From Mariah Carey to Bollywood: how a Master's alum is wowing the stars

When an LA stylist asked young fashion designer Alina Anwar to send over some of her haute couture gowns for Mariah Carey, she had to sit on the secret for several months.  

This was back in 2019 and the singer had chosen Alina’s dress for the video that celebrated the 25th anniversary of her huge hit All I want for Christmas.   

“I got an email that she’d worn the clothes, but I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone,” says Alina. When the video aired in December, the congratulations began pouring in. 

“My career was just one year old – it was amazing,” she recalls. “I never thought I would dress a legend.” 

 Although she says her desire is to dress and empower ‘every woman’, Alina’s elegant, tailored gowns and suits cut from high quality chiffons, silks and sequins are sought by a string of international high profile women from US stars Toni Braxton and Tinashe through to Bollywood royalty Kareena Kapoor Khan.  

Today, as with every morning, she rises early to exercise before arriving at her Dubai studio, from where she operates Alina Anwar Couture with a small team of designers, cutters and tailors. She’s currently working on her Spring 2026 collection which she plans to take to Paris Fashion Week later this year.  

She’s professional and ever punctual – a quality drummed into her by her father, who urged her to study business rather than fashion. As a postgraduate she was always the first to lectures at Warwick Business School where she completed an MSc Business with Consulting.

“Even then friends would notice how I was dressed,” she says. “I always took care with my style.”  

Today she works all hours for clients around the world.  

“I don’t sleep much, I’m a perfectionist and I expect the same from everyone I work with.”  

She has been careful to pick a trusted team who have weathered the years of the COVID pandemic with her – now she’s keen to network more and forge relationships with key figures in fashion. 

She has come a long way. As a student in the UK, she would travel down to London at weekends and roam around Harrods and Selfridges until closing time, devouring details of the fashion floors.  

Fashion has always been her obsession – even as a little girl in Pakistan, she emulated her elegant mother and learned to sew alongside her grandmother.  

Her family’s innate style was her early inspiration, and her mother dressed her well.   

She adds: “I had matching clothes, shoes, hair ties. I always wore beautiful fabrics.” 

She had an eye for exclusivity too – and asked the tailor in town to hide her early designs from view.  

After WBS, she took a fashion course and set up in Dubai. Her team in India works with many in the film and entertainment industry – this interest has fallen into her lap, she says – stylists will get in touch with her and she’s delighted at their interest.  

“But I’m not that sort of person who runs after celebrities,” she says. 

WBS gave her confidence and helped her shed some of her shyness – it’s there she learned independence from her family.  

“And I learned to speak confidently to people,” she says. “Warwick played an important part in my life.” 

Her fabrics are rich and luxurious, her designs a flamboyant mix of East and West – think thigh slits and chic trouser suits. She sources all her fabrics from Milan and Paris, with trimmings from London. 

“You can feel the lightness of the cloth, that’s a sign of quality,” she says, and it is this that appeals to her clients.  

Her clothes sell around the world – classic blacks and navy sell well in the US, richer deep colours in Europe, softer hues in the Middle East, and neon greens, pinks and yellows are favoured in India. She’s currently experimenting with pastel shades for the Spring collection. 

She once came close to dressing Beyonce – ultimately her trouser suit wasn’t right for the occasion – but this remains a burning ambition.

“I’d love to dress her in one of my figure hugging gowns.”  

In her most heady moments, Alina can’t quite believe where she is today.  

She says: “The moment I enter my workshop and open my laptop, the moment some magazine approaches me, or someone wears my clothes and gives me great feedback – that makes my day, after all the hard work and sleepless nights – I am so happy.” 

Find out about more of our Change Makers at Warwick Business School.