At Zomer, Danial Aitouganov & Imruh Asha Find a Perfect Balance

Head to the website for the LVMH Prize and you’ll be confronted with the headshots of this year’s finalists: nine stoic faces, static in their white squares, plus one knitted in yarn. The doll in question sits on the shoulder of 33-year-old designer Danial Aitouganov, whose own phlegmatic demeanor adds to the cheekiness of his little pal’s presence. It represents stylist Imruh Asha, the other half of Zomer, the Paris-based brand founded by Aitouganov and Asha in 2023. Asha’s dolly likeness perfectly encapsulates what the pair’s partnership and brand are all about. “It’s definitely playful,” Aitouganov tells W. “We use a childlike approach when creating collections. It’s colorful and fun, but there’s a sophistication to it.”

It has been only two years since Zomer’s founding, but the brand has already managed to squeeze itself to the front of the fashion conversation. A debut show during Paris Fashion Week last March immediately got the attention of the industry, thanks in part to Aitouganov and Asha’s mastery of color, texture, and ability to balance show pieces with commercial offerings. While there is an aspect of avant-garde (especially in the fall 2025 collection, which saw many designs flipped backward), there is also an immense sense of wearability. The brand, only a toddler at this point, still lies in the realm of “if you know, you know,” but thanks in part to its finalist spot for the LVMH Prize, placement on Björk, recent book launch, and multiple brand collaborations, it won’t be long until it moves from an insider label to a household name.

Zomer’s marketing skills have contributed to all the attention. The brand’s 2023 “It’s Just Kids” campaign transformed industry icons like Pat McGrath, Grace Coddington, and Michèle Lamy into their childlike counterparts. And Aitouganov and Asha are fans of using stand-ins: their spring/summer 2024 show ended with their child doppelgängers taking bows on the runway. For fall 2024, it was old men. In spring 2025, there were two women. Even when Aitouganov and Asha themselves stepped out to finally give a bow at their most recent fall 2025 show, the designers kept their backs to the audience. “It’s a fun element to surprise people, to make them laugh,” Aitouganov says.

This lighthearted spirit has been at play from the start. Aitouganov met Asha when the former was still in his final years at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. He was looking for a stylist, and Asha was styling e-commerce for the popular Amsterdam-based store, Supermarket. “It was the cool place, and that’s where the cool kids were hanging out,” Aitouganov says.

The two became fast friends. “I was intrigued by how bold he was in using color in his work,” Asha says of Aitouganov via e-mail. “That attracted me.” When Aitouganov was selected as a finalist for the 2017 Hyères Fashion Festival, he asked Asha to help. Soon, they started playing with the idea of building a brand together. “But we were realistic,” Aitouganov says. “We were like, ‘We don’t have that much money, we don’t have contacts, we don’t have a network, or experience.” Instead, Aitouganov got a job at Chloé while Asha made a name for himself as a stylist. He also joined the team at Dazed as fashion editor, a title he still holds. (“Sometimes I feel like I have a split personality,” Asha says. “Imruh for Dazed, Imruh for Zomer, Imruh for clients, Imruh for Imruh.”)

In 2018, Aitouganov moved to Burberry, where he worked as a womenswear designer for four years. “It was quite an intense period,” Aitouganov recalls; he often worked until 4 AM and on weekends. Facing burnout, he moved to Paris. “I wanted to have time for myself, finally read a book, go to a gallery.” He also had more time to think—and he found himself scheming on the old brand plan.

Aitouganov and Asha had stayed in touch via a group chat with Asha’s girlfriend (aptly named “Children,” a part of Zomer’s core ethos. “We were building a foundation,” Aitouganov says. At the same time, Aitouganov had to accept the prospect of entering the spotlight after years behind the scenes. “I’d always work on someone else’s vision,” he said. “I was always protected, so I had to get used to the idea of going into the foreground. But eventually I was like, ‘Okay, let’s just jump.’”

Aitouganov’s experience at Burberry led to some ground rules for Zomer. “We were producing so much without feeling,” he says of his time at the British brand. “So the product, for me, became very flat, and the teams were exhausted.” Aitouganov promised himself that Zomer would never find itself in that position, even if it meant cutting down on production. “Mental health is really important to me,” he says. “I will protect my teams. And I sit them down to say, ‘You’re not competition. You’re going to create something beautiful together.’ I don’t want negativity or fears within the house.”

The good vibes begin with the brand’s name, Zomer, or “summer” in Dutch. “It’s our favorite season,” Aitouganov says. “It’s warm, vibrant, colorful—and that’s what we bring with the brand.”

Those are all words that can be used to describe Aitouganov and Asha’s creations. Unexpected details like misplaced collars, origami-like attachments, and noodly fringe add whimsical zeal. But there’s no mistaking it, these are well-made clothes. “We both worked in luxury, so we have a feel for quality,” Aitouganov says. “I’m trying to create the best possible product.”

The two are perfectionists, a trait Asha admits “can lead to obsessive spirals” if they’re not careful. But the benefit of having each other far outweighs the risk of a mutual breakdown. “We push each other, we challenge ideas,” Asha says. “It’s very nice to have a boxing partner,” Aitouganov adds.

Zomer gleans inspiration from visual artists like Pablo Picasso—who served as the muse for the brand’s first runway show—along with the Italian painter and sculptor Lucio Fontana, and photographer Rafael Pavarotti. (In the case of Picasso, wood was used throughout Zomer’s spring 2024 debut at Paris Fashion Week; for the Fontana collection, dresses and jackets bore dramatic slashes.) “We’re sponges,” Aitouganov says of his and Asha’s design sensibility. “We soak it up and release it.”

Zomer has done a slew of collaborations, including working with the Brooklyn-based homewear brand, Heven, on hand-blown glass sculptures that models carried down the fall 2024 runway. The spring 2025 collection saw flowers provided by French florist Debeaulieu, with some blooms dipped in chrome by U.K. artists Isabel + Helen. Knitwear has come from designer Cécile Feilchenfeldt, sneakers from Finnish brand Karhu, and jewelry from Panconesi.

The next collab the two are hoping to engage in is with LVMH. Zomer is a finalist in the luxury conglomerate’s annual competition (hence Asha’s rag-doll representative on the Prize’s site). The winner receives 300,000 euros, as well as a one-year mentorship tailored to their needs. To Aitouganov, winning means obtaining some breathing room within the brand. It would be a major step toward his goals to create a “self-sufficient, sustainable” company. But Asha thinks they’re already feeling the benefits. “Win or not, the nomination has already opened doors. We’re just getting started.”