Dubai Arab Fashion Week 2017: 'Sexy but Still Appropriate and Covered'

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The fourth edition of the Arab Fashion Week hosted this year's ready-to-wear and bridal collections of world known fashion brands such as French Marchesa, the Italian brand Antonio Marras, as well as regional designers such as Lebanese-French creative designer Ingie Chalhoub, Dubai-based Michael Cinco and fashion newcomers.

The event was hosted at the world’s biggest building longwise, The Meydan Hotel & Grandstands and attended by local and international celebrities. Famous Italian musician Nicola Zucchi was a DJ at the catwalks, while the closing Gala dinner held at the Armani Ballroom of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building on Earth, turned out to be an event with a strong cultural side with participation of celebrated tenor Telman Guzhevsky.

Honorary President of the National Chamber of Italian Fashion Mario Boselli, who was an honorary guest at the event, told Sputnik during the closing Gala dinner that "The Arab Fashion Week has become the new landmark of the fashion industry alongside to New York, Milan, London and Paris."

Founded in 2014, The Arab Fashion Week reflected the latest developments at the world of fashion, which look toward the Arab and Muslim community as a new and perspective market.

In March, Vogue launched its newest international Arabic edition of the magazine promising to become the bridge between the Arab and Western worlds of fashion, targeting a niche audience in the Middle East, which is fashion conscious, respectful of the Arab culture and wealthy.

Just few weeks before Vogue’s new endeavors, Muslim model in the hijab Halima Aden made her debut at the New York fashion show of US designer and rapper Kanye West, while big clothing retailers such as H&M and Uniqlo released Muslim-oriented collections for women.

The Middle Eastern and Muslim communities around the word have been representing big opportunity for luxury brands for a long time. In 2016, Dolce & Gabbana debuted with a line of headscarves and abayas (a traditional Arabic dress on the floor and long sleeves hiding a figure), while Oscar de la Renta released a line of luxurious dresses-caftans.

In 2016, another fashion giant Marks & Spencer lunched collection of Muslim full-body swimwear known as burkini in its stores in Europe and online, which was shortly sold out. Despite sales success, the company was widely criticized by some politicians and fashion moguls in Europe for "promoting women's bodies being locked up."

Laurence Rossignol, France’s women’s rights minister, lashed out at the company over marketing the burkini in Europe calling brands, which sell the full body swimsuit "irresponsible" for promoting idea that women’s bodies should be covered. Meanwhile, former fashion mogul and Yves Saint Laurent co-founder Pierre Berge accused Marks & Spencer of taking part in the "enslavement of women."

According to the 2015-2016 State of the Global Islamic Economy Report, Muslim consumers currently spend an estimated $230 billion on clothing, a number that is projected to grow to $327 billion by 2019. Therefore it makes sense to expand the market by incorporating a woman wearing a hijab or a traditional Muslim dress, one of the event’s sponsors Kame Ghribi told Sputnik.

"Dubai fashion week is the best place to promote our brand [GHRIBI] because as a fashion community, we are here to celebrate, to share with the world different cultures," Ghribi added, noting that his GK Investment Holding Group and Gruppo San Donato decided to support the Arab Fashion Week in its endeavors to provide opportunities for young designers from both the Arab world and beyond.

According to creative director of GHRIBI luxury goods & accessories fashion line Giulia Maresca, the Arab Fashion Week 2017 was a great event and an opportunity to discover the Middle East and its market. "It was a great event. We have discovered the market. It is a new market for us. We are an Italian brand, but our market reference is the Middle East and Asia, that is why we are here," she said.

Maresca added that the Arab tradition inspired her while making the modest collections.

"Our clothes are about femininity, about being sexy but still appropriate and covered. We think that this market will continue to grow and we want to be a part of this process. GHRIBI is a new Italian luxury brand with the twist. Our client is a refined and sophisticated lady, who prefers effortless chic," she added.

According to the Arab Fashion Council, which founded The Arab Fashion Week in 2014, the event has already received its recognition as one of the world’s highest profile designers showcase alongside with the other four big fashion weeks held in New York, London, Milan and Paris.