Whether donning an abaya, kaftan, cocktail dress or ball gown, one thing is certain: Arab women have style. And thanks to Muscat Fashion Week 2013, held on January 15-17 at Riyam Park, and organised by Malik Al Hinai, fashionistas got to see the latest collection of 12 of the region's best designers. This year's lineup featured collections from Dibaj Oman, Nawal Al Hooti and Endemage from Oman, Kanzi, Das Collection, C'est Moi and Mauzan from the UAE, Qatar's Toujouri, Razan Alazzouni from Saudi Arabia, Jordan's Tatyana Aceeva, Ahmed Talfit from Tunisia and Morocco's Zhor Rais. The clothes highlighted their abilities to blend their own cultures with the world around them.

"It's a fusion. Old and new. West meets East. The silhouettes are very modern, maybe more European, and then there are touches of our culture in the detailing," said Afaf Al Farsi, one of the sisters behind the fashion house Dibaj Oman. Dibaj Oman's collection was filled with rich velvets, lace, sweeping skirts, and as always, Omani-style stripes and embroidery bringing them back to their roots. It's this combination of high fashion and heritage that has made them a favourite at Muscat Fashion Week, and even got them a nod from legendary fashion journalist Hilary Alexander, who was most impressed with their collection.


"I'm a complete pushover for tribal jewellery and ethnic costumes, so that was a draw for me. But I was really impressed with the way some of the designers are able to keep an inherent heritage of where they come from, but make it look very cosmopolitan. I thought particularly Zhor Rais of Morocco, and Dibaj of Oman, were my two favourites on that score," said Hilary, sporting an Omani necklace from Mutrah Souk.

Oman's Nawal Al Hooti, who recently opened her second boutique in the Opera Gallerias, also captured the spirit of mixing European and Omani designs in her collection. With colourful, flowing kaftans paired with Omani belts, and mini denim skirts edged with traditional motifs and patterns, Nawal reminded the audience why she's one of the Sultanate's top designers.

Also gaining a strong following in Oman and the UAE, thanks to their talent for designing for all occasions, is Endemage, the label founded by sisters Lubna and Nadia Al Zakwani. They started out making abayas but have branched out to include pants, shorts and dresses. They use Islamic detailing in the embroidery, but aren't afraid

of cuts that are edgier and more international. "It's more of a modern touch with strong Arab influences. We design for a woman who is confident with what she wears. She's not afraid to be different. She has a fashion eye, and she's very elegant," explained Lubna and Zakia, standing on the runway after the show.

Endemage seems to have the contemporary Arab woman pegged, and most of the designers at Muscat Fashion Week shared the idea that these days women in Arab World are comfortable wearing both traditional and modern styles. "Arab women are really fashionable. They're either fashionable in a modern, Western sense, or they're fashionable in a very traditional Arab sense. But they're all fashionable in their own way. The majority of young Arab women tend to have a perfect blend. They manage to be traditional and add some flair to it," explained Iraqi-Jordanian designer Tatyana Aceeva, who has also shown at fashion weeks in Dubai and Amman.

She said the woman she has in mind when she's designing is fashionable and modern, but also traditional. Her designs are sexy but tasteful, and comfortable to wear. Tatyana's collection of gowns and cocktail dresses tend to have European cuts, but adding a bit of "bling," as she calls the sparkling embellishments, is in her Arab blood. Casablanca-based Zhor Rais, who designs kaftans and dresses for the Moroccan royal family, said it's crucial for Arab designers to stay true to their roots while at the same time modernising and trying new things. She focuses on traditional, conservative shapes but the material, embroidery, and decorations she uses for her exquisitely handcrafted pieces are often the best available in Europe.


"Each has her ethnicity. I like it a lot when designers work within their own culture. I'm Moroccan so I don't copy French, Italian or Algerian designs. I come with my culture," Zhor said.
The UAE label Kanzi, making a third appearance at Muscat Fashion Week, started out designing more traditional clothes, but over the years has become more adventurous, fusing Eastern and Western styles. They stayed away from short skirts, but brought flattering, comfortable and elegant kaftans and dresses to the runway, as well as some fabulous abayas. Designer Sheikha Amal Al Maktoum described the collection as easy to wear, but with a luxurious touch. There were a lot of geometrical embellishments involved in the pieces, pointed shoulders, and straight pencil skirts. "It's more trendy and fashionable. There's more colour and more embellishment. It's more evening dresses, and not limited to people from the Middle East. It can be worn by any person around the world," said Amal.

