Fern Mallis means business; fashion business, to be specific. As the creator of New York Fashion Week, the award-winning industry heavy-weight knows what it takes to transform the art that is fashion into a profitable brand. Her presence at the third Dubai Fashion Forward is a definitive indication that the bi-annual event has come into its own as a serious industry event with a strong commercial spine.
“Fashion Forward aims to be the definitive fashion platform in Dubai and the Middle East for fashion designers to showcase their collections to consumers, media and buyers,” says the event’s CEO and founder, Bong Guerrero.
Unlike its predecessor, the rather forgettable Dubai Fashion Week, Fashion Forward has chosen to focus inwards — on regional talent and home-grown brands with global ambitions. In line with its vision, designers showcasing at the event must be of Middle Eastern origin or have their business based in the Middle East. Designers pay to participate, although those costs were not available. “We are promoting both the talent and the economy of the region. With the Dubai Design District in place and the vision for Dubai Fashion 2020 announced, we see the Middle East emerging as a place that buyers, designers and media will look to as a viable and serious market to invest in, not just somewhere the occasional exotic designer will emerge from.”
“We all want Fashion Forward to succeed,” says Furne One, Dubai’s very own couturier to the Hollywood A-list. “It has a very ambitious vision but in a short span of three seasons the event has come true on its promise of garnering international exposure and generating sales for the designers.”
That the event enjoys the goodwill of the local fashion community was evident as designers of six of the region’s leading labels — Amato, Essa Walla, Ezra, KAGE, The Emperor 1688 and Zayan The Label, all of whom have been part of Fashion Forward since the inaugural show — braved the sun for an exclusive photo shoot for tabloid! on Tuesday. Fashion Forward’s strategic partner, the under-construction Dubai Design District (d3), provided the apt setting. “We see Fashion Forward as a key industry partner working with d3 to maximise the potential of the design, luxury and fashion industry,” says Lindsay Miller, managing director of d3. “In collaborating with Fashion Forward, we are delivering on our aim to expose emerging designers to the full extent of the industry value chain by providing the opportunity to interact, share and engage with key players in the global arena.”
“There is no dearth of talent in the region,” says designer Ezra Santos. “What was needed was a forum of exchange, learning and commercial opportunities. Fashion Forward fills that gap in the local fashion industry.”
The three-day event has also allowed regional designers to dream big, as Beirut-born designer Zayan Ghandour, of the eponymous label, explains: “I used to think my brand was more suited for a presentation model but seeing my collection on the runway during the first season gave me the confidence I needed in taking my brand further.”
Upcoming Saudi fashion designer Arwa Alammari and winner of the Grazia Style Award 2014 for Emerging Talent in the Middle East presents her winning collection at Fashion Forward. “For a new designer like myself, to be able to showcase at Fashion Forward allows us visibility within the local and international fashion industry. It also allows us the opportunity to learn the ropes,” says Arwa. Her newest collection ‘Tea Time at ArAm’ — inspired by traditional English tea parties with a hint of the 1950s and ’60s — will be showcased at 4pm on Sunday.
Buyers from all around the world are invited in the hope the participating designers get orders — therefore they must have the capacity to meet international standards of quality and quantity. The Garden, an integral component of the commercial aspect of the show — which draws from the same business model as Paris’s leading accessory show, Premiere Classe — returns for the third season bringing more than 70 regional designers face-to-face with their target audience.
The third season presents a strong roster of buyers from Saks Fifth Avenue, House of Fraser, Bloomingdale’s and Anthropology of Design among others. “It completes the life circle of the collection when what a designer dreamt up on his drawing board lands on retail shelves, ready to be picked up,” says Dubai-based brand consultant Voli Diop. “Partnership with high-profile buyers and lifestyle stores like Galeries Lafayette and Level Shoe District, to me crystallises the vision of Fashion Forward.”
D3 Fashion Talks.
Bryanboy (nee Bryan Grey-Yambao), one of the most influential fashion bloggers around — according to Vogue magazine’s March 2010 ‘Power’ issue — sits down for a panel discussion with Sofia Guellaty, the senior editor of Style.com, Arabia. (3pm on Saturday, April 12).
Ennio Capasa, co-founder and creative designer of Costume Nationale will discuss the design concept behind a brand with a panel discussion ‘The Deep Italian Brand: The Design Concept of Costume National’. (4.30pm on Saturday, April 12).
After delivering her keynote address at the Industry Lunch on Tuesday, Fern Mallis closed the public talks schedule with her talk ‘Fashion Week: Going Forward?’ We can’t wait to hear what experiences and advice the Godmother of fashion weeks will share. (6.30pm on Sunday, April 13).
— Pratyush Sarup writes on design bi-monthly in tabloid!’s Saturday edition. Follow him @pratinthecity.
