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Home / Features / Arab consumers are expected to spend up to $490 billion on luxury fashion next year

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Arab consumers are expected to spend up to $490 billion on luxury fashion next year

The runways of Dubai airport witness an unprecedented movement of transit, trade and tourism but it is where high fashion took off when terminal three of Dubai Airport was chosen as the stage for a Vogue Arabiya fashion shoot for their December issue. Dubai is set on being the fashion capital of the world with international style icon, Naomi Campbell gracing the cover of the November issue of Vogue Arabiya. One of the original "supermodels", Naomi Campbell broke boundaries in 1988 when she became the first black model to appear on the cover of French Vogue. Vogue Arabiya launched in 2016, with cover stars such as Rihanna and Gigi Hadid and Halima Aden - the first hijab wearing model to walk the runways at Milan fashion week.

Naomi Campbell: “I think you've got wonderful emerging market here in Dubai and a lot of young designers from all over the region come here because here is a place and a center. I think Dubai is a capital of fashion.”

A trailblazer herself, she has seen the industry evolve - and is now witness to a new battle for equal representation on the fashion frontline. ‘It's something that should have been the norm and it's every race and creed. Everyone has their religion, it has to be respected and so this is how it should have always been. It's incredible to say it's taken us to get to 2017, 2018 for it to happen, but most importantly, that it's happening.”

Arab consumers are expected to spend up to $490 billion on luxury fashion next year, with Dubai the number one destination for luxury spending for Middle Eastern customers. Syrian couture designer Rami al Ali is the first Dubai based fashion designer to show at Paris haute couture fashion week- breaking into the highest echelons of the fashion world.

Rami al Ali: “I grew up and my character and my taste was shaped mainly in Damascus, this is where I was probably in touch visually with the most interesting and one of the oldest graphic in history. The contrast of where I come from this very old world, you know, heavy heritage, and this very modern, young and dynamic, it was very interesting for me to be able to blend both and get this interesting result.”

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