BAHARE KARAMI AT VANCOUVER FASHION WEEK

Bahare Karami: Painting Fashion with Memory and Light

At Vancouver Fashion Week for Fall/Winter 2026, known for its local, national, and global perspectives and for celebrating emerging voices, Bahare Karami presented a quietly captivating collection. Rather than demanding attention, her designs gently drew you in, much like a painting that you can't help but stop and admire.

Bahare Karami is a graduate of the fashion design program at Vancouver Community College, and this is her second collection to be shown at Vancouver Fashion Week. On Day 2 of the week's packed schedule, Karami stood among a diverse lineup of designers, each contributing to VFW's signature multicultural dialogue. But where others leaned into spectacle, Karami chose intimacy—an aesthetic rooted in art history, emotion, and a deeply personal understanding of femininity.

BAHARE KARAMI - A REVIEW

I sat down with Bahare Karami to discuss her collection. Karami is an Iranian immigrant who has a master's degree in geology from Iran. However, her passion for fashion design prevailed, and she studied it at Vancouver Community College. With a personal drive to express sophistication, luxury and femininity in her designs, Karami told me the inspiration for her collection was late 19th- and early 20th-century painting—an era steeped in softness, romanticism, and psychological depth. Think diffused light, lingering shadows, and the kind of quiet drama that unfolds slowly.

The backdrop for the collection was a Claude Monet water lily painting. Bahare Karami also told of her interest in the fashion of the same period. The capsule collection of 8 looks unfolded on the runway as a graceful parade of sophisticated and elegant garments. There was a whisper of Parisian elegance throughout—less “Emily in Paris,” more Left Bank intellectual who reads poetry and wears impeccable tailoring without trying too hard.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF VANCOUVER FASHION WEEK

PHOTOGRAPHER ARUN NEVADER

The collection played with contrast in a way that felt both deliberate and intuitive. Structured tailoring anchored the looks, while softer elements—fluid skirts, delicate layering, and subtle movement—introduced a sense of vulnerability. It was a conversation between control and release, between public persona and private self.

In a subtle colour palette that includes crisp white, dove grey, a golden yellow, denim blue, and all grounded with black, the designer focused on shades and tones rather than brilliant colours. A pop of red appeared in the details, the ends of a belt, a bow on a grey dress.

Classic and refined, Karami created two coats: look 1, a clean silhouette, and look 6, a creamy white coat dress, double-breasted with gold buttons and an intricate draped shoulder. Silhouettes balanced structure with fluidity, architectural but never rigid, both coats showing skilled tailoring.

The outstanding looks of the collection include look 4, a Victorian-influenced blouse with a pointed, extended golden collar, paired with a full denim skirt. Every seam, every fold, every carefully considered embellishment felt intentional. There was a refinement here that spoke to discipline—a designer who knows when to hold back, which, in fashion, is often the hardest skill of all. The closing look, #8, was reminiscent of a Christian Dior dress from the 1950's, exemplifying femininity and sophistication.

In a week where spectacle often dominates, Karami’s presentation felt almost cinematic in its restraint. The pacing, the styling, the overall mood—it all worked in harmony to create a cohesive narrative. Nothing felt excessive. Nothing felt rushed. Each look had space to exist, to be seen, to be felt. And honestly? That restraint is what made it powerful. Because when you strip away the noise, what remains has to be strong enough to stand on its own. Karami’s collection did exactly that.

Designer Bahare Karami and I, at Vancouver Fashion Week

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