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Considering Azerbaijan spans two continents, has a colorful history dating back millennia, and a culture influenced by surrounding countries from Russia to Armenia, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that this country is a melting pot of creativity. Just half a decade ago, even Azerbaijanis looked elsewhere for fashionable finds, as designer Nazrin Agharzayeva tells Chris Schalkx on a visit. Now, things are changing, and the capital is becoming a must-visit for adventurous shopaholics. Here, we take a look at where to shop in Baku, whether you're in search of hand-woven carpets that'll catch your dinner guests' attention, or one-off bazaar buys designed to start a conversation when you return.
Taking stock
Before designer Nazrin Agharzayeva launched Azerbaijan’s first local fashion platform, Stock, with business partners Anar Iskandarli and Saida Nazirova in 2019, Baku’s style crowd only had eyes for foreign brands. “The attitude towards local designers wasn’t great,” she says. “Everyone thought clothes imported from abroad were better.” With Stock, the trio aim to shift that mindset by bringing together more than 75 labels from Azerbaijani-diaspora and Baku-based designers in its industrial-chic showroom along the city’s boulevard. Highlights from the ever-changing collection include sharp-cut blazers lined with reclaimed silk kimonos by Isabeyli, boldly silhouetted tops and dresses by MMMDM, and tees with tongue-in-cheek slogans by Off-White-esque streetwear label Estudio Barcode. Hit up nearby Concept Store 27 for silk shawls by textile designer Menzer Hajiyeva, who puts a new spin on the traditional block-printed kelagayi head scarves worn by Azerbaijani women.
Heritage homeware
Founded in 2013 by Azerbaijani artist and curator Aida Mahmudova, Chelebi recasts the country’s traditional arts and crafts as contemporary home decor. As part of a redesign, its showroom on the perimeter of Port Baku Mall reopened last September as a shoppable gallery for furniture, home fragrances, and ceramics. In collaboration with the Azerbaijan National Museum of Art, Chelebi reinterprets heritage materials and techniques into high-design homeware: ceramic plates and cups take inspiration from the frescoes in the 18th-century summer residence of the Shaki Khans, while the whimsical works of the late Azerbaijani painter Rasim Babayev live on as woven throw blankets. The brand has also worked with Moscow- and Grasse-based perfumery Aadre on a collection of diffusers, hand soaps, and scented candles with notes of juniper, agarwood, and other ingredients inspired by folklore.
Cool carpets
Like many countries along the former Silk Route, Azerbaijan has carpet-weaving prowess that can be traced back thousands of years. Artisan communities from Shirvan to Tabriz developed their own signature colors, patterns, and techniques, which UNESCO deemed worthy of Intangible Cultural Heritage recognition in 2010. On a mission to keep this ancient craft alive, state-run Azerkhalcha works with women from around the country to produce fresh iterations of classic designs. At its flagship shop in the Old City, it hosts loom-weaving demos and works with artists such as Baku-born designer Faig Ahmed on limited edition pieces. The brand can arrange the certificates needed to take authentic rugs out of the country as well as compress silk carpets into suitcase-friendly packages.
Precious pieces
Azerbaijan’s paisley-like buta, a Zoroastrian symbol for fire, is a recurring motif in the collection of rings, bracelets, and necklaces made in the atelier of Baku-based brand Resm. At its store and showroom in the Nasimi district, each piece is displayed with a note on the historical or cultural significance of its design, which can range from the country’s kaleidoscopic carpets (translated into earrings studded with amethysts) to cufflinks inspired by the ancient rock carvings found in the nearby Gobustan region. Jeweler The Anjir’s handmade pieces adopt a more modern aesthetic: bubble-like gold rings, pearl chokers, bracelets with hamsa pendants. They’re sold at the brand’s store on Rasul Rza street alongside feather-fringed dresses, boxy suits, and breezy tops by local designers such as Anara Zakirli and The Noisé.
Bazaar buys
If you're looking for a true insider's perspective on where to shop in Baku, locals flock to Yasil Bazar (Green Bazaar), northeast of the Old City, for groceries, and there are plenty of suitcase-friendly souvenirs to be found between the pomegranate pyramids and heaps of parsley. It’s worth grabbing jars of preserved grape leaves to make dolmas at home, or scooping up a pick-and-mix bag of gem-hued dried fruits in the main hall. Boutiques on the perimeter specialize in local saffron, honey, and tinned caviar from Azerbaijani sturgeon. Many vendors proffer samples of nuts and salty regional cheeses ripened in sacks of inside-out shearling.
Wholesome artisanal crafts
As a community-oriented offshoot of Azerbaijan’s Social Innovations state agency, Abad helps small-scale farmers and folk artists with financial planning and marketing, resulting in a countrywide chain of boutiques. Its Baku outpost is housed in the Haji Bani Bath complex in the Old City—look beyond the typical tourist wares (and Swarovski portraits of national leaders) to find colorful wooden cheeseboards and coasters painted with patterns derived from the country’s flat-woven zilli carpets, alongside quirky socks printed with motifs of baklava and shekerbura pastries. The Handicraft concept store on Neftchilar Avenue stocks ceramics, leather goods, and photo prints by local artists. Keep an eye out for its collection of felt slippers and embroidered vests crafted from natural-dyed wool by Pirsah, a charitable women’s collective from nearby Pirsagi village.
Hipster hub
Think of Gazelli House, which encompasses two boutiques, a café, and a subterranean wellness center, set in an unassuming residential building (with a second outpost in London’s South Kensington), as the Azerbaijani answer to New York's Soho House. Membership isn’t required, but it has become a hush-hush hang-out for Baku’s in-crowd, who you’ll find sipping post-yoga oat milk lattes in the courtyard or brunching on Mediterranean-tinged salads at the glasshouse-like café. Founded by Baku-born genetic scientist Zarifa Hamzayeva in 1999, the Gazelli Group started life as a cosmetics producer, with a wide range of pomegranate-scented hand creams, face masks, and serums made from the brand’s patented White Oil on the shelves of the wellness boutique out front. The same shop also stocks healing crystals and bespoke tea blends with black tea from plantations around southern Azerbaijan’s Lankaran region. The adjoining Soroka store specializes in homeware and accessories from around the world, including Jonathan Adler vases and cutesy ceramic cups sourced in Morocco.
Where to stay in Baku
In a turreted neoclassical building between the boulevard and the streets of the Old City, the Four Seasons Hotel Baku delivers old-world glam without a hint of stuffiness. Its marble-floored lobby fades into a gold-trimmed bar, tearoom, and Italian diner. The cream-colored rooms are spacious and timelessly elegant—those on the southern or western side come with views of the iconic Flame Towers. For those short on time, the concierge can arrange chauffeur-driven shopping tours with insider access to the boutiques of some of Baku’s most envelope-pushing fashion designers.
This article originally appeared on Condé Nast Traveller UK.
