Tuesday, Mar 12, 2013
Fashion events in the UAE have always been, to put in mildly, quite a mess. From desperate social climbers and the ubiquitous blogger jostling for front row seats to the wasta-waving free loaders bullying doe eyed designers, they have, over the years, seldom been about fashion.
Yet season after season, well-meaning organisers have tried to give events like the late Dubai Fashion Week that stamp of legitimacy and some credibility. They have tried to make it an event where, like other fashion weeks, upcoming trends take centre stage, where talent is applauded and where buyers go shopping.
But alas, it hasn’t.
One entrepreneur is hoping to change all that with a new concept he says has been years in the making.
Bong Guerrero, the managing partner of Dubai event and management company Brag, believes the 23 years he’s spent in the UAE observing the fashion industry, and the contacts he’s made since, gives him enough credence to launch Fashion Forward (FFWD), a twice-yearly fashion development platform and event which will kick off in April.
And it’s not a fashion week.
“After watching what every one has done, we feel that we are taking a perspective where we want to be a bit honest when it comes to home grown designers and their commercial objective,” he says.
With the ultimate goal being to introduce regional designers to the world, FFWD will have three main elements, says Guerrero, who will serve as creative director and chairman.
“We want to give established and emerging designers an opportunity to showcase their collections, create an education forum where global experts will teach them how to take their brands internationally, and set up a trade body to support the development of the industry.”
The body, to be called Fashion Forward Association Middle East (Ffame), still in its formative stage, will have the who’s who of the industry who will lend the event weight.
“It’s very important that this advisory is made up of reputable names or patrons or personalities of the business of fashion. We will try to create a good mix of people, not only limited to Dubai but embracing the whole region,” says Guerrero. “Hopefully Ffame will have a membership that will include different established designers and will become some kind of a guild, and they will be the authority if there is a need for arbitration, for creating the list of designers to showcase in the next season and even organising the schedule. We’re talking to the right people and they have all been really positive.
“It’s this commercial and non-commercial aspect that will set us apart. That is why we are not calling it a fashion week because Fashion Forward is a movement.”
Making it a regional event and using Dubai as base will add to its international appeal, he adds.
“We want to be of the region. We have to get the best and the Middle East is almost one market. It’s too narrow-minded to say it has to be one city or just the Gulf.
“Beirut, for instance, is a hotbed for talent. They started decades ago and some of the biggest names in the fashion industry from the region are from their. And Dubai is a great host for such an event because we have the infrastructure and the stability.”
For his event’s debut, Guerrero already has the cream of the region’s design crop on board: From Dubai-based designers including Michael Cinco, who’s dressed everyone from Chris Brown to Lady Gaga; Furne Amato, a favourite of Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj; to Syrian designer Rami Al Ali; Zayan Ghandour, the woman behind S*uce who recently launched her own label; Ayesha Depala, who has dressed Bollywood stars among others; the Sharjah-based Essa Wala and a host of Lebanese designers.
“We have great talent. Recently, a lot of our designers have been getting a lot of international attention and Fashion forward aims to have a collective window for this great talent,” says Guerrero.
“Global brands are well-placed in the region because fashion consumerism is very high, which explains why there are so many big brands. But in parallel, you have a lot of great talent coming from here, or have roots here, but the region is quite young in the international market. So we are in a way just getting started.”
The education element is an important one for Guerrero, who has booked celebrated Lebanese designer Rabih Kayrouz as one of the educators. The Paris-based designer will also bring his team from Starch Foundation, a non-profit organisation he co-funded to help young Lebanese designers launch their debut collections.
“We also want to bring international buyers to come and speak to us and tell us what they feel is required to push the industry out there,” he adds.
Guerrero, who started in the fashion industry when he first came to the UAE more than two weeks ago before he moved to events, says he is confident the execution of FFWD’s first Season will set a standard.
“We don’t want to be in a position where we can’t have the fourth Season. I could have done this three years ago, But I wanted to do it right or not do it at all.”
Originally a four-day event, the plan is to extend it to a fully-fledged one-week event.
“Hopefully this will spur a thriving homegrown industry. We want to incubate regional fashion and make it larger than what it is right now,” he says. “The possibility and the potential is there, and we want to bring everyone out of the boondocks. With the right collective effort, I think it is a worthwhile objective.”
*Fashion Forward will debut on April 26 at the Madinat Arena. For more information, go to fashionforward.ae
By David Tusing, Deputy tabloid! Editor
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
