Dubai: Dubai made its presence felt at the MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night (Monday morning for us in the UAE) in the form of designer Furne One.
One’s (pronounced on-ay) creations for pop stars Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj got major play time as the two artists walked away with some of the evening’s biggest awards.
“It’s the best morning ever!” said the excited Filipino designer who’s been based in the UAE for more than 12 years. “Katy was wearing Versace and then she changed to Dior and then she wore my dress… that’s massive.”
Perry, who won the night’s biggest award, Video of the Year, for her song ‘Firework’, wore a black dress made of crystal mesh with the neckline decorated with broken records. She also won the Best Collaboration with Kanye West and Best Special Effects both for the song ‘E.T.’.
“The brief I was given was that Katy was breaking records and that I had to create something to represent that,” recalls One, who also designed 12 dresses for Perry’s California Dreams Tour which kicked off in February this year. “This was two weeks ago so I didn’t have much time.”
Perry last week became 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 by only Michael Jackson.
“I went all over Dubai to find old vinyl records,” says One. “Then finally I found some in a store in Meena Bazaar. I had to put in 12 hours daily to have the dress ready in a week before sending it to her stylist in LA.”
One has been building his celebrity connections since designing for super model Heidi Klum four years ago. He has since become a regular on her show Germany’s Next Top Model and also created dresses for Jennfer Lopez and Lady Gaga.
“Word spreads quickly there in Hollywood,” he says, referring to how he got to create the dress for Nicki Minaj ensemble at the awards.
“I recently designed a costume for Nicki for a new campaign she is launching and they called me to see if I can make a dress for her for the VMAs. They wanted a futuristic Barbie.
Made of acrylic sheets, Minaj’s eye-catching Mortal Kombat-inspired ensemble was definitely one of the highlights of the evening. The artist won the Best Hip Hop Video for her song ‘Superbass’.
One is currently in talks with three other major musicians for design projects and is finalising a deal to open his second couture shop, Amato by Furne, in LA.
“I can only officially reveal the names once they wear my clothes,” he says, adding: “I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging.”
With a client list like that, we wouldn’t call it bragging at all.
