Twenty young national designers from the American University in the Emirates will make a splash on Dubai’s fashion scene this Thursday when they debut their creations at Palm Jumeirah’s Atlantis Hotel.
Marking a fashion first for the UAE, divers clad in designer gowns will take to the tank of the Ambassador’s Lagoon today for a dress rehearsal of the show which is free for the public to attend. Thankfully, says Dr Franziska Apprich, assistant professor at the institute, both events will take place just after the fish’s 3:30pm feeding time.
“I have a nightmare that a shark might suddenly eat one of the dresses. So I’ll make sure they are all well fed beforehand,” she says, laughing. “All the divers are very professional and they are aware that very fast movement in the tank is not a good idea. So they’ll be very calm and try to become part of the scenery – hopefully becoming the biggest most fashionable fish around!”
Swimming in succession around the 11 million litre tank will be ladies wearing 10 evening dresses made of suitably floaty fabrics, from silk and chiffon to tulle, each with a distinctly aquatic twist.
“The fish provided inspiration – from jellyfish [motifs] to mermaid style dresses,” says Apprich. “So the ocean theme and also very traditional Emirati styles were mixed together to celebrate the new generation [of designers] that is growing up with such innovative and creative ideas.”
While the theme was kept fluid, the palette of colours available was far more restrictive.
“Red doesn’t show up underwater, instead it is brown,” says Apprich. “So we orientated ourselves with fish in the aquarium where the yellow ones appears very vibrant. Also very dark blue and lime green show up well, so we used a lot of these colours.”
Modifications had to be made to hair and make-up too, with long flowing wigs and embellished face masks taking the place of coiffed tresses and cosmetics. In fact, arguably the only conventional thing about the fashion show, that was two months in the planning, is its grand finale of a bridal dress.
After the event, replicas of the outfits, alongside bespoke T-shirts, will go on sale at the private online shopping club sukar.com, with prices ranging from Dh350 to Dh5,000. In keeping with the marine-life theme, a percentage of all profits will go towards the UAE's Blue Flag initiative – a division of the global environmental organisation dedicated towards the preservation and sustainable development of beaches and marinas.
Having been somewhat taken aback by the media interest surrounding the landmark event for the UAE, Affrick is encouraged to push the creative bar even higher for the next undergraduate show.
“It has become much bigger than we thought,” she says. “All students have collaborated, so there’s no one design reflecting one person’s vision – everyone has really worked together. Also, our media and communications students are documenting the whole thing, putting videos of the event on Facebook.”
“Next I would love to do a show or maybe a concert in a grotto,” she says. “A cavelike space with crystals somewhere in the UAE, that would be awesome! There are so many possibilities in this beautiful country so why not show it off?”
