2016 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

The Closet is a high fashion, multi-brand boutique in Qatar in competition with many designer shops as well as high-end department stores. Its target audience are composed yet edgy women in all their mysterious glory. The Closet exists to ensure every woman owns her social catwalk. It’s dark, ladylike, iconic and unique. There are many stories within The Closet, and each one relates to the true woman and her many faces.

The Brief

The Closet wanted to launch their new brand at an exclusive event, starting with their first brand story, 'The Girl and the Moon'. They requested a simple and unique giveaway to live up to The Closet standard, especially that the world-renowned designer, Christian Siriano, was personally invited to kick off the launch since his one-of-a-kind dress was inspired by our story itself, 'The Girl and the Moon'. This meant a lot of publicity and the presence of socialites and influencers.

How the final design was conceived

Our base was 'The Girl and the Moon', a story of beauty, innocence and treachery. So we created a usable, portable keepsake that combined both quality and eerie beauty—a perfect representation of the brand. With the help of Moleskine, we created custom-made little black notebooks as giveaways and included a crafted, illustrated rendition of The Girl and The Moon inside. First, we created an emblem for the story, and debossed it on the notebook cover in silver foil. The inside pages on the front and back highlighted a special note dedicated to all women, encouraging them let their mysterious side pour out onto the pages. Tucked inside the pocket on the back page was an exclusively illustrated, accordion-style story. The illustration of the girl highlighted her gentleness and unknowingly treacherous side. We used soft pencil lines and water color for soft textures and contours, yet at the same time, the choice of color and surroundings brought darkness and mystery. The moon was always bright and bold in silver paint, illuminating the reader throughout. This process was done by hand then scanned for slight treatment. Typography was also hand-written organically, then scanned and placed thoughtfully onto the layout.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The final outcome was a perfect summary of the brand: a mysterious agent that is WOMAN. A woman with freedom to pour out her secrets and embrace her dark side. And the fact that it was simply one story from The Closet adds a certain allure and highlights the mystery element even more. The value that it brought to the brand was the quality it upheld—Moleskine is associated with excellence and the illustrated story’s paper choice and overall look and feel exuded the class, mystique and charm that is The Closet. Moreover, the women who attended the event were reminded that they forever belong in a world where boldness meets delicacy and mystery is Queen. And most importantly, they were each left with a story to live… and a story to tell.