Inspired by Europe in the 1920s

The 23 garments presented by the fashion design students vying for the Swarovski Young Designers Award displayed a wealth of creativity and talent

Twenty-two fashion shows were presented during last week's Bride Show Dubai, held at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

But the show that attracted the maximum audience was the Swarovski Young Designers Award show held last Friday.

A crowd of ecstatic students, parents and teachers cheered as Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Dubai Campus, won for the third consecutive year.

This year, the glittering trophy went to Zahra Pourfard.

Fozia Sami from Preston University was the first runner-up and Tanya Vaswani from the Pearl Design Centre was the second runner-up.

The Swarovski Innovation award for 2005 went to UAE national Fatima Mohammad, also a student at MAHE.

The Swarovski Young Designers Award was introduced as part of the Bride Show Dubai six years ago and has now become one of the most prestigious annual events for fashion design students in the UAE.

Not only does it give budding designers an opportunity to showcase their talent to a large audience, it also gives them a taste of the real world and the chance to get feedback and tips from a panel of judges comprising eminent personalities in the world of fashion.

This year, for the first time, students from the Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar participated in the contest along with students from UAE-based Preston University, The Design Academy, MAHE and Pearl Design Centre.

Preparations for the contest began three months ago. The theme for this year was The Lavish 1920s in Europe.

The students did extensive research to find ways to create contemporary bridal wear based on inspiration from the post World War One era.

Swarovski Middle East conducted a series of workshops to guide the participants in various aspects of design and to show them innovative ways of embellishing their creations with the Swarovski components provided by the company.

The panel of judges included well known UAE-based designers Khalid Khalil and Mandy Kingsbury, Gonzague Duriez, managing director of Arabesque boutique, fashion photographer Hussain Jian, Sam Chippindale, editor of Emirates Bride magazine, and Grace Ghunaim, communications & CSC manager, Swarovski Middle East.

The judges evaluated every stage of the creative process from the presentation of the sketches and mood boards prepared by the students to the interpretation of the theme, originality and choice of fabrics, colours and finish of the garments.

The ramp show was the final stage of the contest. The 23 garments displayed on the catwalk indicated a wealth of creativity and talent among the youth of the region.

The students had drawn inspiration not just from the flapper dresses and fashions of the time but also from elements such as the social atmosphere, art, furniture and popular dances like the Charleston.

They had experimented with colours ranging from pristine white, cream and powder blue to baby pink and flaming red for the bridal wear.

Each dress told a unique story and it was nice to see the attention to detail in terms of coordinated accessories such as belts, boots, bags, a variety of headgear, masks, a lace umbrella and even a cane wrapped in fabric.

The judges were pleased with the research and presentation, though Khalid Khalil felt that the design schools should lay more stress on training the students in cutting, draping and final finish.

Chippindale pointed out that while some of the students had a good feel for creating wearable garments, many of the designs were more like costumes.

Grace Ghunaim was happy to see that the quality of the entries has improved steadily over the last six years.

"Swarovski has supported this event for the last six years because we want to support the fashion industry and we would like to see a strong industry develop in this region. We also believe that students are the best investment for the future," she said.

Although all the garments displayed at the show were nice, the winners clearly stood out. Iranian Zahra Pourfard's simple and elegant white crepe dress was based on the theme of freedom. She had used over 100,000 Swarovski crystals to embellish the single flowing sleeve, side and back of the dress.

"During this post-war era women demanded freedom from the corsets and other restrictive traditional clothing. I have tried to depict that sense of freedom through the flowing sleeve on my dress, which represents the wing of a bird," said the first year student from MAHE.

First runner-up Fozia Sami's design was distinctive because she was the only one to dress her bride in pants.

The flared cream pants were embellished with delicate floral motifs in brown.

"During my research I came across the term 'la garacone', which means boyish girls. These were women who wanted freedom and chose to shed conventional feminine attire for a manly look. The pants I designed are based on the Oxford pants worn by the la garacone's of the 1920s. Interestingly, these have been seen on the catwalks this season and are called flappers now," said the young girl from India.

She emphasised the 1920s theme with embroidery inspired by art nouveau patterns and the use of cream and brown colours as symbols of peace and of the earth and nature.

Second runner-up Tanya Vaswani used the art deco furniture of the 1920s as the inspiration for her soft feminine dress worn with a trendy short jacket.

"I liked the quilted pattern on the art deco sofas and used delicate pin tucks to recreate the same effect on my dress and jacket," said the Indian, who wants to work as a visual merchandiser after graduating from the Pearl Design Centre.

UAE's Fatima Mohammad blended the culture of her country with European design elements from the 1920s to create a shimmering gold dress.

Her complex concoction of lace, pleats, tassels, fringes, a big bow around the hip, a veil tied in knots and a lace turban won her the Swarovski Innovation Award.

"Gold reflects the sun that is always shining in my country and the precious metal which is an important part of our culture and economy," said the happy winner.