With Ramadan expected to begin on February 18, dedicated collections from both global fashion houses and regional designers are arriving in stores.
What was once a novelty has, in recent years, become a key moment on the international fashion calendar, reflecting the Gulf’s growing importance as a market for the world’s biggest luxury groups.
The era of simply gilding existing designs has gone. Designers are showing a deeper understanding of the Holy Month and the reconnection with family and friends at its heart, resulting in collections that are more thoughtful, elegant and aligned with each brand’s core codes.
Regional labels have long led the way, championing modest dressing well before it became a global trend. With more choice than ever, there is no shortage of ways to approach Ramadan this year – and to do so in style.
Dolce & Gabbana
Italian design duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana lean into their trademark sumptuousness for this collection, through decadent velvets, golden rococo brocades, intense florals and edges trimmed with shimmering ribbons. Liquid metal cloth in blue and emerald is cut into chic separates, while ivory and green dresses are formed from goddess draping.
Dior Or
This tightly curated collection is made up of Lady Dior bags, golden footwear and even strasse-embellished jewellery.
Shoes come as pale gold platform sandals and glittering kitten heels. Lady Dior bags are in smooth cream leather, topped with a burgundy handle, while the Dior Bow Bag by new creative director Jonathan Anderson is here too, now in gold, silver and burgundy.
Brunello Cucinelli
The Abaya capsule by Brunello Cucinelli is conceived to blend traditional elegance and a modern aesthetic. Fluid and free-flowing, each piece centres on comfort, lightness and versatility in fabrics such as airy silk and soft chiffon, with light florals as well as embroidery and embellishments, all in a palette of natural stone, sand, cloud and cocoa, interspersed with deep burgundy and slate grey.
Christian Louboutin
With six styles of sandals, four flats, one belt, one bag and one clutch, this offering from Louboutin is concise yet complete. In a strict palette of silver and cloud, the Pantone colour of the year, these pieces come decorated with strasse or the geometric mashrabiya cutouts, or are simply left plain.
Alexander McQueen
With sleek outlines and focused details, this Ramadan collection by Sean McGirr infuses the tailored line of McQueen with its signature fierce surfacing. Large crystals are scattered around throats and shoulders, while the geometric clutches Manta and T-Bar Box come encrusted with jewels. The signature Knuckle Clutch, meanwhile, is stretched to resemble an archival silhouette, and now comes in emerald and ivory satin.
Max Mara
Known for its ability to embrace wearability for every occasion, Max Mara embraces the easy elegance of loose shirts and palazzo pants. In warm tones of caramel, camel, sand and mocha, roomy bishop-sleeve silk shirts are paired with wide-cut silken trousers, while soft patterning that resembles the subtle tonal shifts of marbled paper, covers long dresses. In a typically discreet manner, button fronts and cuffs have a gentle scattering of shimmer.
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton’s sixth Mirage collection is its strongest yet. The maison pares things back to striking effect, with simple silhouettes in luxe materials such as glossy silk, lifted by details like mismatched crystal buttons.
It has also collaborated with Lebanese designer Nada Debs, who designed a high-end bakhoor set shaped as a Monogram flower inspired by mashrabiya patterns, and a reimagined Capucines bag, lavished with crystals or asymmetric jewelled handles.
Bambah
UAE brand Bambah is already adept at modest dressing, and this season it delivers a series of co-ordinated dresses and abayas that perfect head-to-toe styling.
Gold florals wrap around fluid skirts, crisp stripes sharpen tie-front jalabiyas and long-sleeved dresses are finished with all-over shirring. Signature retro silhouettes and bold patterns remain, reworked into flowing, floor-length forms.
Celine
The first Ramadan collection under new creative director Michael Rider feels relaxed and roomy in a distinctly Parisian way. Pyjama sets come in khaki, ivory and wisteria, finished with contrasting piping, alongside strappy Cage shoes threaded with tiny gold Celine logos.
Accessories follow suit, with the classic Teen Nino and Small Triomphe Frame bags rendered in safari, chestnut, deep navy and soft burgundy tones.
Burberry
Playing to its strengths, Burberry has reworked its iconic trench coat in silk, transforming a functional outer layer into a relaxed, midi-length dress designed to pair with wide-legged silk trousers.
The house check remains, rendered tone-on-tone in mulberry red, while the storm flap is exaggerated into a scarf-like panel fastening across the front.
Finished with a matching red headscarf and a bag in the original check, now embellished with clear beads and heavy gold hardware, it’s a lesson in restraint and the power of simplicity.
Mauzan
A mainstay of the Emirati fashion scene, Mauzan has been dressing the UAE since 1990. Founded by artist and creative director Rafia Helal Bin Drai – its name meaning “rare pearl” – the house offers embellished abayas in bone, almond, sand, khaki, black and midnight blue, alongside an extensive range of traditional Emirati mukhawar dresses, richly finished with talli embroidery.
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