Following the monumental success of Saudi Arabia’s first ever fashion week, held last month, the company responsible for it, Arab Fashion Council, has announced its partnership with the Dubai based MBM Holding to create an organic fashion and retail ecosystem in order to encourage investment into the country, as well as laying a foundation to with views to increase the acknowledgement of the “Made in the UAE” concept.
On-board the luxurious Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise liner which is now a hotel, the 6th edition of Arab Fashion Week will be renowned as “the world’s first floating fashion event”, according to it’s organizers.
Running from May 9th – 12th, the four day fashion extravaganza will feature 18 designers from 13 countries who will be revealing their latest resort, couture and ready to wear lines, with the event also hosting a few industry panels.
The floating fashion week will host some of the top designers in the industry including, Amato Couture, Simone Racioppo, Fllumae, Nocole and Felcia and Sophia Nubes. In addition, the event will also see the launch of an eco-friendly label who will be revealing their Ready Couture collection, AFC Green Label, in order to promote the concept of “fashion sustainability”.
CEO of the Arab Fashion Council, Jacob Abrian talked about last month’s edition of the event in Saudi with Gulf News and described it as being a “unique time for the Arab world with retail powerhouse Saudi Arabia elevating the region’s fashion profile after it opened its doors to draw in big names and bigger businesses.”
He continued, “the UAE has already established itself as the fashion retail hub in the region. However, with our partnership with MBM Holding, our vision is to create a central channel that brings in all the different resources from the 22 countries…and transform this city into a buyer’s market that draws in all the major players…The future is in our hands and it’s up to us to create an environment that is conducive to sustaining our vision 2030 with the right foundation and the right education for designers of tomorrow.”
Saeed Al Mutawa, CEO of MBM Holding, hopes that the event will take the fashion industry in Dubai to higher levels, “MBM will support AFC in positioning the UAE as a global sustainable nation in arts and creativity to create strong and active communities that compete internationally highlighting the UAE treasure in our human resources by supporting our talent into exporting the ‘Made in UAE’ to the world,” he said.
