupt government.”

Despite the unexpected setbacks, Rajab and Saba, spent two years in COVID lockdown perfecting samples and plotting a path for the future. “Melbourne had a really hectic lockdown, like over two years. I think it was the most locked-down city in the world. So we just took advantage of that and worked throughout all of it,” Saba trails off as Rajab takes over: “Took our time sampling, and I’m such a crazy Gemini so to actually just be trapped somewhere for two years, it was kind of perfect.” The pair naturally interject during our conversation—not interrupting, more like finishing each other’s thoughts, leading one another to their next point. Their anecdotes, explanations, and jokes flow; it’s the symbiotic, all-but-familial bond that stands at the core of RAGA MALAK.

Under the tagline “Too Arab in the West, too Western in the East,” RAGA MALAK’s first collection told the stories of Rajab and Saba’s upbringing as the children of Lebanese parents. But, guided by the pair’s previous experience—ranging from international law to creative direction for Kiko Kostadinov and design for YEEZY—the garments remained rooted in wearability, connecting buzzy touchpoints that piqued the interest of TikTok and A-listers alike. Informed by noughties excess, trucker hats, minute bikini sets, and oversized zip hoodies typify the label’s style. Importantly, though, underneath the big graphics and distressed textures is a store of nuanced references to the designers’ Middle Eastern upbringing. This careful cultural balance has earned endorsements from Ice Spice, Doja Cat, Lourdes Leon, Addison Rae, and more. It’s hard to believe that the label has only released one collection just a year ago.What’s even harder to reconcile with the brand’s white-knuckle rise to prominence is the size of the operation. As Rajab shuttles between Melbourne and LA to work with YEEZY, time differences and travel schedules mean that the RAGA MALAK studio is still fully remote and, bar a couple of assistants, the manpower behind the operation is strictly family. “We have such supportive families. We live at our parents’ houses,” Rajab says, his sentence melding into Saba’s: “And my dad works for the brand helping us with stuff, and my little sister. It’s very ’family’ vibes.”As answers ricochet between the duo, shoulders collide, and—both wearing black—it becomes hard to tell where Saba ends and Rajab begins.

Starting at the very beginning, how did you guys first meet and become best friends?And you guys originally founded the brand in Beirut?So that move from Beirut to Australia, do you think that affected the way that you designed? The way that you saw the brand?I want to know a little bit more about what it was like growing up in the Middle Eastern diaspora in Australia.

Saba: We met at a festival. I went up to Gadir and I said “You’re really hot.” Rajab: I actually don’t remember that. I was off my head. Saba: I was friends with his brother. And then we just became friends. We actually worked together at another fashion brand. And we just always had like the best chemistry, we made everything fun. We’re both Lebanese, so we have that cultural connection too. Rajab: Yeah, it’s like [a] ’family’ kind of thing. Like, her mom buys me socks.Saba: Yes. So I had moved to Beirut in 2019 and wanted to start the business there because my background is actually in international law. So I wanted to kind of give back to the people there, the diaspora. And then, Gadir was like, “I want in, let’s do this.” But there’s just like a really hectic economic crisis, so it wasn’t logical to invest money in a country that was going through that, unfortunately; there were riots and protests. Rajab: Then COVID happened and the explosion. Then the corrupt government. We’re like, OK, we have to go back to Australia.Saba: I think so, just because it was also a really long time period. So obviously you change and you grow and you look at something for a long time and you kind of just get a bit over it. Rajab: Yeah, what we were into in 2019 is so different to now. And now it’s been three years since we started designing. So the new range is actually more relevant to what we like now, but the inspo originally for the brand was like, we live in the suburbs in Melbourne, and there’s so many different Arab areas and just the ironic fashion that you see, like not on purpose. Plus, when you’re in Lebanon, people wearing the full logos and it’s just like Gucci spelt wrong and the cut, the mix and match, and just the extraness. Saba: Yeah. Arabs are just going for wearing their favorite dress to the supermarket. They’re not into underdressing. Rajab: And now that we’ve been in Australia as well, we’re so detached from the world. We have such a different influence of fashion here. And there’s all these little subgenres and subcultures, so it’s just like a big mashup of all that.Saba: Our parents are the Civil War generation, so they come with a lot of trauma and as the children of that, you’re kind of raised with it, but I guess mental health isn’t really spoken about. So it’s kind of this hybrid identity, but your parents will say things like, “You’re not Australian.” It’s like juggling. We’re quite whitewashed in some ways. But we both kind of broke the boundaries of what a Middle Eastern child should be. Rajab: Yeah. So my parents migrated. They had my sister in Lebanon. I was born here. We lived in the commission flats until I was 12, and I couldn’t really speak English till I was like six. I was in prep and I couldn’t speak English. For me, it was very Middle Eastern and all my friends were Chinese or Somalian or Sudanese. And so I think that culture was what I grew up with, that’s my norm. Saba: I’m quite different, I grew up with English second language parents, but in a very white area, so I was always really different. I didn’t grow up around immigrants, so I had to go out to the ’burbs to be around other Arab kids. Rajab: I remember when I first met you, I was like, oh my god, you’re an Arab girl, but don’t seem like the Arab girls that I know. We just take influence from our roots and our culture and really want to put Lebanon and Beirut creatives and stuff on the map. Saba: It’s not something we’re exposed to, Lebanese creatives or Middle Eastern creators. It’s not something that we really saw even in pop culture. I feel like Arabs [are portrayed] either in this Orientalism type of way—Aladdin—or really not at all, so it’s been cool to be that for our younger selves.

