“I realised I wasn’t just designing clothes, I was designing identity,” says model-turned-creative and founder of I AM Active Studios, Mia Pereyra Matteazzi. Some brands are born from an untapped space in the market. Others from nostalgia. But for Pereyra Matteazzi, the birth of her brand came from something deeper, almost instinctive, it was the merging of a personal awakening with a city that refuses to stay still. “I saw a gap,” she says simply. “Women here move, emotionally, professionally, creatively, but their clothes didn’t move with them.” That observation, combined with a lifetime spent immersed in aesthetics, became the seed for a label that today sits at the intersection of movement, identity, and minimalism.

Born in the vast, earthy landscapes of Argentina and later shaped by years drifting between Milan, Paris, London and Dubai, Pereyra Matteazzi’s early life was steeped in art, architecture, sport and creative expression. Her mother was a model; her brother a designer in major fashion houses; her father an extreme sports lover who instilled in her a steady appetite for adrenaline. “I grew up surrounded by nature and motion,” she reflects. “So I guess movement was always my language.” Her modelling career sharpened that language. “Modelling teaches you more than people realise, you learn what quality feels like, what silhouettes flatter across different bodies, how fabric needs to move for a photograph, and how a collection tells a story.” Years in front of the camera quietly became her education behind the scenes, turning instinct into a blueprint.

It was only when she moved to Dubai seven years ago did that instinct transform into direction. “I felt something missing,” she says. “A brand that understood the modern woman who is active, fluid, creative, confident, spiritual, all at once.” She wanted clothes that transitioned from early morning workouts to desk meetings, from city strolls to late dinners, from grounded rituals to creative surges. Clothes that had ease without losing intention.

This idea became I AM Active Studios. At first, the name was just a coincidence, her name, read backwards spells out the words “I AM.” It was her mother who pointed it out. “She said, Do you know your name is I AM?’ And I told her she was brilliant… but no, she still doesn’t get shares,” laughs the founder. But as Pereyra Matteazzi deepened her own wellness journey, leaving alcohol behind, journaling daily, embracing grounding, nature, ice baths, and long periods of internal recalibration, the name expanded into a philosophy. “I AM became a blank canvas,” she explains. “Every woman can complete the sentence: I am grounded. I am becoming. I am enough.” That affirmation now sits at the core of every silhouette oversized, modular, fluid, intentionally non-restrictive, and always rooted in movement. For Pereyra Matteazzi, movement is not just physical; it’s emotional, energetic, and spiritual. “Dubai teaches you that your life can shift every hour. Your clothes should support that.”

Earth-tone palettes were an organic choice, an echo of her childhood in the Argentine wilderness and her love for natural shades. “Earth tones calm the nervous system,” she says. “They’re timeless, versatile, and they work across environments such as the desert, the city, anywhere.” Architecture, too, creeps into her work. Years of sketching structures and studying proportions inform the brand’s clean lines and sculptural minimalism. But behind the aesthetic simplicity lies rigorous attention. Pereyra Matteazzi tests every piece personally, wearing, washing, stretching, refining. “People only see the final garment,” she says. “But the journey from prototype to production is intense. You learn, unlearn, fix, start again. I’m involved in every pattern, seam, and adjustment.” This obsessive eye is evident in the brand’s newest launch: the I AM RAW Collection, a capsule built on stripped-back structure and modular ease.

Its hero, the Short-Sleeve RAW Blazer, is designed intentionally as a “one-piece, four-ways” foundation. For mornings, it pairs with tanks and sweatpants; for off-duty hours, with denim and second-skin tees; for evenings, it drapes over fluid dresses; and for work, it sharpens tailored trousers and turtlenecks. “It’s one of those pieces that shifts with your day,” she says. “Raw, undone, confident, like the women who wear it.”

Now, I AM Active Studios is growing beyond its Dubai roots. With two pop-ups under its belt, including one in Alserkal Avenue, the brand is expanding into Saudi Arabia and preparing for fairs in Paris and London. A newly formed partnership marks another milestone in the brand’s evolution. “It took years to find the right people,” she acknowledges. “But when the team aligns with marketing, production, sampling, and design, the brand rises to its next level.” “My pieces don’t tell you who to be,” Matteazzi explains. “They meet you where you are, and support whoever you are becoming.” In the end, her goal is for the company to be more than just another clothing label. She sees it as a narrative of identity – designed in motion.

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Images & Feature Image: Supplied