When Dubai-based Basma Abu-Ghazaleh launched her luxury ready-to-wear brand Kage in 2009, she said she could count on one hand the number of her fellow fashion designers in the region.
“There have been high-end fashion brands for sure – we’ve always been known for that – but very few high-end contemporary options,” she said in a phone interview. “If you want something that wasn’t a red carpet dress, you have to look elsewhere.”
A little over a decade later, things couldn’t be more different.
“Today, you can fill an entire wardrobe with clothes and accessories by Middle Eastern designers,” said Abu-Ghazaleh. “It’s a whole new landscape.”
In fact, the Middle East has seen a surge of local talent and support for fashion initiatives in the past several years.
A look from ready-to-wear brand Kage. credit: Sabrina Rinas / Courtesy of Cage
This shift came as more women entered the labor market and sought out local fashion sensitive to the region’s social customs and religious beliefs.
It was also driven by new talents who carved out a space of their own in the broader fashion industry. “There is a whole new demographic of consumers who support Arab designers and prefer to wear clothes with emerging names rather than big brands,” wrote Kuwaiti designer Haya Al-Abdulkarim, founder of the seven-year-old folklore handbag brand. E-mail.
“Middle Eastern shoppers want to be diverse without compromising on quality. By purchasing local and regional designs they can achieve this,” she added. “I think we have an appreciation for our culture and language which gives us the upper hand in communicating with the market and presenting our ideas.”
Qatari designer Yasmine Mansour shares similar sentiments. “The fashion consumers here are really stylish. They love to embrace and experiment with different aesthetics and ideas, while still paying attention to their culture,” she said in a phone interview.
“I think that prompted me and a lot of other designers to try to do something outside the box, and set our own agenda. And you know what? The response has been great.”
Yasmine Mansour is known for her bolder approach to formal attire. credit: Courtesy of Yasmine Mansour
Her eponymous label Mansour, which she founded in 2014, was one of the first brands of contemporary womenswear in Qatar, making a name for itself by taking a more modern approach to formal wear. Her designs combine different materials and fabrics – metals, feathers, sequins and tulle – and combine dramatic and romantic silhouettes with modern geometric shapes and structural details.
Other emerging designs have demonstrated similar progressive ideas. Taking a look at the fashion scene in the Arab world, there are very feminine fashion-makers like Jordanian Haya Jarrar from Roma based in Dubai and avant-garde visionaries like Moroccan Faris Bennani and Jordanian Palestinian Zaid Hijazi. Street fashion lovers like Jordan’s Hanna Bassil reborn – the first streetwear brand inspired by Arab culture – and moderates like Qatari Ghada Al-Subaie, whose studio 1309 reinvented the abaya (the loose-fitting dress worn by some women in parts of the Islamic world).
“We all add something different to the conversation about Middle Eastern fashion,” said Abu-Ghazaleh of Kage—which makes separate and tailored pieces for luxury wardrobe and has recently branched out into homeware and lifestyle items. “I think there is a real wealth of diversity, unlike what you find in Europe. The sector is not quite there yet in terms of its potential, but it certainly does not lack talent to develop it.”
1309 Studios grounded in a “contemporary bohemian” aesthetic. credit: Courtesy of Ghada Al-Subaie
Promote the fashion community
A number of initiatives have emerged to support this talent.
In the UAE, Fashion Forward Dubai (FFWD), an event backed by the Dubai Design and Fashion Council, was launched in 2013 to bring together regional designers, buyers, the press and high fashion consumers, and quickly gained fame as the Middle East’s most important international fashion trade fair.
Dubai hosted the first edition of Arab Fashion Week in 2015, and Saudi Arabia held its own fashion week in 2018. Meanwhile, Vogue magazine, which expanded into the Middle East in 2016, released the Vogue Fashion Award, an annual endowment given to more than From the most promising fashion, accessories and jewelry designers from all over the Arab world.
But perhaps the most comprehensive fashion incubator in the region is Fashion Trust Arabia (FTA), a non-profit organization founded in 2018 by Lebanese philanthropist Tania Fares in Qatar.
