The second edition of the Morocco Fashion Week, which took place on March 10 and 11, 2023, in Marrakech placed the spotlight on 17 designers who made Arab creations shine beyond the borders of their country.
The Oriental Fashion Show organized the event with styling and modeling schools Casa Moda, Lasalle College, and Escom in a joint partnership. There were special exhibitions on Morocco’s iconic craftsmen who paid tribute to the craftswomen as the Morocco Fashion Week coincided with International Women’s Day on March 8. The event aimed to promote young and upcoming designers with a prize allowing winners to travel to a parade in Paris.
Many designers highlighted modest fashion pieces – garments meant to cover up the majority of the body, with some outfits accessorized with hijabs. There were kaftans and abayas, with noted variations as the designers were of different origins. The creators were Moroccan, Palestinian, French, Kazakhstani, and Lebanese. The winner was Donia Shehadeh, who created satin evening dresses with voluminous needlework and sensual cuts. She will be presenting her collection during the Paris Fashion Week and the Oriental Fashion Week.
Hind Joudar, the founder of the Oriental Fashion Show, announced the introduction of a consortium of Arab Fashion Week. “With Morocco Fashion Week, Kazakhstan Fashion Week, Azerbaijan Fashion Week, and Tajikistan Fashion Week, we are building a project called Fashion Industry. In collaboration with all the talents of these different regions, we are in the process of making a designer exchange partnership.”
She added that they have been working for 18 years in the organization, the label Oriental Fashion Show to support the development of Azerbaijan Fashion Week and Kazakhstan Fashion Week. “The Fashion Industry project will be kind of like a fashion Erasmus. The Morocco Fashion Week will send its Moroccan designers to other capitals of the Arab world as Kuwait and will continue to cast foreign designers.”
Hind described it as a synergy between young talents. “There is a new generation that sees fashion differently, we are no longer in large institutional houses as before. Now, young people want to be free, but we must support them. This Fashion Week will be a platform of visibility for them.”
