Fashion commentator Osama Chabbi is preparing to take his career in a new direction: filmmaking. Known for his insightful designer interviews and fashion commentary on Instagram, Chabbi is set to direct his first documentary, a project centered on one of his favorite designers.

Born in France, Chabbi moved to Dubai in 2018, where he began working at Farfetch as a stylist for the platform’s Middle Eastern campaigns before moving into its private-client business. Although the experience gave him valuable insight into luxury consumers’ preferences and buying habits, he eventually felt that being so closely tied to commercial targets was not the right fit.

While still at Farfetch, he began reviewing fashion shows on Instagram Stories using images from Vogue Runway. His audience grew, leading to interviews with designers Haider Ackermann and Kris Van Assche. Those early opportunities helped establish his reputation as a fashion insider with a distinct perspective.

Now, Chabbi is ready to expand beyond short-form interviews and take on a more ambitious creative project.

His First Fashion Documentary

Chabbi’s upcoming documentary will commemorate the legacy of a designer whose identity he has not yet revealed. Filming is expected to begin in January, with the project scheduled for release next year. It will be produced in partnership with an upcoming fashion-focused streaming platform, where it will feature among the service’s original productions.

The idea began with a commemorative interview marking the anniversary of the designer’s death. Chabbi initially planned to film a conversation between two people who played significant roles in the designer’s life and career.

However, his experience producing and directing his own interviews prompted him to consider something bigger. He is already involved in the technical and creative details of filming, from camera framing and lighting to set design. A colleague on his production team pointed out that he was effectively already directing.

Her observation encouraged him to overcome his doubts and pursue a longer, more demanding production.

Offering a small clue about the documentary’s subject, Chabbi described the designer as “a little man with big ideas.” The project also reflects his longstanding interest in fashion’s cultural legacy. Since beginning his interviews, he has hoped they would eventually become valuable historical records for exhibitions, museums, and fashion schools.

How Audacity Opened Doors

Chabbi’s first major designer interview came about through an unlikely combination of persistence and boldness.

While unemployed and using Twitter, he posted that he wanted to interview Haider Ackermann, who was serving as guest designer for Jean Paul Gaultier. The fashion house’s public-relations team eventually contacted him, explaining that Ackermann would be happy to meet for coffee.

There was one problem: Chabbi was living in Dubai, while Ackermann was in Paris, and he could not afford the trip. He returned to the PR team with a proposal—he would make the journey if he could film the meeting. Ackermann agreed.

Around the same time, Chabbi was pitching an article to i-D magazine and needed references and quotes. He jokingly told the publication he had a quote from designer Kris Van Assche, then contacted Van Assche directly to ask for a few words. The designer found the situation amusing and agreed to help.

Chabbi followed up with an even bolder request: could he visit Van Assche’s home the following week for an interview? Surprisingly, the designer said yes. The two interviews took place just two days apart.

For Chabbi, the experience reinforced the value of taking risks, even when success seems unlikely. He describes his approach as a kind of optimistic delusion: if you never ask, someone else might get the opportunity instead.

Building a Fashion-Focused Community

Chabbi says his platform was never designed to turn Instagram into a mass-market conversation. Instead, he wanted to engage with a specific audience: people who work in fashion, understand the industry, and want informed, entertaining discussions about its personalities and developments.

He has little interest in presenting fashion as an inaccessible fantasy for outsiders. His focus is on people who live and breathe the industry, and many of his followers work in fashion themselves.

That specialized approach has allowed him to speak to an audience that already understands the context behind his commentary, creating room for more nuanced conversations.

France’s Student Protests and Social Inequality

Although Chabbi grew up in Lyon, he is currently based in Dubai and has not personally witnessed the student protests taking place in Paris. Nevertheless, he strongly supports the grievances behind them.

He rejects the idea that protests should be viewed as an inconvenience to the luxury and fashion industries. Growing up in a French zone d’éducation prioritaire (ZEP), or priority education zone, he experienced firsthand the challenges faced by less privileged communities.

These areas were intended to receive additional government attention and educational resources, including more teachers. In Chabbi’s experience, however, that promised support often failed to materialize.

He believes young people’s frustrations are justified, particularly in a society where social mobility can feel increasingly out of reach. Reflecting on the difficulties facing working-class families, he recalled his father’s observation that France’s “social elevator” had frozen.

Chabbi hopes the current unrest will lead to meaningful improvements and greater opportunities for young people.

Predicting Fashion’s Next Creative Directors

With several major fashion houses facing leadership changes, Chabbi shared his predictions for who might fill the vacant creative-director positions.

He expects Chemena Kamali to move to Saint Laurent, potentially creating another opening at Chloé. For McQueen, he believes promoting established talent from within the industry—or giving lesser-known designers a chance—may be the most effective strategy.

He points to Matthieu Blazy and Michael Rider as examples of designers whose experience and patience have helped them advance. In his view, these appointments demonstrate the value of recognizing people who have worked behind the scenes and developed their skills over time.

For Alaïa, Chabbi predicts that either Maximilian Davis of Ferragamo or Nicolas Di Felice could be a contender.

Calvin Klein presents a different challenge. Given the brand’s powerful cultural identity, he questions whether it necessarily needs a designer focused on runway collections. Its appeal, he suggests, remains strong through the accessible products consumers already know and want to buy.

These are Chabbi’s personal predictions rather than confirmed appointments.

The Ongoing Challenge of Size Inclusivity

Chabbi is concerned that fashion is moving backward on body diversity. For him, the absence of different body types on runways exposes how limited the industry’s commitment to inclusivity may have been.

He compares the issue to the way some creative directors have justified casting predominantly white male models as part of their artistic vision. He argues that genuine progress requires more than treating body diversity as a temporary trend or a box to check.

The deeper question, he says, is whether the fashion industry considers larger bodies glamorous and desirable. Until those cultural attitudes change, he believes meaningful representation will remain difficult to achieve.

Staying Creative in the Age of AI

Despite concerns about artificial intelligence and the flood of low-quality digital content online, Chabbi does not see AI as an inherent threat. He considers it a potentially valuable tool, provided it is used responsibly.

His advice for maintaining creativity is to remain curious, visit exhibitions, meet people outside the fashion industry, and make time for experiences that have no commercial objective.

Not every moment needs to generate content, advance a career, or produce measurable results. For Chabbi, being present in experiences that exist beyond work helps nurture empathy.

And empathy, he believes, is the one quality machines cannot develop.

As he prepares to move into documentary filmmaking, that conviction may prove central to his next chapter: preserving fashion’s stories, exploring the people behind its creative achievements, and ensuring the industry’s history is documented for future generations.

Source: Elektra Kotsoni, Vogue Business, October 23, 2026.