Amina Maadi received the Special Recognition Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year from the late Virgil Abloh at the Fashion Trust Arabia Awards Ceremony on November 3, 2021 at the Qatar National Museum in Doha. credit: Craig Barrett / Qatar Museums / Getty Images
Each year, the organization awards the FTA Award to designers from across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The winners – who compete in five different categories (ready-to-wear, evening gowns, jewelry, accessories and top talent) – receive up to $200,000 in prize money, mentorship opportunities and a partnership with luxury e-retailer Matches Fashion.
A prestigious jury and advisory board selects the award winners, drawn from some of the biggest names in fashion, from designers Tory Burch and Pierpaolo Piccioli of Valentino to photographer Jürgen Teller and fashion editor Karen Roitfeld. This year alone, the FTA award received 700 applications.
“The emergence from the FTA is massive,” said Al-Abdul Karim, a folklorist who was one of this year’s finalists in the accessories category. “Meeting everyone in the fashion industry and getting them to know about your product is great,” she said, adding that her brand saw an increase in sales after the event. “The initiative really raised the image of Arab designers.”
Faris, who also co-founded the British Fashion Council’s Fashion Council Fund in 2011 – which provides guidance and commercial and financial support to UK-based designers – said she is motivated by the success of this initiative to start a non-profit.
“After BFC’s Fashion Trust, I wanted to do something to support the area I came from and give back, as there was no such thing,” she said in a phone interview. “The FTA was shaped organically from that idea: to create something that could bring our community together, provide vision, financial support and guidance, but also serve as a bridge between East and West.”
One of the looks shown during the Fashion Trust Arabia Award 2021 at M7 on November 03, 2021 in Doha, Qatar. credit: David M. Bennett/Fashion Trust Arabia/Getty Images
She stressed that Qatar has proven to be the most receptive country to its aspirations, noting the patronage of Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Misnad, and the support of Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who co-chairs the charity. “What the country has achieved for the industry in just two years has been frankly amazing. I believe that Qatar will be the leading force in the fashion and creative sectors in the Arab world.”
The nation has certainly shown lofty ambitions in both areas. Qatar Museums – the state-run organization that oversees many of Qatar’s cultural institutions – has invested in its collections and museums, and recently announced plans to expand its already extensive public art program ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
In November, the first Dior exhibition in the Middle East, “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams”, was specially adapted for the region; and a retrospective exhibition of the late designer Virgil Abloh, “Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech.”
The newly opened M7, a self-described startup hub for local fashion, design and technology entrepreneurs, aims to nurture local talent by providing incubation programs, co-working spaces and more in its 29,000 square meter facility.
“The FTA has done a lot for the fashion scene, and now with the opening of M7 I think we will see even more growth,” said Mansoor, a nightwear FTA finalist in 2019. Reliable network system. As a Qatari, I am very proud of what we have achieved.”
1309 studios offering different designs of abaya. credit: Courtesy of Ghada Al-Subaie
Challenges ahead
The talent is nothing short of, but the lack of access to modern infrastructure, capital and resources, according to some of the designers interviewed for this story, poses unique challenges to local production.
Sourcing, in particular, is a big problem, as is finding local manufacturers who have the know-how and production capabilities to make high-end clothing and accessories. Mansour referred to the relatively “small market” of fabrics and materials, while Al-Abdul Karim said that there is a lack of options in terms of tanneries and leather factories in Kuwait.
Kage offers wardrobe staples and has recently expanded to include lifestyle items and household items. credit: Sabrina Rinas / Courtesy of Cage
Even hybrid systems, such as the one that Abu Ghazaleh created for Kage, still struggle. “We buy our fabrics from Europe and make them locally, but the road to that was not easy,” she said. “Overall, the Middle East is still miles behind Asia in terms of advanced production capabilities.”
Tares hopes the free trade agreement will help bring some change. “I would like the FTA to become a platform where software designers can move from brand inception to production,” she said. To that end, the nonprofit launched a guide earlier this year that includes fashion resources for every country across the entire MENA region. “My ultimate goal is for the community to act on its own, but with the FTA as its anchor,” she added.
While there is a clear interest in “made and designed in the Middle East” among consumers, a fully self-operating fashion ecosystem may still be a long way off. But Abu-Ghazaleh believes that the sector is heading in the right direction.
“Look how far we’ve come in the past ten years,” Abu Ghazaleh said. “I think it’s only a matter of time.”
Top photo caption: Designed by Yasmine Mansour.
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