Kanzi's designs do indeed attract an international following, as they are sold in Harrod's in London, among other places. They are in good company there alongside Qatari designer Lama El-Moatassem, whose line Toujouri (Arabic for "treasure box") is also sold at Harrod's. For Toujouri, Muscat Fashion Week 2013 marked a regional debut, as it was the first time Lama participated in a fashion event in the Middle East. Though she has a flagship store in Doha and sells her line at boutiques in Riyadh, Dubai, Kuwait and Tokyo, she reveals her collections in the Paris fashion weeks. Despite her international success, Lama was delighted to present her designs to a local audience.

"It was quite exciting for us to be part of something of a high standard in the Middle East with a variety of really great talent and up-and-coming designers. It's great to be able to interact with the women in the Middle East. The collection really caters to that Middle Eastern woman who holds onto her background, culture and traditions, but is also modern in her lifestyle," Lama explained at the Opera Gallerias the day after her show, as women browsed through her colourful, printed kaftans, cocktail dresses, resort clothes and evening wear.

Lama said there is a growing interest in the Middle East, and Arab women are now considered among the most fashionable. Thanks to being more educated, well-travelled, and exposed to international trends, women in the Middle East have become more adept at blending the best of both worlds. "In the past maybe there was a bit of mystery about what goes under that black abaya, but everyone travels a lot more and shops more, so they have a taste for more exclusive designs as well. It's changing for the better," said Lama, who studied fashion in London.

Tunisian designer Ahmed Talfit, the lone male design at Muscat Fashion Week, said fashion goes beyond borders now. He stole the show with his fierce, gothic styles, inspired by concepts he calls the "New Oriental Woman" and "Apocalypse." With spikes shoulders, huge collars and puffed sleeves, combinations of leather and lace, and models instructed to really stomp down the catwalk and pose like beautiful, ferocious creatures, Ahmed's collection embodied just how far from an abaya Arab fashion can go.

After three nights of fabulous fashion at Muscat Fashion Week, there is no doubt Arab women have got style, and the fashion industry is growing in the Middle East, drawing on international trends and shapes, and reflecting age-old traditions and heritage. The designs on the runway have appeal for women everywhere, Arab and foreign.

When it comes to fashion in the Arab world, perhaps Ahmed Talfit says it best: "There isn't one style for Arab women and one for Western women. For me, style is international." 

The Sultanate of Oman occupies the corner of the Arabian Peninsula nearest India, and lies between Dubai and Yemen. In broad strokes, this is a fair social description as well as geographical. The ancient city of Muscat is picturesquely nestled among a craggy collection of low mountains that run right into the sea. The bare rocky massifs yield occasionally to sandy beaches and the deep natural harbors that have made the city a hub of Indian Ocean trade for thousands of years.

Oman is an absolute monarchy that has been ruled by Sultan Qaboos bin Said since 1970. Unlike many of its counterparts throughout the Arab world, it had seen minimal unrest until February 25, when tensions flared in the port city of Sohar. (Despite the disturbance, respect for the sultan remains widespread, even among protesters.) As a part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Oman is a peer of the fabulously wealthy and tyrannical oil states of the Gulf.

Oman under Sultan Qaboos has pursued an unusual path to modernization, having closed its borders for much of the 1970s to put its house in order. This attitude of carefully planned growth is most immediately visible in its urban planning, with the whitewashed traditional houses still holding pride of place along the capital’s perfectly manicured streets. Oman does, however, face many of the other problems as its GCC neighbors: low functional literacy, insufficient white-collar jobs to satisfy the expectations of an overwhelmingly young population and the strain of being a traditional Islamic society in an increasingly wealthy and cosmopolitan context.

I was recently in Oman for Muscat Fashion Week, which featured 12 designers from Oman and elsewhere in the region. The event was the first of its kind in the sultanate — the first of many, according to the organizer, His Excellency Sultan Hamood, mayor of Muscat Municipality. Just hours before Tuesday’s shows, we stood on the stunning outdoor runway, set halfway up a rocky promontory overlooking Muscat’s quiet harbor. His Excellency is an energetic man with ambitious plans for his city to become the region’s fashion capital. He told me how the whole idea had come together in three weeks, in the hands of a Danish group that is responsible for Copenhagen Fashion Week. Despite the short preparation time, the production was as strikingly beautiful as it was effortlessly punctual.

