Arabising fashion

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courtesy of LUX Fashion World

THE DEMAND for a fashion that tenders to the needs, culture and personality of an Arab woman has of late prompted the proliferation of both Arab fashion designers and profitable businesses, reports Reem Nafie. For a woman to feel beautiful, she needs to wear a gown that suits her personality, she feels comfortable in and designed by someone that understands her culture. Or so we learned at the LUX Fashion World press conference held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Cairo this week.

Supporting Eastern women, by providing them with fashion designed especially for them, was one of the core issues discussed at the press conference held to launch the second fashion show sponsored by LUX that took place in Beirut from 27 to 30 September.

Egyptian fashion designer, Hani El-Beheiri, whose designs featured in Lebanon was amongst the attendees, along with MBC Regional Branch Manager Michel Malkoun.

El-Beheiri spoke about his love for fashion that started when he was a child, saying he was encouraged by relatives and friends to pursue a career. El-Beheiri had participated in LUX's first fashion show, which he says contributed to his success on the "regional" level, "even though I've been in the industry for over 15 years." Talking about the event that featured other prominent Arab designers, such as Saudi Arabia's Amina Al-Jasim and Zaki Bin Aboud, Dany Atrache and Viken from Lebanon, and Adiba Al-Mahboub from Kuwait, El-Beheiri said, "it is a great opportunity for exposure giving access to Arab women who want to feel beautiful and confident with trendy Middle Eastern fashion."

This year's fashion show also included a competition for young, enthusiastic designers judged by prominent Arab designers such as Zuhair Murad.

El-Beheiri told Al-Ahram Weekly that this year his designs represent "a new style for me", saying that now that he is older he has a different understanding of fashion and what Arab women need. His ideas include combining different colours of chiffon together. "Arab women now don't need to go all the way to Europe to buy an evening dress that will cost them a huge amount of money, especially that you pay for it in dollars and euros," El-Beheiri said.

Sadly enough El-Beheiri admitted that his designs may not be affordable to the masses, especially that his fabrics and accessories are purchased from Europe which raises the price of his gowns. When the Weekly asked him how much a wedding gown would cost, he smiled and said "I guess we can start at LE20,000."