Beauty & Fashion | Fashion

The Middle East man's online portal

Ahmad Dabbas
  • Image Credit: Supplied
  • Ahmad Dabbas

Following our fashionable debut last year, we at The Directory have been steadfastly documenting the rise and rise of the men's fashion market in the Middle East. From newsmakers to trendsetters and fashion leaders, if they're newsworthy, they've been here.

Dubai fashion entrepreneur Ahmad Dabbas has the distinction of returning to our pages — this time to promote his dream project: A new men's online fashion magazine dedicated to the Middle East. Currently the deputy director and fashion editor of Velvet Magazine, a monthly women's fashion and lifestyle magazine based in Dubai, the Palestinian has had an insider's view of the workings of the industry. A comfortable place to start his dedicated men's fashion website AMDmode.com, he says.

All set to go live on Wednesday, The Directory caught up with Dabbas and asked him how he plans to take men's fashion in the region to a new stylish high.

Aren't there already a number of websites dedicated to men's fashion in Dubai?

There are, yes. But most of them are blogs. There has not been any website that is a dedicated portal for men that covers the scope we are going to cover. We're talking special features, exclusive photo shoots, news and a whole lot more. It's not a blog but an online magazine.

How long has AMDmode.com been in the making?

I've been working on it for the past six months but the idea has been in existence since I started a blog three years ago called The Trendy Gentleman.

I've been in the fashion industry here for a while now and, over the years, have known many people in the PR and fashion business. There has always been a distinct lack of men's style news and information that was exclusively targeted at men in the region. There were blogs and websites, yes, but none that spoke to or would satisfy people here.

Also, we found that a lot of men did not buy magazines. They would rather go online to search for the information they need. Thus the reason why we are online.

AMD is an abbreviation of your name. Have you invested in the website alone?

Yes. It's not a huge investment, but it's not small either. I think more than monetary investments, a lot of time and creativity has been given. And you will notice how much of those have been spent once we go live.

There has also been a lot of interest from sponsors and partners. Revenue will be entirely generated by advertisement.

So what are you bringing to the men's fashion market we haven't seen before?

Firstly, we are going to be by the Middle East and for the Middle East. It's all going to be localised content. We want to bring information that is catered specifically to men here — we are attuned to the latest but we are a bit more conservative. We will also have style, art galleries, restaurants and hotel reviews.

There will also be a weekly "editor's choices" column from me which looks at everything from fashion, lifestyle, videos and the latest runway reports.

I have two people helping in Dubai who will be a part of the creative team and also copywriters in New York and contributors in London and Paris.

What is your opinion of the current men's fashion market?

I think it is satisfying the demand of people here, but not entirely. The biggest need right now is more exclusive trends. There is style and taste and people are very fashion forward and there are also a lot of brands. But we lack places where we can find unique pieces for something different and unusual.

And we want to change all of that with our website.

- AMDmode.com goes live on January 11.

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