Dubai Festival City Mall is open seven days a week
10:00 am to 10:00 pm
10:00 am to 12:00 am
10:00 am to 11:00 pm
10:00 am to 12:00am
9:00 am to 10:30 pm
9:00 am to 11:30 pm
9:00 am to 12:00 am
9:00 am to 1:00 am
In a 2 days event and in line with the objectives and values of Cairo Fashion Experience - the unique scouting project by Cairo Festival City Mall and Vogue Italia - a panel discussion and one-to-one meetings were hosted in CFC Mall on March 26th and 27th.
The event was attended by Sara Sozzani Maino, Head of Special Projects Vogue Italia, Mounaz and Aya Abdel Raouf, Founders of Okhtein and 130 emerging Egyptian designers.
The first day of the event kicked off with a welcome speech from Heba Abdallah, Head of Marketing at Cairo Festival City Mall, where she expressed Cairo Festival City Mall’s enthusiasm to support the local designers. “This is the moment we have been waiting for to gather all of you in one place, to let them know that we appreciate their talents, and we are here to support you. Cairo Festival City Mall is keen to invest in emerging Egyptian designers and talents, and provide you with an international platform where they can showcase your designs, and extend support to you through Cairo Fashion Experience project.” She went on to say that Cairo Festival City Mall is always looking forward to creating unique local experiences with an international flavor that extend beyond Egypt; calling all the designers to apply for this once in a lifetime opportunity. “With the opening of Festival Avenue in 2023, Cairo Festival City Mall will host more distinctive initiatives to support Egyptian designers.” The welcome speech was followed by a panel discussion titled "Becoming a Fashion Designer", where Sara Sozzani Maino, Head of Special Projects Vogue Italia, Mounaz and Aya Abdel Raouf, Founders of Okhtein whom are jury members in the project, were panelists. The panel focused on how to start your brand, shedding the light on the importance of storytelling for a brand, highlighting important points to be considered before applying and submitting their applications for this one-of-a-kind initiative, the panel was followed by a Q&A session.
The event included exclusive one-to-one meetings between local designers and Sara Sozzani Maino, where the talents presented their portfolios to be reviewed by Sara and got more in-depth insights from her on how to pursue their journey in the fashion industry.
Heba Abdallah, Head of Marketing at Cairo Festival City Mall stated "Cairo Fashion Experience project marks a very important milestone in the Egyptian Fashion Industry. It took Cairo Festival City Mall nearly 2 years to handcraft and tailor this project with Vogue Italia. The scouting project is powered by Festival Avenue; the upcoming luxury expansion of Cairo Festival City Mall, which is set to be the launchpad of several outstanding impactful projects.”
Heba added, “I am honored to be one of the jury members in the Cairo Fashion Experience project, We really believe in Egyptian talents, and we are looking forward to harvesting these talents and introduce them to the international market and provide a strong platform to showcase their talent internationally.”
Sara Sozzani Maino, Head of Special Projects at Vogue Italia, added that "We are thrilled to meet incredibly brilliant and promising fashion designers from Egypt. The project is a unique experience and my advice for the local designers is to apply, not miss this opportunity and to keep in mind to always have and build an exclusive persona for their brand in order to stand out and shine in the fashion industry.”
The project submission, which runs till 10 May 2022, is dedicated to Egyptian designers who will be called on to present their collections and have the opportunity to be selected among the 3 finalists of the project. The chosen 3 talents will have the exclusive opportunity to be mentored by Vogue Italia, showcase their collection at Milan Fashion week in September 2022 and will have a pop up display at the upcoming Festival Avenue; the new luxury expansion of Cairo Festival City Mall leveraging the collaboration between different countries with both brand’s expertise and guidance.