Arab Fashion Week in Dubai: Day 4 highlights

Iraqi designer Mena Talal who is best known for her bridal wear and evening gowns, opened on Day 4 at Arab Fashion Week in Dubai with her latest couture collection entitled ‘Gemstones’. The idea with this collection is to show progressive looks from an Arab designer, with a modern and evolving style featuring skin-tight dresses with high slits, but also some high-neckline more modest looks.

Palestinian designer Ihab Jiryis, couturier to the stars of Bollywood and Arab cinema, said of his fall-winter ’23 collection, “Just as fashion is timed and limited, so is the human body. When it is damaged, it becomes less desirable, oppressive, and loses its vitality and beauty.” His glittering gold accents and bodices take on the appearance of light armour on the female figure, as Jiryis played with an ‘angel of darkness’ theme for his “fashion and death” collection of black and gold.

Dubai-based couturier Michael Cinco put on the show of the evening, with a sensational fall-winter 2023 collection by the Filipino designer famous for his red carpet creations. Artisanal stitching and satin is the name of the game here, where Cinco found inspiration from ancient history and Egyptian culture, finding details in the architecture, aesthetics, and ancient scriptures to adorn his looks. The lavish designs culminated with the closing pieces of the evening, a modern take on Cleopatra and Mark Antony in full Egyptian artisanal hand-made regalia - it was quite a spectacular way to end Day 4 at Arab Fashion Week.

Next up, from tomorrow Arab Fashion Week shifts to a ready-to-wear calendar featuring UAE designers Lili Blanc, Fiftymade, Bhype, Louzan, Slimi Studio, The Giving Movement, as well as shows upcoming from labels from India, Lybia, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. Lots to look forward to for the two remaining days of the festival, so stick around.