Italian designer Lilli Spina showcased her spring-summer 2008 collection with a sensual line inspired by her meeting some of the world's sexiest women.
It began with an A-line dress in sea green silk and satin, wonderfully combined with lace to suggestively reveal the sensuous back of the female form.
The eveningwear, and particularly bridal gowns, were exquisitely embroidered with crystals, precious stones and gems to dazzling effect.
Stunning outfits flowed from short to long dresses and mermaid gowns with wide-open necklines.
Lilli's show concluded with a beautiful example of bridal wear in white, made of pure silk, laced and embroidered with a wide flower belt (also in white) cinching the waist.
Exclusive
German designer Stefan Buchmann displayed his Exclusive Travel collection, inspired by travellers around the world.
With a strong European flavour on the ramp, Buchmann showcased leather and rich fur and explained: "Though this region is warm, people from here travel across the world so my collections are designed for them as well as others."
Leather and mink furs were dyed in bright blue, beige, light green, brown, cream, pink, khaki, fuchsia, grey and neutral colours to enhance a range of short boleros, trench coats, jackets and skinny trousers.
Stage show
The Drama Queen collection by Barkha Mulani was inspired by three leading international designers, namely Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney and Matthew Williamson. Her collection was fresh with bright colours and adorned with fresh water pearls to create real drama at Dubai International Fashion Week.
First up was a pair of skinny jeans beneath a bright pink T-shirt adorned with Barkha's signature pop-art patch outlined with pearls. The collection followed with pop-art palettes of bright yellow, red and black. White T-shirts emblazoned with Karl Lagerfeld's picture added international flair to her collection, held at the One&Only Royal Mirage.
The Dubai-based designer's spring-summer 2008 look featured leggings, capris, skirts, and plenty of dresses in a variety of hem lengths. Printed day dresses were simple and stylish while evening dresses in figure-hugging and forgiving cuts were enhanced with metallic trimmings for Hollywood glamour.
With her niche colourful and psychedelic printed dresses in jersey, Barkha proved her textile and fashion design expertise with this show.
Sulafa Filfilan
First up on the ramp was the work of Sulafa Filfilan, from Saudi Arabia.
Sulafa ingeniously used colourful satin ribbon details throughout against plain cream and white palettes.
A rainbow of satin ribbons was used to enhance mini-dresses, shorts, vests and skirts in taffeta, chiffon and satin.
Sulafa's designs were simple yet elegant and were well received by an encouraging audience.
Fresh focus
Four emerging design talents showcased their creations on the second day of Dubai International Fashion Week (DIFW), in association with Splash. The candidates were selected from 40 entrants into an Emerging Talent contest all vying for the chance to show off their work at this year's DIFW.
After judges studied the candidates' conceptualisation, mood boards, story boards, swatches, workmanship and finished garments, the finalists were selected through an on-line poll on the official DIFW website.
We take a look at what each had to offer in their spring-summer 2008 collections.
Rabia Z
Emirati designer Rabia Z's collection brought out the beauty of Arab women in a way that was both trendy and in keeping with tradition.
Her bold initiative to restyle fully covered Arab women as fashionable and glamorous was well received by the appreciative audience.
The stylish collection included boot-leg trousers, tunics, shirts, shirt dresses, track suits and knit and jersey tops. In addition to full-length dresses there were trousers with cuffs at the ankles.
Rabia combined black, white, cream, peach and red in blocks as well as horizontal and vertical stripes and geometric prints.
Mohammad Khadra
Lebanese designer Mohammad Khadra's collection was a class apart. Relaxed yet jet-set, he brought softness to an otherwise edgy silhouette.
Khadra, while choosing to work with material in neutral whites and greys, was liberal in his rich highlights of black and gold foil prints.
A stunning figure-hugging black cat-suit with a hood was a sexy, elegant and light ensemble.
The designs for women were leggings, tunics, tube dresses, blouses and track pants.
All the garments were made of jersey and knitwear that unanimously spelt one word – comfort!
