Karembeu's charisma

Glamorous supermodel Adriana karembeu launches Dubai Fashion 2008.

With a successful modelling career to her name, Adriana Karembeu brought her style and charisma to Dubai, as the guest for the launch of the fifth edition of Dubai Fashion 2008, held at Madinat Jumeirah. Earlier, the former supermodel along with Laila Suhail, chief executive officer of DSF, addressed the media at BurJuman.

Happy memories

Laila welcomed Karembeu by presenting her with a shayla and abaya designed by Salma Khan. Karembeu also visited the Christian Lacroix, Valentino and the Paris Gallery outlets in BurJuman.

Karembeu said she visited Dubai many times and had happy memories of the city. "I am very honoured to be invited for Dubai Fashion 2008. This event is attracting the attention of the international fashion houses and the media everywhere. Though my stay here is short, I will fully enjoy it," she said.

Target

Laila was happy that besides familiar names, such as Lacroix, Dior and Valentino, this year the event has brought many well-known, talented young designers to Dubai. "When Dubai Fashion was launched five years ago, we had two main objectives to achieve, the first to position Dubai as a leading platform in the Middle East for the international fashion industry, and the second to stimulate the retail fashion sector in Dubai," she said.

Now that Dubai Fashion has become a well-known international fashion event sought after by the biggest fashion houses in the world, it has achieved its set targets, Laila added.

The Etoile group presented its collections on February 11, which included the creations of Karl Lagerfield, Christian Dior and Valentino.

Ingie Chalhoub, managing director of the Etoile Group, said, "Our aim is to make Dubai one of the most important fashion havens in the world. So much is happening here. Dubai should be taken as an example when we talk fashion. This is what we mean by taking the fashion business here and Dubai Fashion to the next level."