Aziz & Walid Mouzannar: The Making of the 2016 Victoria’s Secret Fantasy Bra

The Mouzannar family is globally renowned as a leading fine jeweler in the Middle East since 1820. In the 1950’s Aziz and Walid Mouzannar enhanced the family’s signature by creating handcrafted and authentic jewelry. Today, their prominence in the jewelry industry continues with the sixth generation cousins Dori and Alia Mouzannar who are making headlines around the world through their strong international collaborations. 

 

This year, the House of AWMouzannar collaborated with Victoria’s Secret by handcrafting and bringing to life the 2016 Fantasy Bra “Bright Night”, designed by Eddie Borgo and worn by the Victoria’s Secret angel Jasmine Tookes. Following the show, the bra was sent to New York to be showcased in the Victoria’s Secret flagship store.

Today’s Outlook met with Dori Mouzannar to discuss the excitement and experience behind creating the 2016 Victoria’s Secret Fantasy Bra.

It must have been truly exciting to collaborate with Victoria’s Secret for the first time. Tell us how this collaboration came about.

Yes, it is all very exciting to collaborate with such an international company as Victoria’s Secret. They had asked New York-based accessories designer Eddie Borgo to design the Fantasy Bra for 2016. Borgo was looking for a fine jeweler to handcraft that design into a reality. They interviewed many fine jewelers and we were selected based on our presentation and details regarding the creation of the bra and our long history in the fine jewelry artisanship.

 

 

How long did it take to put the bra together? Was all the work done in Lebanon?

All the work was done in our workshop in Lebanon. It took about two months to produce the cast of the bra, in pure 18 karat gold. After the fitting on the Victoria Secret angel Jasmine Tookes, we brought it back to Lebanon to set it with the 900 diamonds and emeralds, which took another month of around-the-clock work. We were told that this was record-breaking time in the history of the creation of the Fantasy Bra.

 

What was the most challenging part of the implementation process?

The most challenging part was to create a bra entirely out of an 18-karat gold cast and using no fabric at all while keeping the bra comfortable to wear.

 

Was the experience with Victoria’s Secret a smooth sailing or were there hiccups along the way?

There was a minor adjustment to the bra, but actually, it was all pretty smooth sailing.

 

What’s next for the Fantasy Bra? Will it be on display for a while and then taken apart?

The Bright Night Fantasy Bra will be on display at the Victoria’s Secret flagship store in New York City. They have full discretion for a year, then we will see what’s next.

 

What other major collaborations should we expect from you in the near future?

We are in the middle of negotiations for another international project in 2017, but we’re not able to divulge more information just yet. We’ll keep you posted when the time is right.