Mideast Culture

Making Fashion Saucy: UAE’s S*uce Boutique Helps Local Talent Shine

Dubai, a city known for its glamour, soaring skyscrapers and magnificent malls, plays host to over a thousand shopping tourists every month. The Middle East, in general, has a strong presence of international luxury brands such as Chanel, Givenchy, Prada and Louis Vuitton. But, there are also tourists hungry for some local fashion flair. In 2004, this idea turned into a reality with the opening of S*uce Boutique.

Founder Zayan Ghandour, a fashion journalist, along with boutique partners Fatima Ghobash and Dina Salehese, realized there was something missing from the Middle Eastern fashion market; they wanted to bring quirky and edgy local high fashion to the UAE’s saturated (foreign) luxury fashion market. In addition to carrying high fashion contemporary brands such as Alexander Wang and Thakoon, the boutique stocks up and coming local fashion and lifestyle brands, making them accessible to natives and tourists alike.

One of These Things is Actually Like the Others

What Past Great Performances Can Teach Us In Dealing with Present-Day Events

Muslim-Americans. A 1950s American opera best described as “Shakespearean tragedy meets McCarthy-Era Tennessee.” The Boston Marathon. Before you begin to think that I’m having an ADHD attack, let me say this: one of these things is actually like the others.

I don’t think we need to rehash the events leading up to and following the Boston Marathon bombings. The tragedy shook me- not just because of its horrificness, but also because I used to live in Boston, and currently, I’m in the process of possibly moving back. As a city, it energizes me like no other- its culture, its history, and the intellectual stimulation it offers. The first time I ever felt like I had a small place in the span of American history was almost twelve years ago when I walked through Harvard’s Memorial Hall. And, every time I return to Boston, a certain pride overwhelms me. No matter how jaded or cynical I may feel at the time, the city always reminds me that calling myself an “American” is in fact something I can be proud of.

Reflecting the Times: Fashion Fighting Famine 2013

Last month, fashion bloggers, designers, and “it” girls from all over the world graced the front row of the 6th annual Fashion Fighting Famine fashion show, held on March 31st at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Irvine, California. It was a frenzy of fashionistas posing for photographers in their edgy outfits, or attempting to snap a picture with their favorite fashion blogger.

Dubbed the “largest fashion show for Muslim designers in the United States,” the FFF event aims to provide more than just a spectacular fashion show. Every year, the Southern California-based organization chooses a different charity to support and raise funds for. It also hosts a “Shop for a Cause” bazaar that brings together established and upcoming modest fashion labels, making these brands accessible to the public. Every purchase made at the bazaar contributes a portion to FFF’s Cause of the Year.

Fashion ComPassion Making Style a Conscious Effort

If you’ve been to your local H&M store recently, you would have noticed the promotions for H&M Conscious with the slogan “Don’t Let Fashion Go To Waste” placed around the floor. The campaign is an initiative led by the Swedish retailer to reduce the fashion industry’s environmental impact and to run its business in a manner that is “economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.” It aims to reduce the amount of textiles that end up in landfills every year by asking customers to bring them their old clothes in exchange for a discount voucher. The clothing that is collected will be sorted out to be re-worn, reused or recycled, and if these aren’t the options then the textile is used to produce energy.

The global fashion industry has been moving in the direction of increased sustainability and social consciousness in recent years. Campaigns such as TOMS’ “One For One Movement” and the eco-fashion brand EDUN founded by Bono and his wife Ali Hewson to sustain long-term jobs in third world countries have improved the fashion world’s image for being shallow and wasteful. Fashion ComPassion is one such brand that is changing the way fashion works, quite literally. It is a socially responsible fashion retailer providing a platform to brands that work directly with women in underprivileged and war-torn areas in South Asia and Africa, including the Middle East. The goal is to create jobs and provide skill training as a sustainable means to end poverty.

Eye of the Falcon: The Fashion of Niqab in the Arabian Gulf

When I first came to Al Ain, I had little idea of what to expect. One of the first things you notice as a Westerner coming to Abu Dhabi is the fact that the local women are “faceless.” That is, that most of the Emirati women here wear what is known as “niqab,” a Muslim face covering for women which only allows the eyes to be seen. As a foreigner trying to familiarize myself with the culture and customs, the niqab was a huge barrier for me, blocking me from engaging with the local women or seeing beyond the vast black sea every time I entered a mall.