Dubai: Designers at the Bride Dubai 2016 show are eager to take a bigger slice of the Gulf region’s lucrative bridal market.
International and regional designers like Essa, Ezra, Mayyur Girotra, Ritu Kumar and Abeer Al Suwaidi are all present at the show, which opened at the Dubai World Trade Centre on Wednesday. There are 250 exhibitors from countries like the UAE, Turkey, France, Italy and Romania, displaying everything from dresses and jewellery to cosmetics.
Aries Lagat, senior designer at Jacy Kay, which has a boutique on Dubai’s Shaikh Zayed Road, says the company is looking for distributors from the wider Gulf region after seeing strong demand from customers living in countries like Qatar and Kuwait. It is also looking to expand its presence in other emirates. “We have noticed that there are so many parts of the UAE that we haven’t tapped into,” he said.
There are buyers with deep pockets in the region, he said. Jacy Kay is displaying dresses at Bride Dubai that are priced from Dh40,000. Custom-made wedding dresses ordered at the boutique can cost from Dh80,000.
The average cost of a wedding dress in Dubai is between Dh10,000 and Dh20,000, said Mayyur Girotra, director and designer at Indian fashion label Mayyur R Girotra Couture. Some customers spend an average of Dh50,000 for a high-end wedding dress, according to Lagat.
Girotra said demand from Gulf buyers is good, adding that most of his customers are from the region. “We have a lot of buyers that come from the Gulf who place orders with us,” he said. The company last September opened a store on Dubai’s Jumeirah Beach Road.
Bride Dubai, which is anticipated to attract 15,000 visitors, will run for four days. Entry tickets are priced from Dh25 and can go up to Dh200.
