| Kippreport.com

Dubai dazzling on the catwalk?

March 18, 2010 7:17 by Aarti Nagraj

For Dubai’s fledgling fashion industry, talk of the financial crisis is not the ‘in’ thing. “Everybody knows that the crisis was there, is still there and will be there,” says Saif Ali Khan, executive vice president of the Concept Group, which through its events section organizes the Dubai Fashion Week.

“But if we start looking at the crisis part of it, there will be no growth,” he says.

The upcoming fashion week, to be held from April 3- 7 this year, is seeing many new sponsors, 45 designers, and more than 40 international models, says Khan, adding – despite the recession – that this will be the “biggest season ever.”

“I agree the entire market is undergoing depression and yes, everything is falling. Obviously the luxury brands have fallen a bit but I don’t think it’s created that much of a difference in the market. And as every day passes by, it’s actually slowly but very steadily growing,” he says.

This optimism in the industry is also shared by Tamara Hostal, the associate director of the French Fashion University Esmod Dubai. The university recently said that it expects Dubai’s ranking in the “top fashion cities of the world”, which is published annually by US-based Global Language Monitor, to increase further this year. Last year, Dubai was ranked 11th, much higher than the 24th place it occupied in 2008. “Trends in the local fashion scene point towards a further rise in the rankings,” the university said.

“From my knowledge, Dubai increasing in terms of fashion because we can see so many more malls coming up and bringing famous brands from abroad—from France, Italy, UK etcetera,” says Hostal. “Also, the population is also increasing. And fashion seems to be an aspect which is very important for ladies and people in this society,” she adds.

Pages: 1 2 3 4

Tags: designers, Dubai, Dubai fashion Week, fashion industry, Financial Crisis, luxury, spending