26 February 2014

BEIRUT: The organizers of the Vogue Fashion Dubai Experience, which debuted last year, issued a call on young Lebanese fashion designers to apply for The Dubai Malls talent scouting competition due to take place again in 2014.

Lebanon has a formidable reputation for young creative designers and we are confident of attracting some of the brightest talents from the country for the competition, Salama Alabbar of BySymphony.com the events curator told The Daily Star.

Alabbar explained that VFDE opens a significant opportunity for designers in Lebanon and the region to be in the international spotlight, while also nurturing their skills further through mentoring sessions.

The competition highlights the strong talent pool in the region, which needs to be further highlighted, he continued. In 2013, the designs of eight young talents, four of them from the Arab world, were showcased at VFDE, which was attended by the worlds leading designers and celebrities.

Last year, The Dubai Mall, the worlds largest shopping and entertainment destination, and Vogue Italia, one of the worlds most influential fashion magazines, have joined hands to launch a talent scouting competition to identify and nurture the next generation of fashion designers.

The Dubai Mall-Vogue Talent initiative follows the success of the inaugural Vogue Fashion Dubai Experience, the Middle Easts largest-of-its-kind fashion event organized by Emaar Properties and Vogue Italia at The Dubai Mall in October 2013.

According to organizers, the scouting competition serves as the run-up to the second edition of Vogue Fashion Dubai Experience to be held in 2014, with the chosen young designers to be mentored by fashion experts and their works showcased at the high-fashion event.

BySymphony, the Middle Easts home of international luxury fashion online, will curate The Dubai Mall-Vogue Talent Fashion Designers Talent Scouting competition.

Chairman of Emaar Properties Mohamed Alabbar said the inaugural VFDE set a new benchmark for the fashion industry in the Middle East region, and defined Dubai as a global fashion capital.

We are now taking it to the next level through The Dubai Mall-Vogue Talent competition, which will enable our young talents to step into the limelight and establish their credentials as the next generation international designers, Alabbar added.

Fashion icon Franca Sozzani, editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia, maintained that Dubai today was the must-be place for the global fashion industry, since the city serves as the hub for talent across the region.

Our global talent scouting competition, aimed at young designers, will further elevate the citys credentials in the fashion industry, Sozzani added.

The designers who presented their collections at the 2013 VFDE included Wadha al-Hajri from Qatar, Mohammad Ashi and Razan Alazzouni from Saudi Arabia, Lulwa al-Amin from Bahrain, Ituen Basi from Nigeria, Simone Rocha from Ireland, Andrea Incontri from Italy and Esme Vie from Russia.

During the inaugural event, more than 250 leading brands that operate flagship outlets at The Dubai Mall also presented their latest style trends. Exclusive fashion creations and lifestyle experiences were auctioned at a charity dinner gala at The Pavilion, Burj Khalifa, and the proceeds donated to Dubai Cares, the charity founded by Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the UAEs vice president and prime minister and ruler of Dubai, to promote childrens education in developing nations across the world.

For the 2014 edition, organizers are calling on young designers, with brands that have been established for at least a year, to email their applications before April 2014 to: tdmtalentscouting@condenast.it.

They should provide a short biography, a written description of the collections inspiration, hi-resolution photographs or videos of already produced collections and information about the brands distribution channels.

For more details, log on to: http://bysymphony.com/scouting2014.

Copyright The Daily Star 2014.