When I AM took to the runway at Thailand Fashion Week AW25/26, it didn’t just showcase a collection—it delivered a proclamation. Founded by the bold and visionary Mervina Nyampulu, I AM isn’t simply a label; it’s a movement that fuses style with spirit, silhouette with selfhood, and design with declaration. From its very name, the brand invites dialogue. It’s not a statement of what one wears, but of who one is.
Mervina Nyampulu didn’t enter fashion to follow. She came to forge. With East African roots and a globally informed perspective, she channels her experience as a cultural entrepreneur and advocate into garments that feel less like products and more like manifestos. Her background in building ethically driven businesses like Bella Luxury has deeply informed her approach to I AM, which wears its values as visibly as its textiles. Sustainability isn’t a buzzword here—it’s a practice. Every piece is created with ethical sourcing, low-impact materials, and a profound respect for the hands that shape them. Each stitch is mindful. Each silhouette is intentional.
On the Thailand Fashion Week runway, I AM arrived with a quiet command. The garments didn’t clamor for attention—they held it. Structured coats, flowing dresses, sharp lines softened by movement—everything felt deeply rooted in balance. The palette was grounded yet bold, moving between neutrals and earth tones with quiet flashes of strength. Models walked not as placeholders, but as presences. They didn’t perform the clothes—they embodied them.
There is an undeniable architectural logic to the designs—clean seams, strong shoulders, carefully measured volume—but there’s also something deeply emotional beneath it all. These aren’t just clothes to be seen in. These are clothes for women who know how they want to feel. Women who define themselves on their own terms, who take up space without apology. It’s this interiority—the intention beneath the form—that gives I AM its resonance.
Beyond aesthetics, the brand is also a conduit for conversation. On social media, Mervina has opened space for women around the world to answer the simple but profound prompt: “I am…” The responses speak volumes—testaments of identity, resilience, grief, joy, motherhood, ambition. It becomes clear that the garments are only one part of the expression. The other part is voice. Shared. Claimed. Reclaimed. I AM isn’t interested in dictating identity—it’s about making room for it.
What also sets the label apart is its rejection of fashion’s usual rush. There’s a slowness to I AM—not in relevance, but in intention. No trend-chasing. No hollow virality. Just thoughtful design rooted in purpose. The brand is expanding organically, appearing in curated showcases rather than saturating markets, growing its presence through authenticity and word of mouth. The label’s social media—still emerging—is raw, real, and refreshingly unfiltered. It shows fittings, process, imperfections. It lets you in. And in an industry obsessed with polish, that kind of honesty stands out.
At Thailand Fashion Week, this clarity of vision translated seamlessly to the stage. The audience wasn’t simply watching a show—they were encountering a philosophy. There was something grounding about the way the models moved, the way the fabric flowed, the way every look felt like a chapter in a single story. I AM didn’t just present a new collection—it reminded us what fashion can be when stripped of noise: a tool for self-definition. A mirror for cultural pride. A frame for empowerment.
Mervina Nyampulu doesn’t design for the moment. She designs for meaning. Her clothes aren’t driven by seasonal urgency—they’re guided by timeless values. Her collections aren’t a sprint—they’re a slow, steady shaping of a visual language rooted in authenticity, ethics, and narrative. In every piece, you feel not only the eye of the designer, but the heart behind the brand.
I AM is not for everyone. It doesn’t try to be. It is for the woman who dresses with intention. Who sees her wardrobe not as armor or performance, but as truth. Who doesn’t need to be louder to be heard—only clearer. In a world full of echoes, I AM speaks in its own voice. It speaks in fabric, in movement, in meaning. And most of all, it speaks in solidarity with every woman who wears it—not to impress, but to express.
As the last model stepped off the Thailand Fashion Week runway, what lingered wasn’t just the memory of a collection—it was the clarity of a brand that knows exactly what it stands for. I AM is a name. A message. A promise. And above all, it’s a reminder: fashion, at its most powerful, doesn’t just tell you what’s beautiful—it tells you who you are.