How do you work as a pair? Where do you begin a collection?And how do you know when a piece is finished?It seems you’ve found the secret recipe to TikTok—what do you think has made your designs resonate so much with that audience?The list of celebs that have worn RAGA MALAK is pretty nuts for such a young brand. How does it feel when you see that?Do you have a dream RAGA MALAK muse?

Rajab: I have really bad ADHD, Raquelle’s much more structured and she makes everything really come together. We just kind of work to our strengths, but it’s very collaborative. I mean, we’ve only done one range and that range really took a while because we were also trying to figure out our rhythm and we’re learning as we go. Saba: I think that’s really amazing about Gadir—he bites more than he can chew but then makes it work. He’s like, “let’s do this huge thing and it’s just two of us,” but he makes it work, so that’s really inspiring and I love that about him. Rajab: Yeah, I think if there were two of me, the business would have flopped after a week. Saba: There’s also a family type of chemistry as well, which is nice. So it’s really comforting and caring. And if there is a problem, it’s really easy. Rajab: It’s like siblings: You just get pissed off, you go low, and then the next day you’re like, “Hey.” “Yeah, hey.”Rajab: We’re pretty aware of exactly what we want and what the end mark is. I feel like once we get there we just know. Saba: Yeah, our Zida set that really went off, we literally just got a piece of fabric and we were pinning it on [the model] and we looked at it and we were like, “Done.” Rajab: I’m just so excited for the next range. It’s way more representative of our identities now. We want to create a universe, like the RAGAverse. The brand identity is so important and I think with the balletcore pixie stuff that we were working on a couple of years ago, we’ve really tried to make that work. But I feel like now when I look at it, I’m so excited for something fresh. Saba: It’s hard now with all these micro trends and how the internet has evolved because things don’t last in the same way that they used to, but I feel like our first collection is quite timeless and we love that. We want to keep that element of it not being something that you’re sick of when you see it, but just like evolving into a different type of realm.Rajab: It was actually very planned. I was posting imagery that I thought would catch the eye of our potential customer. So then we were just building this following of people who were really into that brand identity. We got followers like Addison Rae and stuff, we started chatting and then she was down to shoot and I sent her some stuff. So then I shot her in the RAGA trucker hat and the corset. I also styled a press album shoot for Kali Uchis and I put her in one of our dresses. I was just really building content of these celebs before our launch.Rajab: Doja Cat was crazy. Doja Cat’s obsessed. She followed us and she actually doesn’t follow many people, so that was really cool. I love Lourdes, she wore the corset, and Ice Spice, and Latto. It’s been cool, because we don’t have PR or anything. They’ve been the really validating moments. We’re like sick, it hasn’t even been a year and we’ve had all these people wear it, we’re doing something right. You know?Saba: Bella Hadid. Rajab: Palestinian queen. Saba: Haifa Wehbe is this Middle Eastern pop star that we grew up watching. Rajab: I DMed her but she’s got millions of followers… Saba: She’s also like, a little bit older now, but she would be amazing. Rajab: We’re definitely elevating some of the styles to be more appealing to an older audience, and I love the Chloë Sevignys, and all those kinds of girls, too. I’m 32, that was what I grew up being obsessed with.