Tag Archives: Charity

Emirates Woman – Fashion with a Heart

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Emirates Woman Magazine Cover - April 2010

I mentioned a while ago that Emirates Woman Magazine has initiated a fashionable charity project called Fashion with a Heart. The team of Emirates Woman  selected 10 of the very best designers in the UAE to work with. Each of the designers, of course including myself, was requested to make a bespoke dress that will be auctioned off at the Fashion With A Heart charity event that will take place at the Raffles Hotel Dubai, for the benefit Al Noor Training Centre for Children With Special Needs.

This project combines philanthropy and fashion where each of us, designers, have created a one-of-a-kind dress incorporating the themes of red, love and Fashion With a Heart concept. The 10 designers included myself, Aiisha Ramadan, Amato, Walid Atallah, Essa among others.

Aiisha Ramadan for Emirates Woman - Fashion with A Heart

Ironically, I was in touch with Al Noor last year and we had something in mind that didn’t work out. The good news is that now its happening and like I said before, its time to give back. In fact, its always time to give back!

My dress took an intensive month and a half and more than 30 yards of fabric!!! It was a sweet heart neckline, corset base bustier fully embroidered and beaded with Swarovski Crystals with layers and layers of tulle wired ruffles.I truly gave it my heart. In my opinion, if you want a dress to be auctioned, give it the best you can and don’t go cheap.

Not my favorite photo of myself, but the editor  chose one that reflects my character the most. I’ll let the photo tell you more..

I will post a separate thread about the event when it happens as the date is TBC.

Aiisha and Evian – Live Young and Give Back..

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Like I mentioned before, Evian initiated a Live Younger campaign in Dubai following their most watched Ad video (Over 22 million viewers till this post date)  on You Tube (Evian Roller Babies)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs

Evian asked Dubai’s top designers to recreate the Evian Live Younger T-Shirt, and it was showcased at the Dubai Fashion Week that recently took place and auctioned the T-Shirts for the benefit of Dubai Cares, whose project for 2010 is to secure clean drinking water for children in schools globally.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it to the show where my T-shirt was the show’s opener but I heard that mine was the favorite of many as it incorporated the Aiisha’s favorite elements, sexy romance, ruffles and powder tones. Other designers did some really cool job as well.

Evian Live Young

Evian Live Young Campaign

Auction was held at the trendy Carbon 12 Gallery in Al-Quoz

Aiisha's Evian Live Young T-Shirt on DFW 2010 Catwalk

Aiisha Evian T-Shirt @ the auction

My start with Valerie Campbell

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In 2006, Valerie Campbell was the first lady residing outside the UAE to ever wear one of our dresses. The dress was auctioned for the benefit of a breast cancer hostpital in Cologne, Germany, via Christies.

Valerie Campbell, best known for her elegance and motherhood of Naomi Campbell, is like her daughter and son Pierre, a model, a balle dancer and a designer who worked in Italy for a while. She herself is a survivale of breast cancer and it amazes me how beautiful and strong she remains.

When Ms. Valerie wore the dress, she said and I quote “I will never forget the name Aiisha”. Her son Pierre assured her that “this is the most beautiful color she’d ever worn”.

Valerie Campbell & Suhaila Sinn wearing Aiisha Ramadan

To be able to give back to the society and to raise awareness is one of the most challenging things one could ever do as cliche as this may sound. I post this because this year is a lot about giving back. Its about time..

Golden Days of DFW: Aiisha and NOKIA (Retrospective)

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Yesterday was the last day at the DFW for the season. I haven’t been part of the DFW for a couple of years as it was time for change; however, my T-Shirt design was the opener at the Evian Fashion show where 15 designers participated in benefit for Dubai Cares Charity Foundation. I will post a separate thread for that with photos.

This year, the DFW happens to go under fire as the fashionistas have had enough. If you go back in my blog, you’ll find 2 posts (about a year old) addressing the issues that should be taken into consideration when trying to elevate the standards of the DFW: http://tiny.cc/pd3uj and http://tiny.cc/z4mb5

This is when I remembered the good times, the golden ones, when my first mega collaboration was with Nokia where the show was strong because of the theme and the designs, Nokia’s presence, PR and continuing efforts in taking the show around the Middle East (Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Pakistan).

Prism Geometric

Prism Geometric Mini Dress

My entire collection was inspired by the Nokia Prism 7900 handset. It was one of Nokia’s first fashion attempts in the region and it was carried out with me during the Dubai Fashion Week in 2007. As mentioned before, the collection then toured the Gulf and Middle East and it was a great success. Later the same year, I was invited to be the pioneer designer of the Super Nova collection at the La Destination Design de Nokia – Marrakech. That too was a beautiful experience.

In terms of the designs, they were inspired by the Prism’s geometric shapes, elegance, black basic colors and from the 42 built in colors that reflect on the phone’s keypad, I chose purple, blue, silver and rainbow.

Watch highlights from the fashion show below:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSXosdPkp_k

Going back to the DFW, I’ve said enough.. a year ago and much more to the press all along. Now, I sit and watch hoping for progress. Until then, my collaborations will keep going on and my private fashion shows will stay.. private.