All eyes are on the Middle East not only politically but also fashionably. If you are a good observer of fashion, you would have noticed the fuzz that the Arab fashion editors and bloggers are creating in any of the international fashion weeks, especially those taking place in Milan and Paris. They have become beautiful targets for the fashion and street style photographers, as their sense of style is sincerely unique because let’s be honest here, the Arabs know who to dress up and how to style the luxury piece, away from the fashion people. If you compare a simple Arab lady to an American or European one, the Arabian always has more sophisticated and luxurious taste, whilst the foreigner is more about a simpler more practical outfit. For example, an Arabian lady will invest in a Rolex, while the foreigner will invest in a house. That theory is directly reflected in the young Arabian fashion designers, because they have to design and cater for those sophisticated ladies in their regions and work hard to satisfy their fine tastes.

The fashion world is ruled by young designers now, why?! Well, fashion editors love them, as they are always on the hunt for new talents for their editorials. And celebrities want to always dress uniquely every time they are on that red carpet, or out for interviews, photo sessions or movie premiers, so their stylists have to keep their eyes open for the most unique designer pieces. Everyone now wants to be unique and unexpected so they just go on the lookout for fashion startups and support them. Because stepping into the Dior runway show in a Dior dress is so predictable. But getting dressed in an Arabian, South African or even Russian label, and Dior accessories is mysterious, stylish and we leave everyone wondering and asking questions, as curiosity and creativity is what makes the fashion industry running.

Dubai is the anticipated new capital of fashion, being able to adapt all the emerging talents, and offering a home to their creativity, with different fashion events, shows, popup store openings, designs district and so on. The city gave them a huge push forward and exposed their work to different categories of people, making it easy for them to engrave their names in the international path.

At the Vogue Dubai Fashion Experience, that took place last October, we had the chance to sit and talk with some of the best promising young talents, asking them about their start, hopes and dreams. The VDFE (Vogue Dubai fashion Experience) is an annual fashion event hosted by Vogue Italia magazine and sponsored by Emaar’s Dubai Mall, aiming to promote young designers through two effectives, the first is a fashion show, where finely selected talents would be able to show their latest on the catwalk in a fashion show held inside the Dubai mall, and seen by the who is who in fashion, in addition to the Dubai Mall visitors, and secondly through Who’s Next competition where competitors exhibit their work by the fashion atrium at the Dubai Mall, and the few picked as winners would be able to show their work at a special fashion show in Milan, and sell their products for one year at a temporary popup store in Bloomingdale’s. One of VDFE’s chosen designers, participating for the second year in a row is the Saudi designer Reem Al-Kanhal, who spoke to us. “Last year gave me more confidence to be honest, it was encouraging. I got many celebrity clients. Being part of it again is even more rewarding for me,” she said.

Talking about her latest collection, Reem said: “My newest collection is called ‘If Doors Could Speak’ and it is named like that because I have always been attracted to beautiful doors, wondering what happens behind them. There are many stories, so this triggered the new collection and I thought what are the best doors of Arabia, they would be in Tunisia, so I used the most beautiful word I have ever heard of any Arab speaker ‘yea’yeshk’ stitched into my designs. My new collection is all about mixing, my pieces can be worn in so many different ways and you can create countless looks with a few pieces, it was designed for this purpose.”

Coming to Krikor Jabotain, the only Lebanese with Armenian roots participating in the fashion show. Jobotain is only 27-year-old. He spent seven years working in the haute couture field and now we can safely say he has been competing with the big Lebanese haute couturiers. “Since as far as I remember I was always obsessed with fashion especially with the fabrics, my mother had encouraged me to get into the field. I studied fashion in l’Ecole Superieure des Arts Techniques de la Mode in Beirut, and few days after my graduation I started working in Elie Saab’s creative department graduation. After that I was lucky enough to have the big Lebanese designer Rabieh Kayrouz approach me to put my designs in Starch boutique, which was a platform for young designers to showcase their work. It was the right time and right place for me and I think I was smart to get the best out of this beautiful experience, after 10 months I opened my independent atelier, and now we are expanding.”

Talking about his collection, he said: “I only had haute couture collections but for this show I was asked to design pret a porter pieces — something less dramatic and more practical — but at the same time having its couture identity. You can get the feel from the fabrics and embroidery.” When asked about his signature wedding dresses, Jabotain said “I love to live with my brides their fairytales, I love to design all the pieces since the day they got engaged, the official marriage, the wedding gown, and dresses for the mother and sisters of the brides. The wedding industry is my business.”

Moving on to two of the winners of Who’s Next competition — Nathalie Trad and Hussein Bazaza, both Lebanese. Nathalie Trad was born in Beirut. She earned a Bachelor’s degree from the prestigious ESMOD, worked as a fashion buyer for Harvey Nicholas, then moved to New York to earn another degree in design management from Parisand Parsons School, then later worked under the mentorship of Proenza Schouler. Moving back to Dubai, Nathalie couldn’t find a job, so she began sketching and discovering how to work with shell, and started her own label and then started to add wood, steel, metals, brass and copper. “It is an honor to be chosen as part of this competition, and getting the exposure we are getting, and the feedback from all of the amazing people who attended the event,” Nathalie said. Talking about her future plans, she said: “I just want to continue what I am doing and loving the best, we are now having 30 points of sales around the world, so the next step is to continue expanding and increasing the awareness of the brand.”

Hussein Bazaza was born and raised in Beirut. The 25-year-old was enrolled at ESMOD Beirut to study for a BA in Fashion Design and Pattern Making. During his academic path, Hussein’s designs have been acknowledged by several awards. As his fellow Jabotain did, he also was trained under Elie Saab and worked under the internship of Rabih Kayrouz’s starch foundation. After that he started his own label and created seven collections. In October 2014, Hussein Bazaza partnered with IWC Schaffhausen to exclusively showcase his Resort’15 collection with Adriana Lima, as a guest of honor.

Hussein has also received a lot of prestigious awards including the “Best Emerging Designer” and the Elle Style Award “Best Upcoming Middle East Designer” where he was unanimously voted by 44 global Elle editors. He is now teaching the Pattern Making course at ESMOD Beirut for the fresh students.

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