Under a spell: Second day of Fashion Forward

Expressing yourself through fashion is an art, wherein you speak without using words. That was the mood of the second day of Fashion Forward at the Madinat Jumeirah.

Fashion doesn’t have to be serious to be good - this was proved by Indian designer Essa on the second day of season three of Fashion Forward. The tone was set when the show started with a mix of a Lata Mangeshkar song and Beyonce’s Flawless. “We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, “You can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, But not too successful. Otherwise you will threaten the man.” The lyrics of Flawless pretty much gave us an indication on what to expect from the show. The collection was full of colours and individuality with girls donning hot pinks, vintage feathers and furs, long jackets and sunglasses. The conversation with Essa was equally fun. Talking about the woman his clothes are meant for Essa said: “She is a cool chick. Cool is an uncool word but she is really cool. Naughty, fun, cutie pie girls who are incredible, powerful, gorgeous and playful. This girl does not care about vanity. She eats a piece of chocolate without guilt, she wears colours that she wants to. This girl is not pretentious in her fashion and her labels. This girl wears things that do not scream “Oh that’s Prada, thats Dior.” This is a girl that cares about wearing beautifully constructed clothes. My girl is a kind of girl that does not care about fashion but loves clothes.”

He went on to elaborate. “Fashion is overrated, you know that right? Fashion is over-exposed and everybody is having an overdose of it. The Essa girl is an individual. She has a sense of casualness about her. She does not plan this look, she repeats it. She wears her coat to death. She buys one dress and she loves that, she doesn’t care if it’s Instagrammed or Facebooked fifty thousand times. I think it is tiring for woman to spend so much money every single day because we have become consumerist on a whole different level.”

This was pretty much the tone of Day Two.

REAL STYLE

Lebanese designer Bashar Assaf was presenting his clothes for the third time at Fashion Forward. His garments aim to challenge the female body with brave geometry complimented with sensibility to material and craftsmanship. The twenty-five-year old explained to City Times how he gets inspired to create different styles.

“When you decide to create a new collection you have an idea in your head. Along the way you listen to a song that inspires you, you see something on the street which inspires you. I think it starts off with a certain theme, you try to stay true to that theme then other things add up which compliment your creation.”

The young designer was happy when he spotted a girl wearing his clothes in the audience. “I want to see my clothes on people all around. The most important thing is to see someone on the street with your clothes on and I just saw someone outside with my clothes and I did not even know her, so it was an awesome feeling. I hope I will see more of my clothes on people in the next few years.”

TALKING FASHION

Almost every member of the audience, from the front row to the standing section, were spotted clicking pictures of the show with their smart phones. This was pretty much the topic of discussion at Filipino blogger Bryan Grey-Yambao, popularly known as Bryanboy’s session on Day 2 of Fashion Forward because as any fashion lover will agree the only thing more fun than buying fashion is talking about it. For those who have more time than money to spend on fashion, blogs are a must-read. Bryanboy spoke about the importance of digital media when it comes to influencing the younger generation about fashion.

BRIDAL GLORY

Most of the shows were packed during the day revealing the pull fashion has in Dubai, whatever naysayers may claim.

Rami Kadi’s show was about breathtaking brides bringing to mind Kirsten Dunst in Marie Antoinette in those gorgeous vintage and spunky outfits. The audience were treated to some gorgeous wedding dresses during the show.

The day ended with beautiful pieces of Bow Ties from Velsvoir whose collection was based on European aesthetics but adapted for the modern day Dubai man.

Day two at Fashion Forward was subtle, sexy, energetic and gorgeous - in the end fashion that is wearable and believable.

Highlights from Day Two of Fashion Forward

1)While we instantly fell in love with one of the Marie Antoinette kind of funky brides from Rami Kadi’s show who had a big smile on her face during her ramp walk, a freelancer objected immediately and said: “Models are not supposed to smile. They should be expressionless because the focus should be on their clothes, not on their face.” We hear you.

2) One of the fashion enthusiasts was very angry because according to him some of the clothes from a FF favourite were ‘inspired’ from other designers. “I have seen exact clothes on Lady Gaga and Rihanna two-three years back.”

3) A young designer who seemed totally in love with the idea of his collection, explained the inspiration behind his clothes in a graphic manner which unfortunately can’t be printed here. While we believe fashion can be path-breaking, designers need to get above merely making statements for shock value alone.