The Gulf is perhaps the most gown-centric fashion scene in the world. The basic unit of socializing in conservative Arab societies is the wedding. Zeina, a 28-year-old Omani woman, said she receives two or three wedding invitations a week. She said the weddings have grown more lavish in the last decades, and now nearly all of them take place over several days. The weddings are strictly segregated along gender lines, meaning that Omani women are in a pitched and incessant fashion war, without many distracting social elements, nor men to get in the way of pure glamorous competition. The traditional black silk robe (the abaya) that is worn in public is shed in favor of lavishly embellished gowns once they’re inside the wedding venue.

The societal restrictions on dress make the logistics of runway shows a bit different from the usual fashion event. The first nine shows were open to ladies only. The models were Indian models from Dubai, as it would have been taboo for an Omani woman to be seen on a catwalk.

The opening show of the week was Robert Abi Nader, a designer whose flair for fabulous gowns has made his name in Beirut and Paris, producing outrageous event dresses and even a private jet interior for elegant clients whose fortunes are often of unconventional origin. Over double espressos at the Al-Bustan Palace, I asked him where most of his dresses go: “Central Africa, the Gulf, Russia, all over, you know,” he said. When I asked him if he dealt with any high-profile clients, he said, “I don’t name names, and I don’t work with Hollywood clients; my ladies don’t like that kind of attention.” In the audience for the Abi Nader show was Her Highness Sayyida Ghalya bint Fahar al Said of the Royal Family, whose presence created quite a stir among the other attendees.

Also showing that night was the Kabul-based line Zarif, designed by Zolaykha Sherzad. It is the best of a few fashion lines based in Kabul, making use of the extraordinary silks, brocades and distinctive cottons produced in the subcontinent. This show was strong on the impeccably tailored silk jackets that define the label. Several new silhouettes on the runway Tuesday night were from the collection I had reviewed in its Kabul studio in Afghanistan in May. Emphasis remained on detail, with distinctive Kabul-made alloy buttons and complex cuts on the cuffs and collars of the striped jackets, which covered the spectrum from long swallow-tail cuts to high-waisted jackets.

Over the next two nights, eight designers sent collections down the runway. The glittery, gauzy Punjabi suits of the Omani designer Anisa al Zadjali demonstrated the cultural proximity to India; Fadi Nahle, a Lebanese wedding specialist, sent a parade of fabulous ruffles and glitter; Shrekahnth, an Indian label, showed custom print kurtas and separates with jarring colors. Meanwhile, Hanaa al-Wahaibi stood out from the other Omani traditionalists. Her brightly colored pants and kurtas had precise fit and tailoring, a rarity in a scene where drape dominates.

The event closed with Dar Dibaj, the vibrant joint effort of Afaf and Aida al-Farsi. These striking Omani sisters are sophisticated traditionalists, whose restraint with the shiny stuff and use of black and white endeared them to Dubai buyers, among others. The two were clearly the darlings of Muscat Fashion Week, and their elegant gowns were the best demonstration of Arab fashion taking a stride forward without sacrificing cultural mores.

Omani fashion has long been rooted in tradition; however, local

designers have now started fusing their culture and heritage with

international styles. The customers of top fashion houses in Oman

are increasingly well-traveled and inspired by international

trends. There is now a greater demand for practical, comfortable

outfit ts that match the customer’s personality.

Omani fashion has long been rooted in tradition, but now, local designers

are fusing their culture and heritage with more international

styles. Top Omani designers are now proving to be just as comfortable

with making abayas, jalabiyas, and traditional Omani salwar and

kameez sets as they are with making Western-cut gowns and miniskirts.

Nawal Al Hooti, who is considered by many to be the leading

designer in Oman, said what makes her designs and fashion statements

unique is the fact that they are all about fusion. More and more

of her customers are well-travelled and are inspired by international

trends, so she keeps this in mind when creating her collections.

