Collection
showcase for emerging and established talent, Fashion Forum education module
and industry award among highlights of twice-annual Fashion Forward (FFWD)
event, delivered by Brag
Recognizing the need for a dynamic,
sustainable platform to develop the region’s fashion industry, the
entrepreneurs behind Brag, the leading experiential live marketing and event
management agency, have created Fashion Forward (FFWD).
The
inaugural Fashion Forward (FFWD) is scheduled to take place 26-29 April 2013 at
Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai. Three key
elements differentiate FFWD as a regional fashion development platform: collection
showcase opportunities in several distinct presentation areas for both
established and emerging designers in the Middle East, a Fashion Forum
education module to foster debate around key industry issues, and an awards
event conferred by the Fashion Forward Association – Middle East, a trade body
which supports the professional development of fashion in the GCC, Levant and
North Africa.
“The
Middle East has a wealth of design talent living and working across the region,
as well as tremendous retail infrastructure and a keen base of shoppers – what
we lack is a fashion movement to take the industry forward. Fashion Forward (FFWD) has been created to
address the development of the regional fashion sector as a whole – from
identifying and fostering emerging designers to recognizing more established
design houses, while furthering fashion debate, education and industry
momentum,” said Bong Guerrero, Creative Director and chairman of Fashion
Forward (FFWD) and managing partner of Brag.
During
the next six months, FFWD Limited, the management behind FFWD, will work with
the Fashion Forward Association Middle East (FFAME) – now in its formative
stage -- to develop programming including panel presentations, workshops, and
discussion sessions to complement the three catwalk areas within FFWD,
providing a critical educational complement to the women’s wear and menswear
collections being showcased. Negotiations
are currently underway with a number of leading luxury and blue-chip consumer
brands to support FFWD ME for its first several seasons.
Anticipating
almost unanimous participation from the region’s fashion community, FFWD Middle
East will provide both emerging and established designers based in or
originally from the Middle East with a platform to highlight their latest work
to consumers, prospective buyers, industry decision-makers and the media.
Brag,
the Middle East’s most trusted live marketing and event management agency, has
been appointed to deliver FFWD, creating a vibrant, professionally-produced
fashion platform that combines the designing flair of the region with the
exacting standards of more mature markets. Created by Guerrero and Ramzi Nakad,
who together bring more than two decades of experience in the region to FFWD, Brag
has envisioned and brought to life some of the Middle East’s most talked-about
events for clients including Mercedes Benz, Google, Virgin, Splash, Moet
Hennessy, MMI, Puma, and Abraaj Capital.
Brag has previously collaborated with both celebrity and commercial
designers to create must-attend fashion presentations across the region, from
Dubai to Beirut.
“Fashion
Forward (FFWD) is set to become a catalyst which spurs the creativity,
infrastructure and professionalism of the region’s fashion players into a more
cohesive, results-focused industry. With
the entrepreneurial spirit of this region as well as the increasing
international profile of designers from the Middle East, now is the ideal time
for FFWD to become a must-participate event for designers, industry experts and
brands which are keen to see the region’s fashion sector develop to its full
potential,” added Guerrero.
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