Photo: Slimi
The third edition of Men’s Arab Fashion Week is all set to take place from January 28-30 for the fall/winter 2022-23 season. In partnership with the Arab Fashion Council, the bustling Dubai Design District (D3) will play host to local, regional, and international ready-to-wear designers from the UAE, Lebanon, Iraq, Libya, Jordan, England, and France.
“D3 is like no other design and fashion community in the world,” says Khadija Al Bastaki, executive director of D3. “Our region is home to a number of noteworthy labels who are rewriting the rules on men’s fashion and we are delighted to showcase them on a larger scale.”
The designers featured include Amato, Michael Cinco, and Anomalous from the UAE; Lebanon’s Tagueule, Maison du Mec, Emergency Room and Ahmed Amer; Jordan’s Zaid Farouki; Libya’s Born in Exile, Valette Studio, and Asher Levine. While the runway shows will be held in person from 6pm-10pm, they will also be broadcast virtually via Meta.
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This edition of the fashion week will delve into how the pandemic has “accelerated the digital transformation of fashion” and how menswear in particular has embraced technology. On the opening evening, US designer Asher Levine will present his take by integrating cutting-edge techniques, 3D printing devices, illumination technologies. The audience will also be able to give Levine’s designs and wearable NFTs a try via an in-app experience. Meanwhile, a See-Now; Buy Now Pop-Up will be hosted by FLTRD, the homegrown concept store featuring emerging and talented designers, enabling attendees to take home the Fall/Winter 2022-23 collections straight off the runway. The pop-up will be available in D3 from January 27 to February 1.
“It is part of D3’s genetic makeup to rethink the regular – innovation is our driving force,” adds Al Bastaki. “We are constantly in search of new ways to enable our emerging creatives and catapult their unique ideas to great heights. The strategic partnership between Dubai Design District and the Arab Fashion Council paves the way for such opportunities, contributing to the sustainable development and growth of the region’s fashion industry, especially when it comes to expanding the narrative around menswear. ”
Below, learn more about the fashion and its future from Al Bastaki,
1. What can attendees expect from this year’s edition of the fashion week?
The third edition of Men’s Arab Fashion Week is set to deliver three evenings of memorable fashion shows and events and ground-breaking creativity. The program will spotlight some of D3’s very own designers – Amato, Michael Cinco, and Zaid Farouki. These are names that are placing the UAE on the global map for fashion design. Cutting-edge menswear collections by regional stars such as Maison du Mec, Emergency Room, and Ahmed Amer will also feature, alongside international designers from the US, France, the UK, and Switzerland. It will be a diverse, eclectic showcase that will bring to the fore both emerging and more established talents who are all playing their part in redefining fashion in the Arab World – and rethinking the regular. There will be a focus on technology in fashion and we are always looking to showcase a more sustainable creative landscape as well as a sustainable-conscious mindset.
2. How is D3 helping in nurturing Dubai’s creatives, especially during the post-Covid time?
The last two years have seen unprecedented times for the creative sector globally. As the region’s largest creative hub, we at D3 have explored all sorts of ways to support creative talent and the wider industry. We took measures early on to help our business partners here at D3 to minimize uncertainty, ensure business continuity and resilience and we have collaborated wherever possible. During these months, we have been so proud to see our partners come together as a creative community on a number of initiatives.
D3 is like no other design and creative destination in the world. Our main objective is to always seek out new ways to enable our creative community and cultivate an ecosystem that allows them to experiment, flourish and inspire – and never more so than during unprecedented and challenging times. We are strongly committed to helping grow Dubai’s knowledge and innovation sector and further enhancing Dubai’s status as a Unesco city of design.
Flagship events like Men’s Arab Fashion Week allow us to shed a bright light on the remarkable talent in our community as well as the wider region. By providing them visibility, recognition, and a platform on such a scale, we are helping the creative industry recover and pave the way for a resilient tomorrow. We look forward to many memorable moments over the coming days and seeing the creative work of so many talents who are taking the fashion of our region to new heights.
3. What special steps is D3 taking in creating a safe environment at the physical shows?
We will of course be adhering to the latest precautionary measures laid out by the relevant authorities at the physical event and runway shows, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our creative community. We organized the Women’s Arab Fashion Week in October and Dubai Design Week in November under a similar format and the live catwalk shows and events of Design Week were a great success.
In order to ensure that as many people as possible can enjoy the third edition, though, we will be continuing with virtual content too and live-streaming the shows via the Meta platform, formerly known as Facebook Inc. And offline on digital screens across D3. The recent years have seen the digitalization of the fashion industry accelerate significantly and the virtual screening of runway shows has meant that the shows are reaching an even bigger audience – all over the world – which is incredible. We hope this will be the same for this edition of Men’s Arab Fashion Week.
4. Why is it important to support local ready-to-wear designers?
Local designers tell the story of your city – its evolving culture, the direction of its future, its genetic fabric, perspective, and more. Younger buyers today do want to reflect their culture as well and are looking for fashions that tell an authentic and original story about where people come from.
The previous years have brought a greater focus on the local and homegrown, given the restrictions on travel that resulted. So many local names came to the fore, which has been incredible. And there has been a renewed focus to shop local – whether fashion, food, or lifestyle goods – and this of course aligns too with sustainability and climate change goals.
It is exciting times for local, homegrown talents in the region! We at D3 are here to support emerging talent and give them a creative ecosystem in which to flourish and collaborate. Furthermore, we are deeply committed to the government of Dubai’s initiative to double the contribution of the design and innovation industries to Dubai’s economy and cement the emirate’s position as a global hub for creative industries by 2025.
5. What is the future of Men’s Arab Fashion Week according to you?
With the remarkable response we received for the previous two editions and the ways in which this third edition has grown, we are sure to continue seeing Men’s Arab Fashion Week evolve and inspire on a growing scale. The event is playing an integral role in driving forward the dialogue on ready-to-wear menswear in the region, and by extension the regional fashion industry as a whole. We are delighted to be presenting live shows at this edition and look forward to the on-ground buzz and excitement around these.
Our partnership for the event with the Arab Fashion Council is one that we are extremely proud of. We look forward to working in partnership with the council to further contribute towards the sustainable growth of our region’s fashion industry and its ever-increasing visibility on the global stage – and to continually rethinking the regular. We believe that D3 provides the ideal backdrop to premier the season’s most cutting-edge designs and collections, and we look forward to welcoming the creative community over the coming days either in person at D3 or online!
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