“It’s all about combining our best ethnic designs with what is trendy internationally. The idea is to listen

carefully to the [customers], pick up on what they consider to be appealing, and combine that perspective

with our ethnic styles and patterns. So yes, there is an international infl uence, but there is a precise concept

behind that fusion,” explained Nawal. Nawal and other designers from the most popular local fashion

houses, such as Dibaj Oman, the label introduced by sisters Afaf and Aida Al Farsi, are fi nding ways to express

their Omani roots while adapting to fashion trends and changes. Some of Nawal’s recent designs, such as her

Western-style jackets and miniskirts that are decorated with Omani patterns and detailing, refl ect this new

approach to fashion. Nawal noted that there is a greater demand for outfi ts that are practical and comfortable

yet “feed your personality.”

“The Omani pride, the colours, and our beautiful culture are combined with what is simple, more presentable,

and adorable and which brings out the best in you,” stated Nawal, adding that her greatest infl uences

stem from her own cultural roots.

Dibaj’s designs tend to fuse the old with the new and the east with the west. They have modern, more

European silhouettes, but the details are defi nitely Omani. The embroidery, stripes, and accessories take

them back to their roots. The designers looked at the clothes their mother, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers

wore and introduced elements of that style but in a modern way, explained Afaf.

“It’s always ethnic-based and Omani-infl uenced,” asserted Afaf.

Over the past few years, Afaf and Aida have been inspired by Omani landscapes, the Royal Opera House

Muscat, and by visits to Muttrah Souk, where they fi nd jewellery and cloth for their work. They are also

inspired through travelling and by works of art. They follow global fashion trends too and pay attention to

the creations of their favourite designers, such as Lanvin, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Balenciaga, and

Chanel. They make clothes that they would want to wear.

“We are doing what we enjoy, creating something we can wear,” said Aida.

From their observations, fashion in Oman is becoming simpler. There are fewer sequins and sparkles,

and modern designs are becoming easier to wear.

GLORIOUS OMAN FASHION

69

“Fashion is getting simpler; a wider selection is available. But Omanis have always been less fl ashy than

other people in the GCC. We’re more understated,” observed Afaf. Indo-Omani designer Mrunal Khimji, who

opened a boutique in 2007 to sell her own designs, fuses Omani, Indian, and international designs. Although

she is not Omani by birth, Mrunal has made her mark on the local fashion industry. She is comfortable with

making clothes in any style for people from any cultural background and who have any shape and size.

“Oman hosts so many nationalities. We are inspired by all cultures. All my garments are a signifi cant

attempt at fusion,” explained Mrunal. According to Mrunal, a continually increasing number of people in

Oman are becoming aware of international fashion trends, be they from Hollywood, Europe, or Bollywood.

They are also becoming more willing to experiment with fashion and to spend a bit more money on it. Omani

women are taking more chances with their abayas too; they want them to be more colourful and more

fashionable.

“It’s evolving very slowly. People are willing to take more risks. They are reading more international fashion

magazines. Bollywood has infl uenced fashion in Oman so much,” she remarked, adding that customers

had requested designs similar to those worn by their favourite stars.

The fashion scene is also expanding in Oman, thanks in large part to the annual Muscat Fashion Week

(MWF), launched in 2011, where designers from across the Middle East are invited to share their collections.

Malik Al Hinai, MFW’s organiser, said it was a great platform to showcase the best Omani and regional

designers not just for a local audience but also for international journalists and buyers. Plans for MFW

include going bigger and better, soliciting interest from more foreign buyers and the international press,

and showcasing more collections from renowned designers. As MFW grows, Omanis will learn more from

international fashion experts such as top journalist Hilary Alexander, stated Malik.

“We always like to speak to people in the know. We learn from them. We’re getting experts to lead us,”

he noted. He acknowledged that current trends are still rooted in tradition, with many designers focusing

on abayas, Omani salwar and kameez sets, and Omani embroidery, but he has also noticed that more of the

country’s leading designers, including Nawal Al Hooti, are adding international elements to their styles.

“Nawal surprised us this year with her miniskirts, which was good. But most [designers] stick with what

makes them comfortable. It’s our job now to coax them out of their shell and tell them they can do other

things too,” explained Malik. Malik pointed out that top Omani design houses such as Nawal Al Hooti and

Dibaj are doing great things for up-and-coming designers. He has included Nawal and Dibaj in all three

fashion weeks because he believes they represent the best that Oman has to off er.

“They are opening doors for us. Dibaj has interested buyers in the West, and Nawal has a lot of interest

locally and in the region. They’re putting Oman on the map,” reported Malik. Currently, Dibaj is only sold in

Oman, but there has been increasing interest in the brand from buyers in New York, London, and Paris. The

designers hope that in time, their collections will be available internationally.

