Maha Barsom

The road to fashion design began at age eight, when she began constructing dolls from fabric and designing clothes for them. Throughout her schooling, she excelled in art classes, pursuing perfection in the finest details of each and every project. She began designing and making her own clothes at a young age, striving to make each design better than the last.

Barsom studied business and taught economics and accounting for several years, but her passion for design turned her focus to fashion once again. She honed her skills at RISD and studied apparel design and haute couture in Paris. Working under teachers from the houses of Dior, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Nina Ricci, she expanded her knowledge of haute couture. She learned haute couture, draping, and even how to create accessories and flowers.

In 2006, Barsom’s business and fashion talents coalesced when she launched her signature line of luxurious shirts and blouses for women and opened a boutique on Boston’s fashionable Newbury Street. Her line reflects the vision she has cultivated and refined over the years, seeking interpretations that are at once aesthetic and pure, sensual and feminine. Her goal is to balance intelligence and elegance with simplicity and practicality in designs that survive the passage of time and showcase a woman’s beauty in any surrounding.

Barsom has been teaching apparel design at RISD since 2002, sharing her knowledge while inspiring and encouraging the next generation of fashion designers.