Founded by Charaf Tajer in 2018, Casablanca started life as a lush, elevated take on après-sport attire, but quickly grew into a full fashion offering known for its electric, vibrant prints and unique take on casual-luxe. Its roots may be in tennis, but its clothes are more ready-to-wear than activewear—they have all the ease of sportswear, but the pieces are refined into something more elegant. A tracksuit, for example, comes with a swaggering 1970s flare; tennis shorts and shirts are in silk, and tracksuits, in cashmere terry cloth.
Casablanca’s product range spans the requisite t-shirts and sweats and shorts, but there are also silk shirts, printed denim, knitwear and woven jacquards. There is a tenderness, too, in Tajer’s approach to menswear—evident in his penchant for pearls, crystals, and the softest knits and silks. Even the suiting has a loucheness about it—it tends to sit on the body like pyjamas. It’s what you’d imagine the Cafe Society crowd and the Bright Young Things of the 1920s would wear if they were transposed into the 2020s.
It is an alluring aesthetic that has drawn the attention of some of the world’s most influential retailers. Sam Kershaw, Buying Director at MR PORTER, shares: “Casablanca’s approach to colour, print, and the blend of tailoring and leisurewear—all with a unique design language—is what I find most exciting. It has a recognisable and signature look, and crosses over a variety of cultural binaries. Each collection has easy-to-wear pieces, which allows men to experiment with their style more.”
And the MR PORTER customer has indeed flocked to the brand. “It has been popular since we launched it in 2020, with many items selling out within days of release. The printed silk shirts are a particular favourite with our customers, as the unique and colourful prints are very suitable for summer. They recognise and appreciate the hand-painted prints, which, if you look closely, are a blend of architecture and nature,” says Kershaw.
For fall/winter 2021, Tajer looked to the opulence and hedonism of Monaco. With the glamour of the French Riviera as his starting point, the designer drew from the Formula One races and the casinos the country is known for, and imagined the clothes the beautiful people would wear to the racetracks and then the parties after. The collection also marks the launch of Casablanca’s full-fledged women’s line, which comes on the heels of a limited, exclusive capsule he created for Net-a-Porter this year that proved a huge hit.
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