FFWD boasts more designers and new accessories Showcase

Fashion Forward Dubai, which runs from October 22 to 25, is a bi-annual fashion platform that is now in its sixth season.

The designers showcasing at Fashion Forward Dubai this season. Sarah Dea / The National

Fashion Forward Dubai (FFWD) has announced its spring/summer 2016 edition with 30 catwalk shows and presentations by couture and ready-to-wear designers from UAE and the wider region.

FFWD, which runs from October 22 to 25, is a bi-annual fashion platform that is now in its sixth season.

Bong Guerrero, FFWD chief executive and founder, says: “This is a fashion-industry reunion when we all come together collectively and put out the very best. We have been trying to position Fashion Forward Dubai as the definitive fashion platform for this region.”

Last season, FFWD featured 24 designers. This year, it boasts 33 apparel designers across 21 catwalk shows and nine presentations. Emirati talents chosen to present their creations include Zareena, Fatema Fardan, Ahmed El-Sayed and Saleh Al-Banna, ­Jelena Bin Drai and Madiyah Al Sharqi. Local designers include Filipinos Amato and Michael ­Cinco, and Dubai-based Jordanian Zaid Farouki.

“In the fashion landscape, we are very hot at the moment. Our designers are truly making waves abroad and it’s almost happening organically. The international fashion media are all looking at Dubai, so it’s a renaissance period for us to flourish,” says Guerrero.

This year, 27 accessories designers will get to display their work at The Showcase, a new concept featuring a selection of original Middle Eastern jewellery and accessories brands – including Alessa, Athena Akhavan and Bil Arabi.

A bespoke art installation, Summer Rain by artist Ana Margarida Castro from design firm BIA, will also be unveiled at the space.

“The Showcase has evolved from the pop-up aspect last year,” says Ramzi Nakad, FFWD co-founder and chief operating officer. “Jewellery designers will be treated exactly the same way as the apparel designers. It will be more like an exhibition of their best work.”

The d3 Fashion Talks this year will be headed by local celebrities such as beauty blogger Huda Kattan, as well as Karen Buglisi Weiler, global brand president of M·A·C Cosmetics; Scott Schuman, fashion blogger and author of the book The Sartorialist; and Canadian-British fashion expert Imran Amed, chief executive and founder of The Business of Fashion magazine.