Organisers of Dubai’s forthcoming Bride Show have announced that the prestigious Swarovski Young Designer of The Year Award 2006 will be awarded for the sixth consecutive year, to talented students of fashion design and amateur fashion designers from the Middle East, during the region’s popular wedding industry exhibition, The Bride Show Dubai 2006.
Charlotte Proudman, Event Manager, The Bride Show Dubai 2006 said, “Over the past years, the Award has given exposure to up-coming fashion design students and has helped to launch careers of aspiring designers. Several students who won awards in previous years will be joining us as exhibitors this year. In this way the award has helped to promote creativity and raise standards of the Middle East’s fashion industry besides infusing new and ethnic ideas into bridal costume designing.”
The Bride Show Dubai, being organised by Institute of International Research (IIR) Middle East, will take place from April 4 to 7 at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre and is being held under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Manal bint Mohammad Bin Rashed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Ladies Club and Wife of His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Presidential Affairs.
Sponsored by Swarovski, Austria’s leading jewellery and accessories maker, the award invites entries under the theme “Dress Satine”, Nicole Kidman’s character in the film “Moulin Rouge” in two categories -- Student Designer Category and Amateur Designer Category. Ten finalists will be chosen in each section, among whom one winner and one runner-up will be selected in the respective categories, by a panel of judges drawn from eminent personalities in the fashion and glamour industry.
An ‘Innovation Award’ will be presented to one contestant among the 20 finalists while the winner will receive a certificate, a Swarovski Trophy and an internship valid for one year. All participants will be presented certificates. 'The Young Designers Award is one of the most important attractions at The Bride Show Dubai 2006, eliciting huge support from the region's design industry and allowing students and amateurs to display their creations on a professional catwalk before a target audience of thousands,' Proudman concluded.
The Swarovski Young Designer of The Year Award for 2005 was held on the theme “Swinging Twenties” and attracted entries from 23 students aged between 19 and 25, from top UAE and Qatar-based fashion and design schools. Participating schools included Preston University, The Design Academy, MAHE Manipal – Dubai campus, Pearl Design Centre and Virginia Commonwealth University, Qatar.
Twenty-eight year old Iranian Zahra Pourfard, a student of MAHE Manipal, Dubai campus who bagged the last Award with her crepe satin white dress entry, said, “This is a great achievement for me and I’m extremely happy to have won this prestigious award. Winning this gives me great confidence and encourages me to become one of the Middle East’s top designers.”
The Bride Show Dubai 2006, being planned for the ninth successive year, targets prospective young brides and their families, Emirati women and affluent expatriates, and exhibitor companies and professionals from the fashion, hotel, travel and tourism, banking and finance, beauty and jewellery, catering, sound, light, photography and flower design, transport and home furnishings sectors.
The Bride Show Dubai 2006 has also added the Ambiente Al Bayt Al Arabie (Ambiente Arabian Home) show to its portfolio which will showcase home interiors and gifts and provide shopping opportunities for wedding presents and homeware for the newly weds' first home. The only consumer home interiors show of its kind, Ambiente Al Bayt al Arabie will be targeting the Emirati market offering everything from interior design to objects d'art, giving the opportunity for affluent Arab women from the region to purchase and be inspired by the collections on show. It will run concurrently with The Bride Show Dubai 2006.
With the involvement of event sponsors Swarovski and the professional fashion industry, participants in the Swarovski Young Designer of The Year Award are given access to workshops and tutored on skills development. All finalists get to display their creations for the public at the final Swarovski Young Designer of The Year Award Fashion Show -- a professional catwalk with professional models—held on the final day of The Bride Show Dubai 2006.
