Internationally acclaimed couturier Furne One of Amato once again closed Fashion Forward’s three days of catwalk shows in Dubai’s Madinat Jumeirah with an arresting collection.
Other designers billed on Sunday would have been forgiven for feeling the pressure, knowing One’s flair for dramatic, headline-generating shows. Nevertheless, earlier that day, Sheikha Madiyah Al Sharqi, daughter of the ruler of Fujairah, delivered possibly her best collection yet.
Softly tailored dresses and jumpsuits, many asymmetrical or with capes, were sent down the catwalk in swathes of peppermint, duck-egg blue and mellow yellow silk chiffon.
“I previously spent most of my time in Paris and I think that was reflected in my collections,” said Al Sharqi. “With this one though, I spent a lot of time in LA [Los Angeles] and that inspired me, not least because their winters were warm like Dubai. I was inspired by the city’s chilled lifestyle and tried to introduce that into the collection with these streamlined pieces.”
Amato delivers denim from Russia with love
Tickets for Amato's show at Fashion Forward are always the hottest items in town. With not even a spare inch of standing room, the haute couturier debuted a collection of charcoal grey, acid-washed blue denim and russet reds. Leo Tolstoy's tragic 1877 novel Anna Karenina was the inspiration for pieces accessorised with bow belts and netted top hats. In an exclusive pre-show interview, One walked us through the 40-strong collection he sent down a haunting catwalk of gravel mounds and decayed trees.
The pieces
"The title of this collection is Love Is a Battlefield and I was very inspired by Anna Karenina. She was so advanced in terms of love and she truly fought for it, even though it was a big scandal at the time. I was moved by the story."
The fabrics
“We have lots of lace, denim and cotton, which makes things very prêt-à-porter. This collection is really something new and a bit different to my last collections. The look is 18th/19th century, but the fabrics are very now. And everybody loves denim.”
The silhouettes
“There are puff skirts with shirt-type blouses. Puffed-sleeved embroidered jackets and lots of zippers, which makes it very industrial.”
The embellishments
“All the embellishments are made from safety pins and crystals.”
Testing limits
“I’ve deconstructed and upscaled denim jackets, which is pretty different. And the finale piece is a huge denim cape with red lace.”
Model attitude
“What’s important is that I’m always thinking ‘my woman’ is not afraid of the dictates of fashion. She’s strong and wants to experiment.”
The setting
“The story is very depressing so I wanted the stage to be depressing, but of course, still high fashion [laughs].”
On the blogs: Check out our daily coverage of this year’s Fashion Forward shows at All Dressed Up
rduane@thenational.ae
