Malaysian Designer Zaimi Zulkafli Untangles A Decade Of Craft At KLFW 2026

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Before the runway, there was an apprenticeship.

Zaimi Zulkafli, a Malaysian designer now known for his work on Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week’s biggest stages, spent years as a designer assistant under Salikin Sidek, learning the trade from the ground up before striking out with his own label in 2015.

Since then, he’s built a name on a specific kind of tension – traditional modest silhouettes, reworked with contemporary luxury.

It’s a signature that’s dressed the likes of Neelofa and Scha Alyahya, and carried him from local design competitions to the main stage of Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week.

His showcase at KLFW 2026 was co-led with Hana Halim, Creative Director of the Zaimi Zulkafli label who worked with him to build the collection around the theme “Lerai,” meaning to come apart or untangle, symbolising a decade of evolution, shifts, and creative rebirth.

It’s a culmination of a decade of joy, sorrow, sacrifice and betrayal,

KLFW After A Decade

The collection blended contemporary, deconstructed silhouettes with traditional heritage details and whimsical prints – craft and sentiment over spectacle.

Founded in 2013 by entrepreneur Andrew Tan, the event was built specifically as a platform for Malaysian designers – a space to show ready-to-wear collections to press, buyers and the public, rather than an imported copy of fashion weeks elsewhere.

More than a decade on, it’s grown into one of the region’s bigger fashion calendar fixtures, drawing thousands of attendees each year and giving both established and emerging Malaysian names a shot at wider recognition.

Zulkafli’s showcase this year was billed as the highlight of a milestone – MOCCONA’s fifth year as KLFW’s official coffee sponsor, marked with a showcase built specifically around his and Halim’s vision.

That’s likely what made the pair the pick for the occasion: a showcase built around the idea that everyday rituals, done with intention, are their own form of style.

Milestone In A Much Longer Journey

For Zulkafli and Halim, that’s really the throughline of this showcase – turning quiet, personal moments into something worth putting on a runway.

Nearly a decade after leaving his old mentor’s studio to strike out alone, that instinct – now shaped alongside Halim – is still what gets him booked.

And for KLFW, now well into its second decade, it’s pairings like theirs – patient, deliberate, still finding new ways to tell the same story – that keep the platform worth showing up for.

The showcase marked five years of MOCCONA’s presence at KLFW, but for Zulkafli and Halim, it reads more like a marker along a much longer road.

READ MORE: Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week 2026 Is Well Underway — Here’s Why You Should Head To KLCC

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Malaysian Designer Zaimi Zulkafli Untangles A Decade Of Craft At KLFW 2026
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