DUBAI: Arab Fashion Week in Dubai is well and truly on the road and with 13 designers from around the world taking part, who should you keep on your fashion watchlist?
Arab News rounded up the most fearless, innovative and dreamy designers on show at the event, which is set to run until May 12, so you can keep them firmly on your style radar.
Ilse Jara
This intriguing Paraguayan designer blends a modern aesthetic with traditional techniques. Her collections have been inspired by the cellular structure of plants, the underwater world, gemstones, and cymatics — the study of sound waves.
Jara has said of her work: “I want my viewers to dream with me and live unique experiences. I love proposing new and fresh ideas. Exploring new materials and techniques is always present in the development of each collection.
Aiisha Ramadan
The UAE-based Lebanese designer launched her couture clothing line in 2007. In the decade-and-a-bit since, she has established herself as one of the region’s most accomplished designers, renowned for her cuts, embroidery and technique.
Ramadan apparently made her start in dressmaking “sitting on the floor near my aunt’s tailoring machine and picking up fabric scraps to make dresses for my Barbie dolls.” She’s come a long way since.
Rana Yousry
The founder of Cairo-based ASORY House told Insight Egypt that she enjoys “exercising the art of creation: from designing, production, tailoring, detailing and embroidery to seeing the final look of the design on stage or on my client.” She added that she wants to “carve the name of ‘ASORY’ into the history of fashion.”
She interned with Tony Ward, one of Egypt’s leading couturiers, before she started her own label, and credits that experience as one of the main reasons behind her success.
Yu Jordy Fu
Expectations are high around the multi-talented designer’s return to Arab Fashion Week. The UK-based Chinese architect, designer and artist, who has said she “works at the intersection” between those three disciplines, is one of fashion’s most inventive designers. “Creativity has no limits,” she told Bangkok Post of her multi-disciplinary approach. “The only limit is your imagination. As an artist and architect, my role is to make this world a better place and that’s what I am aiming to do.” Fu described herself to Design Trends as “a dreamer, creator, entrepreneur and a cat lover.”
