Abu Dhabi Fashion Days, the biannual style event held in the UAE capital, is relaunching their Dress The Mannequin campaign this season in support of charities that aid affected Palestinians in the war-torn city of Gaza, providing them with food, water and medical supplies.
The event, which has doubled in size from last year, has selected 40 creative minds, out of hundreds of online applications, to take part in the showcase that encourages them to dress and design their own mini mannequin as they see fit. There are no rules or boundaries in terms of what they can create and each mini doll will go on display at Wafi shopping mall for a limited period of time before being sold via auction.
This year, participants, all of whom are required to live within the United Arab Emirates, include pioneering Emirati artists Abdulrahim Salem, known for his contemporary work in the region, Jalal Luqman, a mixed media artist with international accolades and Mattar Bin Lahej, a renowned photographer, sculptor and artist. All chosen artists and creative visionaries have been given less than a month to create their mannequin before the miniature artworks go on display to be auctioned off to buyers on October 8.
All proceeds from the sale of the mannequins at the auction will go towards supporting Palestinians in Gaza.
Promoting fashion and philanthropy in equal measures, Abu Dhabi Fashion Days, which is held twice a year, promotes the spring/summer and autumn/winter collections of both established and up-and-coming regional designers. Unlike Dubai’s main style-focused event, Fashion Forward, this exhibition, founded by Emirati entrepreneur and former Emirates Woman Woman Of The Year winner Sumayyah Al Suwaidi, focuses heavily on homegrown talent in a trade show format. Dress The Mannequin is the humanitarian side of our biannual event, which is held over four days in the extensive exhibition halls housing well-known local brands and recent graduates in all fields of fashion and design with the purpose of exposing them to relevant media, buyers and a larger customer base in the GCC and beyond.
