And just like that, Fashion Forward Dubai has ended for another season.
The 11th iteration of the sartorial spectacle drew to a close last night in Dubai Design District, with Dubai-based Amato Couture ensuring FFWD went out with a bang.
The label, founded by Filipino designer Furne One, presented its spring / summer 2020 collection in the final show of the four-day event, parading a series of ornately embroidered and inherently romantic creations down the runway.
Cast entirely in a colour palette of soft creams and off-whites, the collection swung between the futuristic (think sheer capes attached to athleisure-inspired bodysuits) and the faintly nostalgic, with lashings of Elizabethan-worthy ruffled tulle and structured bodices.
Scroll through the gallery above to see 30 looks from Amato Couture's closing show at Fashion Forward Dubai 2019.
There was an almost angelic air to the designs, with feathered trains and capes paired with headdresses reminiscent of halos.
"Inspired by the art of cathedrals, churches and old architectural buildings in Portugal, Amato stuns yet again with magnificent works of art," Fashion Forward revealed of the collection's stimuli.
The event, founded in 2013 as a GCC-wide platform for emerging designers, returned from Wednesday, October 30 to Saturday, November 2 after a self-imposed hiatus.
The revamped schedule introduced for the first time Shop The Show, an app that allows the audience to buy direct from the runway, even before a show ends.
"There have been a lot of changes since I started," Furne One told The National ahead of this year's FFWD, which marks his 10th consecutive season showing at the event.
"Dubai is like a melting pot for nationalities, it’s like the New York of the Middle East, so there are a lot of influences from other areas. Before, it was really difficult to start a fashion label because the whole city was just starting, and it’s not overnight that you can have a fashion industry. Nobody helped us, we had to do it ourselves."
