Qatar is getting a move on and quickly proving it is no rookie in the fashion world.
Fashion Trust Arabia (FTA) threw its fourth annual FTA Prize Award ceremony in Doha, Qatar, just last month, where it announced six of its top design award winners. The winners included designers like Pierpaolo Piccioli of Valentino, Michele Lamy, Amina Muaddi, Laura Kim, and Fernando Garcia of Oscar de la Renta. Valentino Garavani was also awarded The Lifetime Achievement Award for his vast influence in fashion design and a world-known fashion house of over 60 years.
More recently, Noami Campbell partnered with Qatar Creates to bring her fashion charity platform, EMERGE, to Doha. Campbell, the iconic supermodel and multidecade known international face of the industry, contributed her efforts to grant upcoming, leading generations the support they need in achieving creative success. The EMERGE initiative aims to present unconventional education by investing in the youth of Africa and various developing countries around the world, bringing enrichment to creative ideas, businesses, and talent to life.
“This initiative will create new apprenticeships, after-school programs, and university programs focused on creative and alternative industries such as general education, fashion, technology, art, sustainable innovations, and agriculture,” the event website reads. The art-forward charity event was attended and sponsored by Her Excellency Sheikha Al-Mayassa Bint Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, sister of the Emir of Qatar.
But let’s take a deeper look. How is Qatar impacting the fashion industry? Moreover, who are some Qatari innovators, designers, and entrepreneurs behind the latest, freshest, and high fashion ideas advancing today? Let’s explore.
@tiiyaofficial on Instagram
It’s important to note that TIIYA holds some groundbreaking history. According to the brand’s website, “The first label that evolved into TIIYA was founded in 2006 and was the first ‘made in Qatar’ product asides from oil and gas to export out of Qatar.” Furthermore, TIIYA is the first ever Qatari haute couture brand - directed, designed, and driven by mother-daughter duo Shaikha Alanoud Alattiya and Shaikha Shaikha Al-Thani, respectively.
@harlienz on Instagram
Harlienz is another trailblazing representative of Qatari come-ups within the fashion industry. Harlienz was the first Qatari brand to officially make it on the New York Fashion Week schedule in 2019. Haya Al Adsani is behind the successful label and is a self-taught designer with a vision to bring more day-to-night versatility and comfort to chic and contemporary garments.
@amalameenqa on Instagram
Amal Ameen, the Qatari fashion executive and entrepreneur extraordinaire, continues to pave new avenues as an haute couture curator, connoisseur, and luxury store producer. Notably, Ameen has nurtured her own companies like La Boutique Blanche, Amici di Moda, and, more recently, Mahain Jewelry. The three storefronts are one of many components of her fruitful fashion and design journey over the last two decades. She reads like a profound success story, “Planning and executing more than 150 projects in different fields related to fashion, art, artistic and interior design and services have led Amal Ameen to become a recognized international businesswoman.”
Ultimately, the Qatari influence on the fashion industry is not only apparent but intimidatingly impressive.