The Eastern fairy tale has become a reality
Autumn Moscow will remember for a long time the fashion festival organized by Al Arabia Fashion Dayswith the participation of leading designers Russia and abroad. In an exclusive interview Lana Avier, executive director and co-founder of this project, talks about the most important thing.
–Lana, your project was unusual for the capital. Did all of the planned work succeed?
Al Arabia Fashion Days initially presented itself not only as a large-scale international project in the field of fashion, but also as a bridge connecting the Russian and Arab markets with the help of culture, business and education. Our task was to ensure that every participant of the event, be it a designer, partner, spectator or volunteer, received the maximum benefit, was able to discover here in Moscow, beauty East andnew opportunities to enter the foreign market.
As part of the first season of Al Arabia Fashion Days, we organized together with GBU "Small business of Moscow" a seminar on fashion business of the Middle East, the secrets of success of international brands and exports to the countries of the Arab world. The Russian audience is interested in the Middle East, and this is a good platform for both fashion brands and clothing and shoe manufacturers. Having equipped several zones of the showroom, we gave the opportunity to other companies to participate in this international event, so that guests from would also learn about their work East (after all, we had many foreign guests, as well as ambassadors of several Arab states). There were also annoying overlays that did not depend on us. For example, the famous couturier from Lebanon, Nicolas Jebran, was supposed to open Al Arabia Fashion Days . To get consent and bring such a name to the event is already a great honor, considering that, in addition to Paris and Lebanon, he does not arrange screenings anywhere else. Arriving in Russia, the designer faced a number of problems at customs, despite the fact that all the documents were in order. His collection of luxurious dresses was simply arrested!We even connected the Embassy of Lebanon and the Foreign Ministry, but, to our great regret, the designer's new collection remained at customs. It was only after a few weeks of hard struggle that we managed to get her back. By the way, the fear of Russian customs very often becomes the reason for the unwillingness of foreign brands to come to us.
Al Arabia Fashion is an innovative project. Tell us how it was perceived by the audience and what impressions do you think the participants had.How would you sum it up?
– Everyone spoke very well about the project. The Moscow audience was a little tired of the two Fashion Weeks familiar to it, they wanted something new. We offered a new format of shows, an interesting platform, new names, international brands, world designers – all this could not leave the viewer indifferent.
Of course, I would like to note the final closing moment of Al Arabia Fashion Days, when, during the bow of our main headliner, the designer of the brand AMATO Couture, who dresses the top faces of Hollywood, – the audience gave a standing ovation. In Moscow I saw such a reaction for the first time, but it was absolutely justified. Most of the designers who participated in the first season immediately expressed a desire to take part in the second season of Al Arabia Fashion Days, which is good news.
– You are planning to hold another event in April 2019, namely Al Arabia Fashion Days. Second edition. I would like to take a little look behind the scenes. Please tell us what to expect from the project in April?
Definitely, it will be bigger. This time there will be several famous world headliners, every day is new. We plan to expand both the communication platforms themselves and the list of participants.
One of the main ideas of the project is accessibility for the ordinary Russian audience, because in order to get to the shows of our headliners in other countries, fashionistas spend huge sums. Very interesting shows are waiting for you, be sure to come!
Do you have any other interesting projects that you would like to talk about?
Yes, along with this fashionable project in In Moscowwe represent Russian designers in the Arab fashion markets industry. Our company Meroving Production has been the only Russian company for several years – the official representative of the Arab Fashion Council (National Chamber of Fashion of 22 Arab Countries) in Russia and CIS countries and co-organizer of Arab Fashion Week – the main fashion event of the Arab world.
Natalia Ivanova talked
Photo: Al Arabia Fashion Days
