DAY THREE HIGHLIGHTS OF MEN’S ARAB FASHION WEEK FALL-WINTER 2022/23

A day of sustainability and upcycling to a public celebration of street style party

On the third day of the Men’s Arab Fashion Week, Dubai Design District welcomed the new wave of sustainable fashion, from upcycling of vintage collections to licensed one-piece look and finally transforming its corners into public celebration at the mesmerizing show of B Hype.

EMERGENCY ROOM
INTERLUDE
The creative director of Emergency Room Beirut, Eric Ritter, presented their “Interlude” collection of unique pieces made out of upcycled materials. Because of the process used to design these items, they cannot be replicated and therefore are one-offs.
In the making of these designs, the brand wholeheartedly desired to go back to the brand’s origins. Instinctively, they scavenged the souks of Tripoli for second-hand and vintage materials which could be used to make clothes. The outcome is a collection of heavily printed unique and bold pieces made from curtains, bedsheets, towels, and other fabrics.
While styling the looks for the show, the brand wished to emphasize the boldness and beauty of these salvaged materials by mixing them up, assembling strong, often clashing prints, and punctuating the looks with accessories, introducing a whole range of new items to the collection.
Quirky spiked hats and caps in upcycled fleece, denim, and other materials are used to cover the head; while handbags, pouches, cross-bags, and fanny packs produced in collaboration with ‘White Mustang’ a burgeoning Beirut-based brand, enhance the looks and root the second-hand materials in their new active lifestyle.
The show started with a voice-over in English, Arabic, and French explaining that the pieces are shown can be instantly purchased on the brand’s online store, before delving into a montage of pictures from their work process and finally stopping on a still video of a busy street in the souks of Tripoli, the background of the show, and of their work process. This collection and show are the brand’s first approach to a “see now buy now” business model, a direction that fits our ethos and aligns much better with our design and production processes.

AMERICAN RAG
The renowned US brand that became a new wave of innovation has showcased a collection that takes the streetwear by storm, from the oversized silhouettes, prints, and colorful styling of the looks together to the selection of the models and the energy on the runway or the choice of the music made the brand much appreciated by men who are into streetwear, sports, and hip-hop.
The brand came together under one immersive roof to redefine the shopping experience and give the Middle East’s retail profile a competitive status in the global arena. A mainstay of California Cool since 1984, the American Rag Cie brand has become an institute of fashion & culture, and a home for exclusive collections coveted by consumers around the world. The US label found roots in the Middle East with a flagship store in Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates & The Galleria Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabi.

ZARDOUZ
The great and glorious nature with all its mountains transformed into a city full of skyscraping buildings. This was the message from the brand’s creative director Mohammad Amin which he expressed “A message from the eyes to mind, and then it was the heart that was loudly calling me: Listen to my voice and enjoy the game. This was my inspiration when I create and designed ENJOY Collection; a collection of cotton and knitwork clothes”. ENJOY collection consists of 22 looks of Zardouz which is produced in limited editions. And 3 looks of Zardouz Haute Couture; with motives of Wheaties and Hoopoe (Symbols of Goodness and blessing in Iranian Culture) as hand-knitted embroideries on velvet and lace fabrics. Each piece is one of a kind with a license.

TA GUEULE
MULTITUDES
“I am large, I contain multitudes.”
Ta Gueule is a brand that embraces modernity and desires to create streetwear that reflects the world we live in. It is an active reflection of the ever-changing human nature. As the brand expands, it evolves to deliver a more elevated style and message. Ta Gueule explores the multidimensional nature of sapiens and the world around them. In its new collection, it tries not only to be socially aware but to be a constant reminder for everyone to remember the other.
Think of all the tiny wafts of heat flowing across your face. These gentle movements represent our most basic feelings. Our nervous systems are constantly chugging away, largely out of our conscious control, tweaking our blood flow for every emotion. And although our consciousness tries to conceal these changing blood rhythms, and put on a well-calculated mask, they can be detectable when people look for the right signs and have the tools to hack through this chosen facade. Similarly, our existence is manifold. We are never just the mask we put on, a crust, we are filled with tidal waves and contradicting thoughts, “we are large, we contain multitude”. Although we put on idyllic faces that serve as preconceived disguises, we must remember that we have a deeper self, an unembellished depiction and that is who we truly are.
This collection from Ta Gueule, titled “Multitudes”, displays a clean and edgy style of streetwear that reflects the Multitudes of the living, by stripping it down to its innate molecular behavior and dissecting its biology. Ta Gueule uses thermal imaging patterns, to explore the three-dimensional being, and dives into the darkness within through its “Dusk till Dawn” theme. Ta Gueule believes that expression through fashion can help create a more insightful generation that will forever improve the human race.

B HYPE
“The Street Style Party”
The B Hype, Street Style Party collection has brought the Fashion Shows into a public celebration. Styled by SLIMI, the renowned celebrity stylist and editor in chief of SLIMI magazine, and by Mounssef Soumaidi of B Hype, the entire show turned out to be engaging and mesmerizing to the

audience like the feeling of discovering great talent on America’s Got Talent. The hipster subcultural brand that is loved by the many luxury shoppers that tend to appreciate the hip lifestyle, muscle cars, and rappers, has put on a show, unlike all the other shows. At the basketball playground in Dubai Design District that was transformed into a runway, the show was opened by DJ Lehash Mehdi when he came out on the runway without music to walk into his DJ booth and get everyone dancing on their seat, to suddenly have Ryan Taylor the renowned biker jumping on the runway with his show bike followed by kids showing their dance talent or Thibault Garcia, Wadih El Najjar and Ameni Esseibi walking the runway, while everyone was holding their breath for the next model to appear, a gigantic B Hype branded H2 Hummer drove on the runway to drop of Mounssef Soumaini and SLIMI that hyped up the show as the finale and transformed the place into the after-show closing party.