March 2018 www.womanthismonth.com FASHION | fashion forward 24 Riyadh Goes Runway The Dubai-based Arab Fashion Council has announced that Saudi Arabia will host its first Arab Fashion Week this month. Due to take place at Riyadh’s, Zaha Hadid-designed Apex Centre (pictured), the show will run from March 26 to 31, with a second edition already scheduled for October. The line-up for the event has not yet been revealed and it remains to be seen whether it will feature purely modest fashions. However, commentators have been quick to point out that fashion-conscious Gulf women, with cash to spend, are some of the couture world’s biggest supporters. The Arab Fashion Council is starting to lay the foundations for the development of a sustainable infrastructure across the Arab world, with a strategic partnership with the British Fashion Council (BFC). “The history and trajectory of the BFC goes hand in hand with what we are trying to achieve: nurturing young talent and adopting an international vision,” says Princess Noura bint Faisal Al Saud, the organisation’s honorary president. Always one to watch, this year’s London Fashion Week show by students from Central Saint Martins was more bonkers than usual with models dressed as plastic dummies, mattresses and even a giant paddling pool. Household utensils were also out in force with outfits adorned with plates, vases and more. Vogue apparently gave its seal of approval, noting that the designs catch the eye more so than classics such as a well-cut dress – well, they say no publicity is bad publicity. Our climate might well lend itself to donning a paddling pool, you could just take it off and fill it up when the weather gets too hot! Drone Zone Supers took a back seat to hi-tech at Dolce & Gabbana’s latest show in Milan with the Italian duo sending handbags down the runway carried by drones! Guests were instructed to turn off Wi-Fi on their phones to avoid disrupting the devices’ control systems for a show that left fashionistas stunned. The Cut even declared “Being human is so last season”. Regular models later took to the catwalk to show a collection the designers call “Fashion Devotion” drawing heavily of traditional Catholic garb with lots of black lace and veils. Check out the video and let us know what you think of this latest development at womanthismonth.com. Backstage Pass Our take on what's cool, trending and fashionable Papal Fashions! New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is no stranger to controversy, but its latest costume institute exhibition may prove one of the most ambitious yet. Curator Andrew Bolton revealed that “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” will feature around 40 ecclesiastical pieces loaned by the Vatican, including a papal tiara comprising 18,000 diamonds and items worn by Pope Benedict 14th in the 1600s. These pieces, some of which have never left the Vatican’s sacristy before, will be shown along with 140 pieces from fashion houses including Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Chanel and Valentino, many of whom displayed Catholic and religious imagery and influence in their recent collection launches. The challenge is for Bolton to create a display in which the religious pieces can sit comfortably alongside some of the more extreme and potentially clashing design works. Bizarre Looks
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