“The burgeoning fashion scene in this part of the world is attracting an international audience, and we

have seen evidence of this while participating overseas and in the response we get at MFW annually. The

response has been very encouraging, which signals the responsibility we will bear in the future,” said Nawal

Al Hooti. As Oman gradually opens up to the world, thanks to Omanis travelling more and the hosting of

events such as MFW, it will slowly develop into a place that is recognised for high fashion, where tradition

and modernity can be combined with beautiful results.

“I think Muscat will grow. Give us time. We may not have the Tom Ford and Gucci shops, but we have

people coming here and getting inspired,” concluded Malik.

[Muscat, Oman] Situated on the edge of the Arabian Peninsula, the Sultanate of Oman possesses a rich, textured history, which has witnessed much cultural interfacing over the centuries, whether through Omani sailors trading across distant shores or through being located on the famed Silk Route.

However, whilst embracing and assimilating the trappings of modern development only as recently as 1970 with the ascension of its ruler, Sultan Qabus Bin Sa'id to the throne, the country remains firm in its dedicated commitment to preserving and maintaining its traditions, whether they pertain to architecture, handicrafts, or costume.

Omani fashion designers are nevertheless experimenting and innovating within the scope of traditional wear, particularly with regard to women. They are aware of prevailing global fashion influences and incorporate them into their designs in the local context; they also mine the abundant lode of cultural traditions of their country for inspiration as well.

Women figure prominently among the number of designers who are appearing on the fashion scene in Oman, each intent on articulating their personal fashion vision intertwined with respect for traditional sensibilities and tastes.

While there are several Omani women designers who are reinventing the traditional black abaya [the traditional ankle-length cloak-like garment] worn by women, others are carving a more specialized niche in different design domains.

Twenty-three-year-old Arwa Mousa recently launched a line of T-shirts which uses the beautiful imagery of Islamic calligraphy as a design motif, while Najla Al-Kindi cleverly incorporates examples of authentic Omani silver jewelry into her rainbow-hued shoes, which embody the cultural confluence that constitutes Omani culture.

Part of a local event management company, the Layali Al-Asalah organization, since its inception in 2006, has been interested in providing encouragement to budding local fashion designers. It has been holding a competition, “When Authenticity Speaks,” since its first year of existence, encouraging designers to combine three cultures in their work.

Al-Kindi found herself deciding to compete in the shoes category in the 2007 competition.

“At first, I was really casual about my decision; later, with only another lady and myself competing in the shoe category, I was determined to prove that it was not impossible to create shoes in Oman,” she says with quiet pride.

The year in which she competed, competition rules stipulated that the designers should use elements of Omani, Yemeni and Chinese cultures in their works.

“I decided to incorporate Omani silver jewelry [which is renowned in the Gulf region for its expert craftsmanship] into examples of evening shoes,” she relates.

While continually attending workshops conducted by Layali Al-Asalah, which schooled the designers in the technicalities of designing, she began the arduous journey to creating shoes in Oman.

“There are several shoemakers here who make flat-soled slippers for Omani men [who wear it along with the traditional male dress, the ankle-length robe, the dish-dasha] but few create women’s shoes,” she points out.

After much searching, she finally found a shoemaker willing to craft the shoes on the condition that she would provide him with the stiletto heels.

“I had to purchase numerous pairs of high-heeled shoes, and those too were of superior quality as I wished my product to be equally good,” Al-Kindi reminisces, adding she would craft the entire shoe from inserting the jewelry to gluing the Chinese embroidered silk fabric onto the shoe; the shoemaker’s job was to glue the upper and high-heel sole together.

“I did the rest to ensure that the finish was absolutely perfect,” she says.

Her tasks included transforming a bangle into functioning as an ankle-strap, necessitating the re-sizing of the bangle, or draping the shoe with an intricate Yemeni necklace.

At the competition, the judges were so impressed with her shoes that they forbore from interrogating her about the work, acknowledging that the craftsmanship that had gone into the creation of the shoes spoke for itself. She was rewarded for her endeavors with a three-day accessory designing course at Monash University, in Melbourne, Australia.

“While I was competing, I wasn’t sure if I would continue making the shoes,” she says, but added that winning the competition made her re-think her decision.

