“As an Arab woman,” said Fares, “it was my dream to do something to help build a fashion community in the Middle East and put my expertise and knowledge at the service of talented designers.” During the years she spent in London, Fares partnered with Fashion East’s Lulu Kennedy, worked with the British Fashion Council, and founded the Global Fashion Trust. In 2017 she met with the Qatari mother-daughter duo, who are both active in promoting access to education and the arts.
The first edition of the Fashion Trust Arabia Prize coincided with the 2019 opening of the
31 tote bags National Museum of Qatar in Doha, a stunning piece of architecture envisioned by architect Jean Nouvel inspired by the shape of a desert rose. The pandemic forced last year’s edition of the Prize to go virtual, but this week it returned to a physical format. Among those who traveled to Doha FTA were Pierpaolo Piccioli, Virgil Abloh, Remo Ruffini, Juergen Teller, and Mugler’s Casey Cadwallader. The events were bookended by a Valentino party launching a capsule of haute couture abayas at the Islamic Museum and Virgil Abloh’s “Figures of Speech” exhibition, which traveled from Chicago’s MCA to Doha’s Fire Station. In between, the award ceremony was held at the National Museum of Qatar with a gala dinner.
From the 700 applications received, the advisory board picked 24 finalists, six of whom received awards. Iraqi-born, LA-based Zaid Affas was the winner of the ready-to-wear category; Moroccan-born, Amsterdam-based Mohamed Benchellal was awarded for eveningwear; Alia Bin Omair was the jewelry designer winner; Bilal Fellah was granted the accessory designer prize; and French-Sudanese Abdelgader El Tayeb scooped up the Franca Sozzani debut talent award. This edition’s guest nation was Colombia, with designer Agustín Nicolàs Rivero taking home the first prize.
Although individual and diverse, with aesthetic choices running the gamut
31 bags and totes from minimalism to flamboyance, the majority of the designers addressed social and environmental issues, emphasizing the need to protect local artisanal communities and to preserve sustainable savoir-faire traditions. “What I like is when I see identity and culture merge to become fashion,” said Pierpaolo Piccioli. “I liked the variety of their experiences. You can feel an individual truth at the heart of each work.” Piccioli singled out the project of Abdelgader El Tayeb for its exemplary balance of good intentions, personal inspiration, and over-the-top aesthetics, rendered with pristine execution.
A graduate of Brussels’s La Cambre, El Tayeb presented a
school bag flamboyant collection celebrating traditional Sudanese dress through a contemporary lens, combining basket weaving techniques with boldly-colored, playful silhouettes. He works with fabric leftovers, scraps of leather, and recycled beads, which he transforms into imaginative textures. His affinity for artisanal weaving has caught the eye of Bottega Veneta’s Daniel Lee and he was offered an internship at the label. “What I love at Bottega is how Daniel has pushed the traditional Italian intrecciato into a fresh new territory, very contemporary and playful,” he said. “It inspires me in the way I want to bring novelty to the techniques I’ve known since I was a child. Basketry is applied all around Africa to everyday objects, and I want to use it for fashion in an imaginative way. I want to bring my African heritage into the future. It’ll stay at the very heart of my work.”
