Global Arab Network | Dubai Fashion Week - Barbie takes centre stage

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Dubai Fashion Week - Barbie takes centre stage

- Andy McDonough

Friday, 30 October 2009 22:50

With a glittering, pink flourish, Dubai Fashion Week ended on Thursday night. If the lead designers on the day were all male, there was at least one woman's name on everyone's lips – a 50-year-old at that.

Barbie, the tall, blonde, imperfectly proportioned doll that's inspired countless girls and fashionistas for generations, was the theme of the closing show, which began close to midnight in a hall bursting at the seams with Dubai's most fabulous.

The doll, who celebrates her 50th birthday this year, was the inspiration for 27 designers, including DFW favourites Furne One, HSY and Hatem Al Akeel, local stars Ayesha Depala and Aiisha Ramadan, and international names Ekta Singh and Michael Cinco.

Pink cupcakes kept the Barbie faithful going as the show's start time dragged further and further into the evening, but when it finally began – to the tune of Doll Parts by Courtney Love's Hole, just to show that Barbie's not just pretty – she's pretty edgy too.

Looks varied between HSY's roller-girl in a '70s-style white suit, Kanzi's beautiful, discreet, pale pink gown with a hood and a sparkling strapless swimsuit in classic Barbie pink.

The crowd didn't hold back in showing appreciation, especially for the local versions of the Barbie look, like a hot pink abaya with a silver sequinned insert from the Das collection and Rabia Z's bright printed hijab Barbie.

Furne One

* Hit: The brand-new ready-to-wear collection
* Miss: Describing the collection as British India... when it was totally Regency

John Galliano, Tim Burton – and just a little bit of Elton John: That was the line-up – in spirit only, of course - on Thursday night at Furne One's staggeringly creative presentation of his Amato label.

Although he described his ice-cream-parlour coloured haute couture gowns in as being inspired by British India, there was more than a little of the French Revolution and Regency period in the towering wigs topped by ships, moons and stars.

His couture gowns – a seemingly endless array of doll-like structures in hot pink, teal and orange ombre tulles fading to white – were reinforced with cage-like metal girdles that exagerrated the models hips, over which swathes of tulle was deftly criss-crossed.

There's no doubting, from this show, the breadth of Furne One's imagination and technical ability – every piece was perfectly constructed – and some were feats of engineering that referenced another furiously creative designer, Christian Dior's John Galliano, who's famous for his highly theatrical shows – including one which featured models with wigs and boats on their heads.

After the show, One deflected suggestions that the collection was directly inspired by Galliano. "I love Galliano," he said. "But I love all designers. They all have a look or feel. It's hard to have a look." The Filipino designer, who was visibly moved after the show, said a closer inspiration was Tim Burton's filmmaking. "It's British India mixed with Tim Burton. Eerie but beautiful."

Indeed, spookily beautiful it was: warrior shoulders on a tiny pink bolero jacket; hemlines trailing pink roses over the runway; butterflies swooping off a model's head. It was a wardrobe grown from the bottom of the garden, where fairies live.

Back down on earth, however, was his ready to wear line, which One debuted. Cinched-in jackets in heavily embroidered jaquard and lace hit the strong jacket trend bang on. Underneath, embroidered leggings piled looked like they'd been spray painted with pink and purple, while the Indian element – churidar-style leggings piled up at the ankles – were in deep purple.

One said he'd used a lot of native Filipino fabrics in the collection, incluuding cotton and a fabric made from pineapple that he handled like a linen. “They're blending it with silk now, so you can wear it daily,” he said, indicating that the fabric, previously rather scratchy, has evolved into something luxurious and eco-friendly.

While his haute couture collection nudged the edges of fashion imagination, ready to wear was far more wearable – something One had aimed high for, saying the runway stylish was very high fashion, but individually, the pieces can be used to dress up the most basic of outfits.

"Put the jacket with jeans or the feathered skirt with a t-shirt."

Something for us all to try.

Miss Elegant by Amber Feroz

* Hits: The Chanel-like abaya with a white bow on the front
* Misses: Too-short skirts

Short, nipped-in abayas: That's what Dubai's women want, according to Noura Al Hashmi and Amber Feroz, the Emirati-Indian duo behind the Miss Elegant label. Their collection – which covered fashion-forward abayas, evening gowns and some eye-catchingly short mini-dresses.
They kicked off with an innovative knee-length wrap abaya trimmed in blue, worn over leggings, which Feroz said was giving women what they needed: practicality. “When I first started [making abayas] I used four-and-a-half yards of fabric. Now I can use one and a half.,”said Feroz of his shorter look.
Other abayas had bows at the front or side that give a more hourglass shape.
Two cocktail dresses, in petrol blue and grey silk will surely be seen at plenty of Dubai parties – on the first, a three-quarter-length sleeve and diamante detailing were the hits; on the latter, straps and a beaded necklace that hung like an unravelling ghutra caught the eye.

Rajnish Malhotra

* Hits: The soft elegance of the colours
* Misses: Still lots of bling

It was Sex and the City: Mumbai at Malhotra's show, at which the New-York-based Indian designer launched his eponymous label. His sexy, sophisticated looks carefully mixed Indian styles – saris and wide lehenga skirts with softer, reigned-in western-style colour. Case in point: the duo of sari and lehenga in taupe – a soft, earthy grey that has a warm, elegant quality you just can't find in bold tones. They were set off with balanced use of crystals and beading. A Western look of a dove grey corset dress with a tulip skirt was a high point: sexy dressing for grown-ups.

Global Arab Network

By Natalie Long, Deputy tabloid! Editor(Gulf News)

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