Maya Diab and Urvashi Rautela kick off digital Arab Fashion Week

Running until October 24, the event will feature 30 designers from around the world

Amato Couture presented a short fashion film starring Bollywood actress Urvashi Rautela on the opening day of Arab Fashion Week. Courtesy Amato Couture

Lebanese superstar Maya Diab kicked off the 12th Arab Fashion Week last night.

Diab, who was named Fashion Icon of the Arab World by the event’s organiser, the Arab Fashion Council, delivered a live speech from Beirut.

Appearing on an empty catwalk in a feathered dress, she said: “I salute the council for keeping the event happening in these hard times that the world is passing through. Stay safe but stay trendy as well.”

The UAE's Amato Couture followed, continuing the event's star-studded streak with a short fashion film starring Bollywood actress Urvashi Rautela.

The former Miss Universe India helped showcase Amato’s Divine collection in the film, which was strong, tribal and overloaded with Amato Couture's signature embellishments, including earrings that dropped to midway down the chest, oversized necklaces fit for a Nubian queen and a playsuit that might double as a suit of armour.

"In my own fashion universe, there are no boundaries – everyone is created equal," says Furne One, founder and creative director of Amato Couture. "The film Divine Indwelling states the fact of this special presence without explaining how it takes place."

The film, One added, “ultimately reflected the Amato woman; bold, brave and beautiful, and the sort of activism for racial equality”.

Ezra Tuba, the brainchild of Turkish sisters Ezra Cetin and Tuba Cetin, also presented its latest collection. The duo is committed to melding fashion and technology, by using smart fabrics, sensors embedded in embroidery and microchips hidden in fabrics.

Fittingly, the brand unveiled its latest collection in the form of a short film starring robots, who warned of the environmental and humanitarian risk currently facing planet Earth.

Running until Saturday, October 24 and featuring more than 30 fashion designers from around the world, this is the second all-digital Arab Fashion Week, run in partnership with Microsoft and Facebook.

In line with the Arab Fashion Council’s adoption of the see-now; buy-now model, the runway collections are available for immediate purchase on bytribute.com and at the Arab Fashion Week pop-up at Galeries Lafayette in the Dubai Mall.