In 2018, Charaf Tajer launched a fashion brand in Paris named Casablanca. At first, the collection of men’s garments and accessories reflected many of the designer’s influences, including his heritage as a Moroccan-born, Paris-based designer, as well as the layered identity of Casablanca, where his parents met and he spent each summer. Partly aspirational, the label blended leisure and luxury with a distinct tennis-inspired aesthetic full of pieces Tajer could not find elsewhere, including specific track suits and silk shirts reminiscent of Hermès scarves. Two years later, Casablanca launched womenswear, offering ladies a look within the same DNA.
Courtesy of Casablanca.
For Casablanca’s Fall/Winter 2023 collection, Tajer was inspired by the people of Syria celebrating as an act of finding joy, regardless of their fear and limitation to do so amid struggle and warfare. After a trip to Damascus, he embodied the courage, kindness, and resistance he witnessed and displayed it in the new collection. Structured pastel suits with military branch insignia were seen mixed between joyful looks of checker-blocking patterns, heart-shaped prints, and accessories—like roses and newspapers—carried by hand.
Dialing in from Dubai, Tajer shared with Whitewall how his layered life the city of Casablanca inspired his collection.
Courtesy of Casablanca.
Creating Casablanca in 2018
WHITEWALL: Why did you initially want to start your own label?
CHARAF TAJER: I’ve always traveled a lot, and I find a lot of inspiration in my travels. I couldn’t find the clothes that I was looking for. I was always looking for certain things—track suits, silk shirts, glasses, shoes—and I couldn’t find them in the market. That’s why I decided to build the brand. It took me a few years to find the confidence to do it.
WW: How did your parents meeting in Casablanca lead to you naming your brand after the city?
CT: This really is the beginning of my story. My parents met in Casablanca, in a couture atelier, working next to each other. My dad was a tailor, and my mom was a [sewing] machinist at the time. But to be exact, that day, my dad was selling makeup to girls at the atelier, and he was trying to sell some makeup to my mom. But they liked each other, fell in love, and they decided to go to France together to start a new life.
Parallel to that, the word “Casablanca” sounds to me like travel, exoticism, escapism. This is also the city where I spent a lot of my time being young, every summer since I was a kid. It’s a very important place for me. The name has many sides, but, first of all, it’s the place where my parents met, and this is where I spent a lot of time in my childhood. A lot of my first souvenirs are in Casablanca and in Paris.
WW: Would you credit your parents working in fashion as one of your influences?
CT: Subconsciously, yes. At home, we always had a sewing machine. My dad made me clothes. We’d go window shopping, looking at styles for adults, and then he’d re-make for me as a kid. I still have some of the leather jackets he made me. Making clothes was something very natural at home; it wasn’t abstract. It was something I knew was doable because my parents made clothes in front of me every day.
Courtesy of Casablanca.
Inspired by the City of Casablanca
WW: What inspirational touchpoints are found within the city of Casablanca that you weave into the label to evoke escapism and exoticism?
CT: My story is very parallel to the city of Casablanca, in the sense that I feel the city is a good representation of who I am. It’s an Arab city with a Spanish name in an old French colony. It’s a very dynamic city with many different inspirations. I feel I’m a bit the same. I’m French, Moroccan. I travel a lot, speak a few languages. It’s very layered. It’s not one identity; it’s a mix of many. I feel the city is like this.
In Casablanca, there are many different types of architecture—colonial houses, 1950s buildings, Art Deco, Arabic. It’s a mix of so many influences, and it was also a very important place during the World War II, where many people came as refugees. It was a safe zone for Jewish people. It’s a melting pot, and I love this idea. I grew up with so many different people from so many different religions—Paris but also in Morocco. I traveled a lot in Spain and then all around the world, adding layers to my knowledge. The city of Casablanca is a real parallel to me, my personality, and the way I built my adult life.
Courtesy of Casablanca.
WW: In a previous interview, you said you hoped that Casablanca would “join the legacy of French luxury brands, and to signal a new wave of classic brands.” What is that new wave?
CT: That’s definitely my goal. Most brands by default today are anarchist. Disruptive. I feel like it’s become the norm to become disruptive. People describe Casablanca as disruptive because we bring certain differences to the conversation, meaning we have a different color palette, a message. The brand is very optimistic. We love to share cultures, colors, and ideas. I prefer to say we’re not disruptive, but we’re rebalancing something. We are only disruptive because we want to rebalance certain codes.
The Meaning in Casablanca’s Message
WW: You introduced womenswear in 2020. What was venturing into this category like?
CT: Very natural, honestly, because we had so many women wearing the menswear already that we felt it was something that we could very naturally shift to. It was a challenging time in the world, but it’s true that Casablanca grew up so much during that time. But indeed it was very natural because a lot of women were wearing it already and we had the support of women and women customers already. It was very natural, and now we want to have a bigger focus on womenswear because we think it’s important. I feel like the Casablanca woman is more and more defined by the years and especially the last show. I feel like we’re growing into the idea of having a bigger womenswear category, and it feels very good.
Courtesy of Casablanca.
WW: We recently saw your Spring/Summer 2024 collection, inspired by Nigeria. What about this country did you want to spotlight?
CT: It’s about the day of independence of Nigeria, and a forward-moving movement that Nigeria had during those years. It’s also the idea of how Africa is the future, in my opinion, and how those people really embodied those movements, even in the sixties and seventies. They were very forward with the idea of Africa as the future. We wanted to dedicate this collection to both the African Futurism movement and the independence of Africa in general.
WW: What do you hope Casablanca will be known for?
CT: For the message. We want to be leading, and part of, change. Fifteen years ago, when I grew up in Paris, having a job at any luxury place was absolutely impossible for someone who looks like me. I hope Casablanca will give hope to many people who did not necessarily have the social background, or the right color, to work in fashion. I hope we will inspire the youth to go to architecture and fashion schools, to be independent, to have their own movements, to create, and to stand for the right causes.
