Women in the Middle East are becoming more daring. This transformation today speaks volumes about their penchant for experimenting with new chic styles. They don’t want to drown themselves in their traditional costumes. They are bored with those monotonous styles and are looking to try something colorful and happening. As the scope here for high-end fashion gets bigger, there is no denying that the region is close to experiencing a massive boom as a hot emerging market for the global fashion industry. Whenever sophisticated women here go out for shopping in this part of the world, you'll never see them without their expensive clutches or handbags stashed with hard cash to procure trendy outfits. It’s obvious that the demand for the hottest international brands is bound to skyrocket among women here whose knowledge of elegant fashion is outstanding. And the region’s well-established haute couture designers are ready to confront this reality head on with grand dresses with astonishing silhouettes that are simply world class. One of them doing so passionately is Fadwa Baruni, a Dubai-based couturier, who is admired for her clean lines and sharp tailoring. In an exclusive chat with Arab News, she spoke about what fashion means to her and how the region is becoming a paradise for fashionistas! It has always been her first love and she was always moved by it. It was a wonderland where she loved being herself surrounded by beautiful fabrics. “When I was a little girl, I used to cut up my mother’s curtains to make dresses for myself although I wasn’t always successful and it was something my mother never welcomed,” she says. She hails from Libya, a country currently in turmoil. She says that in the 1970s and 1980s there weren’t many opportunities to get into the fashion business. On top of that, her family was against her joining this "crazy" business. “A career in fashion wasn’t something my family approved of or wanted to see me making a living from. I was at a crossroads. I was pushed to choose between the law, medicine and engineering. I couldn’t see myself dealing with blood, I still have a phobia about needles, or being able to stand reading endless legal books, so I chose engineering,” she says. “In the end I think this was a good choice which has proven to be very helpful in my later switch to fashion.” She says fashion is her life after her family.
"This is what I live for. I find it hard to imagine now working in any other business. But I feel it’s incredibly tough to manage the continual pressures on my time or to do what I want. If only I could devote myself to the design process, it would be so much more fun and less exhausting. As it is I spend the majority of my time running the business, dealing with staff and customers rather than designing.” “On the whole, I wouldn’t change it because I get a lot of satisfaction from seeing ladies wearing my clothes and looking great in them. It’s just overwhelming.” Choosing fashion over engineering Baruni was happy with her work as an engineer. But deep inside, she knew she wanted to do something artistic. “Not many of us get a chance to change careers or the motivation to do so after starting down one road. In my case, everything went as I had anticipated. I reached a junction point in my career and was lucky to have the support to leave work and go back to learn. I managed to get a place at a great art school.” Before getting ready for her new career full time, she decided to take some evening classes to understand what she was getting into. "I did these evening classes for six months after which I felt I was fully ready to commit myself to this fascinating field," Baruni says. After this, the real challenge was to get enrolled at a prestigious design school where she could learn the nitty-gritty of fashion. It wasn't a harrowing task for her. Since she had spent some time in Europe, she knew which art school to join. "I spent a year at Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland before taking the decision to move to the UAE. This is a very good school and was a great place to learn the basics of fashion. I also studied at Telford College in Edinburgh, and in Sharjah when I returned to the UAE, just before setting up my business," she says. "These different courses were very useful in providing me with quite a different slant on the fashion business. The Edinburgh college gave me a great basis in the concepts of design while the others were practically oriented and provided the skills to manage pattern making and fabric selection etc." While working as a professional in Europe, she felt there wasn't much to choose from when it came to stylish and comfortable work clothes for women. "I was aware of a gap in the market for such garments. I thought there was room in the market for basic black and white with a focus on the working woman. I then realized that these styles, while popular, were basic items in a collection. I found I needed to broaden my palette to build my customer base," she says. She believes all the great brands have invested in developing their businesses in the region on the basis that there is a significant and growing market for them. "I think women in the Middle East have access to the same high fashion brands as elsewhere in the world and are increasingly fashion conscious. Dubai has recently seen quite a significant growth in the number of fashion events and related courses." When asked how fast the region was catching up with the rest of the world, she said: "It has caught up already and is now in some ways developing a significant lead over other parts of the world. The economy here has survived the financial meltdown much better than other areas of the world and this has supported the growth of the fashion business to a great extent in the area."
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