Germany’s Next Top Model is coming to Dubai this weekend. The hit TV show will film in and around Dubai with the aspiring model contestants battling for the top prize under the watchful eye of host and co-producer Heidi Klum.
“It’s one of the highest-rated television programmes in Europe with about seven million viewers. I’ve been working with the producers for the last couple of months and it’s very exciting to bring them here,” says Simon Lock, the CEO of Lock Group. “We are also filming at the Meydan race course and also at Bab Al Shams and Atlantis, The Palm.”
Lock, who is also the creative director of Dubai Fashion Week, has been a judge on a few Next Top Model franchises including Australia and Austria.
For the first segment, a catwalk show, to be filmed on Saturday at Nasimi Beach, Dubai-based Filipino designer Furne One has created 46 dresses. One (pronounced On-ay) has been a regular on the show for the last five seasons.
One will be pulling double duty this weekend. The designer met Katy Perry on the show in Germany two years ago, and will be designing some of the singer’s costumes when she performs Saturday night at Meydan for the closing night of the World Parachuting Closing Ceremony.
“It’s going to be one crazy weekend for me,” says One, who will meet Perry on Thursday for fittings. Yes, Perry is in town with some time to spare ahead of her concert with Usher at the closing ceremony of the International Parachuting Championships.
One created 12 costumes for Perry’s sold-out California Dreams tour, which ended this year and was made into a documentary, Part of Me.
For Saturday’s show with Klum, he says he is showcasing two of his existing collections, one inspired by the notorious 1800s Dutch dancer-spy Mata Hari and another called ‘Unholy’.
“The Mata Hari collection is my ode to the late designer Alexander McQueen. It’s my imagination of what he would have created for her had he dressed her,” One explains. “I think both of their deaths were very intriguing – Mata Hari was shot dead by a firing squad (accused of spying for France by Germany) and McQueen committed suicide.
“There will be lot of skin, beige, reds, blacks and silvers.”
“I love working with Furne One because his imagination with designing dresses and costumes for me is limitless,” Perry told tabloid! when we contacted her earlier this year about her collaboration with One.
“He doesn’t play by the rules and that’s what makes him a treasure. Every time a new costume by him and his team arrives, I am overwhelmed by the care and attention to detail they have invested into the piece. I’m very excited about our future collaborations with this up and coming, outta-the-box designer.”
Perry also wore an One creation at the MTV Video Music Awards last year where she won Video of the Year for her song ‘Firework’. Her much-talked about record-inspired dress alluded to her achievement of becoming the first woman and only the second artist to have five number ones on the Billboard Hot 100 from one album, a record previously held only by Michael Jackson.
Don’t miss it
Katy Perry performs with Usher on December 8 at Meydan. Tickets, from Dh450, are available on wpcconcert.ae.