Al-Kindi has built up a sizeable Omani clientele who are always on the look out for dramatic, unique evening shoes, and she presently retails her shoes in the headquarters of Layali Al-Asalah, which also provides retail space for several other Omani designers to showcase their work.

“I do want to open a boutique of my own, but I would like to go step by step towards realizing that dream,” she emphasizes.

She is currently absorbed in putting the final touches to her second collection which combines Omani jewelry with that of Indian sari fabric, reiterating the theme of amalgamating cultures.

“I am using components like a locket and a piece of that fringed traditional Omani headscarf worn by women,” she describes.

She also mentors young Omani women in shoe design, persuading them to enter the shoe category of the competition.

“I do feel that we designers need more support from the government, particularly in marketing our products and creating brand awareness,” Al-Kindi concludes.

Arwa Mousa had declared that she would be a fashion designer as early as when she was 10 years old.

“I inherited my sense of aesthetics and practical skills essential for becoming a fashion designer through my parents; my mother is an accomplished seamstress while my father is an artist,” she says.

She was always conscious of fashion and its role in delineating a person’s personality and creating a space of expression.

“I always create a first impression of a person from what they wear and how they style themselves,”

she elaborates.

She would design dresses and other outfits for herself as a child, although her first foray into more specialized designing occurred when she began making design innovations to the abaya.

“Abaya is a habit and an integral tradition for us,” Mousa says, adding that the garment has deviated from the traditional straight-cut silhouette in solid black. Today, abayas feature different kinds of embellishments and are found in cuts such as a flowing butterfly or a tailored, nipped-in French style.

“I began designing abayas for my family and friends and started incorporating modern silhouettes into the abayas. I added a belt as an accessory or covered the sleeves with pieces of differently shaped leather,” she says.

The recipients were impressed with her innovations, saying that they were able to adhere to tradition while injecting their abayas with an individualistic flavor.

Mousa had always nurtured aspirations of becoming an entrepreneur in a fashion-related venture.

“I was initially interested in designing abayas [on a more commercial scale]; however, after conducting market research, I became aware that there were already many designers in that field. I, on the other hand, wished to do something completely new,” she says.

She then brainstormed and came up with the concept of creating T-shirts using Islamic or Arabic calligraphy as a design motif; she was well-versed in the art, having studied various scripts of Islamic calligraphy in summer school at a local youth club.

She employed a variety of scripts such as Thuluth, one of the earliest scripts and described as the “mother of all scripts”; the geometric Kufi, which originated in the Iraqi town of Kufa; and the heavily cursive Diwani, developed by the Ottoman Turks in late 15th century.

“It’s such an exquisite art-form which we do not make much use of our in daily life,” says Mousa, who in turn transplanted calligraphy onto a more modern terrain.

Her sounding boards were once more her supportive family and friends who provided very responsive feedback, thereby encouraging her to think of branching out and supplying her work to selected stores in Muscat.

The latter proved to be a challenging mission, although she now supplies the T-shirts to local bookstore chain, Turtles, and duty-free stores at Muscat International Airport.

“I am positioning my brand for the Omani youth and tourists; however, I do not wish to restrict myself merely to the Gulf,” she emphasizes. “I would be very happy to acquire a global audience and get the opportunity to showcase the sublime beauty of Islamic calligraphy through an essential item of popular culture, the T-shirt.”

She hopes that this marriage of classical Islamic tradition and modernity will serve to be a bridge connecting the two disparate worlds of the Middle East and the West.

Currently a part-time student of fashion design at the Middle East College of Technology, Muscat, Mousa works in an oil company by day and studies during the evening. She had previously also achieved a diploma in marketing at a time when fashion-designing courses were not yet available in Oman.

Mousa believes that both her studies in fashion design, which includes history of fashion, theory, and practical aspects, and in marketing have benefited her operation of the T-shirt business venture.

She sees her future unsurprisingly as being in the world of fashion.

“I would definitely like to study fashion in more depth,” she says. “I will continue to design; designing is me and I cannot imagine a life without designing.”

She would also like to start her own boutique in which she will retail her T-shirts and interesting neck-scarves, thereby establishing a local brand and identity.

Omani women fashion designers are not wanting in inspiration as much as in encouragement, opportunity, and practical measures towards helping them actualize and share their unique fashion statements with clients also interested in individuality and eclectic approaches to traditional concepts.